Lin-Manuel Miranda Rejected A Spider-Man Villain Role He Would Have Been Wrong For

Lin-Manuel Miranda became a darling in the stage theater world thanks to his musical "In the Heights." The show netted him a Tony and a Grammy and even a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize. However, it was Miranda's subsequent musical, "Hamilton," that turned him into a full-fledged superstar. The Broadway sensation won just about every award out there, including an actual Pulitzer for Miranda. The year after, he co-wrote the songs for Disney's animated 2016 film "Moana," netting him an Oscar nod. Miranda hasn't won an Oscar yet, but I think he can rest in the company of his skatillion other awards and nominations.

Plus, Hollywood has (naturally) continued to hire Miranda to work on other high-profile projects. In the years since then, he's continued to work with Disney on the regular, appearing in "Mary Poppins Returns" and writing songs for the animated film "Encanto," the studio's live-action remake of "The Little Mermaid," and the movie "Mufasa: The Lion King." Heck, he even voiced Gizmoduck on Disney XD's "DuckTales" reboot series. This guy has been everywhere.

Miranda was even approached for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe around that time. When Josh Horowitz interviewed him on the "Happy. Sad. Confused." podcast, the host correctly guessed that Miranda had been considered to play the villainous Adrian Toomes, aka. the Vulture, in 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming." He turned the role down, though, feeling that he was very ill-suited for the Spider-Man antagonist. Miranda also wanted to spend more time with his wife, having been away from her for an extended period while performing "Hamilton."

"Spider-Man: Homecoming" was the first live-action "Spider-Man" solo film released as part of the MCU and featured a young Tom Holland as the web-slinging Peter Parker. In the movie, Peter has to face off against Toomes (Michael Keaton), a blue-collar stiff who salvages Chitauri tech from the Battle of New York (as portrayed in 2012's "The Avengers") to illegally develop high-tech weapons that he can sell to make ends meet. Toomes also builds himself a flying, Vulture-like super-suit to assist him in his illicit dealings.

Keaton was very good in his role (he's good in most everything), and Lin-Manuel Miranda told Josh Horowitz that the actor did a better job than he ever could have. As for why Miranda passed on the film to begin with, he admitted it had to do with his workload at the time:

"I would have been so miscast [...] It was Vulture. It was Vulture, and Kevin Feige told me the entire plot over the phone. And I was like 'Oooh!' [...] I said, 'When does it shoot?' And he goes, 'Basically, the moment you step off stage in "Hamilton."' I went 'Well, I would really like to ... I love these movies, but I would really like to stay married. So, I cannot do this.' And, I mean, God, that would have been terrible. [...] Michael Keaton was perfect. Like, they found exactly who they needed. [...] I have no regrets. I needed a vacation so badly." 

I don't think the public has any regrets, either. Miranda wouldn't have been as good as Keaton. 

As mentioned, Lin-Manuel Miranda eventually did play a superhero in the form of Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera, aka. Gizmoduck, on the "DuckTales" reboot series, so he was roped into the superhero world regardless. He's also played the god Hermes on the TV show "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" (itself another Disney project), so super-beings are now a part of his ever-expanding resume.

Miranda was wise to turn down "Spider-Man," though, as he is still married to his wife, Vanessa Nadal. Not to mention, playing the Vulture would have led to Miranda reprising the role in the notorious 2022 dud that was "Morbius," a film that Sony claims was (somehow) profitable. Michael Keaton returned as the Vulture in that movie, you see, in an attempt to link the Jared Leto misfire to the MCU at large. It didn't work, nor did it help that Jared Leto tends to star in nothing but flops these days.

Miranda is currently working on his latest feature film as a director. HIs first proper professional directing gig was 2021's excellent "Tick, Tick... BOOM!" (a film version of the musical by Jonathan Larson). His next movie, "Octet," is based on the Off-Broadway musical by Dave Malloy and follows eight people as they attempt to go without their telephone — to which they are savagely addicted — for a short span. The film will star Rachel Zeigler, Amanda Seyfried, Jonathan Groff, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, among others. If "Tick, Tick... BOOM!" is any indicator, "Octet" is something to get excited about.