Lin-Manuel Miranda has opened up about the major Marvel role he passed on, explaining that stepping away from the opportunity was the right move for his marriage and family life.
The award-winning Hamilton creator addressed a long-discussed casting near-miss while appearing on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Miranda said he was originally approached to play Adrian Toomes, the villain better known as Vulture, in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
According to him, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige personally called to walk him through the plot of Tom Holland’s first standalone Spider-Man film.
Although Miranda was thrilled by the idea, the timing quickly became the deciding factor. When he asked about the production schedule, he learned filming would begin just as he wrapped his demanding 18-month run on Broadway as Alexander Hamilton in 2016.
Faced with the prospect of finishing one exhausting commitment only to jump straight into another huge production, Miranda decided he needed to put his home life first.
“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,'” Miranda laughed, recalling his blunt rejection to the head of Marvel.
“God, that would have been terrible. I would have been so miscast.”
The part eventually went to Michael Keaton, whose take on Toomes became one of the most celebrated villain performances in the MCU. His version of the character, a blue-collar worker pushed into criminal arms dealing, earned strong praise from both critics and audiences.
Reflecting on it now, Miranda said he has no second thoughts about turning the movie down and was full of praise for the actor who ultimately took the role.
“Michael Keaton was perfect,” Miranda admitted. “They found exactly who they needed. I have no regrets. I needed a vacation so badly.”
Even so, Miranda said he still played a small part in the movie’s early development. He recalled Feige telling him that his enthusiastic reaction to the original pitch helped reassure the studio that the story would connect with audiences.
Since then, Miranda has remained closely tied to major Disney projects, contributing music to films including Moana, Encanto, and Mufasa: The Lion King, while continuing to balance film, theater and family life. His current slate also includes new stage and screen work, underscoring the same point he made about the Marvel offer: not every big opportunity is the right one at the right time.