Adrian Toomes (Earth-21399)

"How do you think Osborn paid for that tower? Or any of his fancy little rides? Those people up there, the rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me? They don't give a shit about us. We build their roads and fight all their wars and clean up after them, and all we get back are table scraps and empty promises. That's the way things are, and the way it has always been, but I'm not willing to accept that anymore."

- The Vulture

Early Life
Adrian Toomes grew up on a farm outside of the small town of Seneca Falls in upstate New York, where his main responsibility was keeping the family's farm equipment in good repair.

Toomes' father allowed him to fly the crop duster when he was fifteen, sparking Toomes's lifelong love of flying. He would later enlist in the Air Force as a fighter pilot and serve in the Vietnam War.

Bestman Aviation and Family
After being discharged from military service, Toomes founded a small aviation engineering firm named Bestman Aerodynamics, in honor of a comrade named Gregory Bestman who got shot down in Vietnam, so that he could continue to serve his country by producing new aviation technology. Around the same time, he married a woman named Cheryl Natale and had a daughter named Ramona.

Toomes's pet project was a magnetic flight harness intended for use by airborne infantry units in the Army. He intended to acquire a government contract for full production of the suit so that he could secure his retirement - he wanted to move to Montana and live off the land with his wife.

Becoming the Vulture
Unfortunately, despite Toomes's best efforts, Bestman Aerodynamics ended up losing out on the government contract to OsCorp. However, Norman Osborn took note of the designs that Bestman put forward and felt insulted by the fact that a "small-time old man" could produce such sophisticated technology.

Shortly after OsCorp acquired the contract, Osborn reached out directly to Toomes and offered him the chance to merge Bestman Aerodynamics into OsCorp so that both parties could benefit from the contract. Toomes refused because he didn't want to share the credit for his inventions with a man whose lifestyle and ethics he vehemently disliked. Osborn wouldn't take no for an answer, however, and the case ended up going to court. The judge ultimately ruled in favor of OsCorp, resulting in Bestman Aerodynamics being officially merged. As one final insult, Osborn fired Toomes immediately after the merger was complete, leaving Toomes without a steady income.

Toomes's financial situation was exacerbated further by his daughter's own unfortunate circumstances. Around the same time as when Bestman was merged into OsCorp, Ramona had ended a turbulent relationship with her then-boyfriend, Miguel Zacarias Drago, from which they had a son named Ranerio. Between her low-paying job, college stresses and Miguel's unwillingness to pay child support in defiance of court rulings, Ramona came to rely on her own parents for assistance in raising Ranerio.

Toomes, stressed out due to his situation, blamed Osborn for ruining his plans for an easy retirement. However, realizing that he still had enough supplies back in his garage to build a single flight suit, Toomes was inspired and immediately went to work.

After completing the flight harness, Toomes took out his old Air Force uniform and secretly set out on a series of robberies throughout the state of New York, hoping to use the money to secure his family's future before ultimately getting revenge on Osborn.