vulture

1. any of various very large diurnal birds of prey of the genera Neophron, Gyps, Gypaetus, etc., of Africa, Asia, and warm parts of Europe, typically having broad wings and soaring flight and feeding on carrion: family Accipitridae (hawks)

2. any similar bird of the family Cathartidae of North, Central, and South America

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Vulture

(pop culture)

Swooping into writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko's The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #2 (1963), the avaricious Vulture was the wallcrawler's first costumed foe (the Chameleon, the supervillain in issue #1, wore a mask, not a costume). No spring chicken, Adrian Toomes, the bald, beak-nosed, and sinewy senior partner of an electronics company, turns to crime once his conniving associate swindles his corporate profits. Donning an electromagnetic flying harness of his own design, the resentful Toomes accouters himself in a jade-hued, feathered outfit, and as the Vulture he vengefully strikes against his former colleague. Relishing the gifts of flight and enhanced strength afforded him by his harness, he becomes an airborne cat burglar, gliding silently from Manhattan rooftops and filching valuables from nescient prey. Spider-Man swings into his path, and after initially being beaten by the fluttering thief the web-slinger clips the Vulture's wings with a handheld apparatus that negates Toomes' anti-gravity device. Amazing Spider-Man #2's “Duel to the Death with the Vulture!” marked the first time Peter Parker—the friendly neighborhood superhero's youthful alter ego—secretly snapped photos of himself in action against the supervillains he encountered. Borrowing from his Aunt May a camera that belonged to his late Uncle Ben, Peter sold his exclusive aerial photos of the Vulture to publisher J. Jonah Jameson, beginning a long-standing relationship between the two. The Vulture returned in issue #7, having modified his flying harness but being trounced once again by Spider-Man. He joined Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, and Mysterio as the original Sinister Six in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964), and was soon caged by the wallcrawler. In Amazing Spider-Man #48 (1967), the imprisoned Toomes violated the cardinal rule of penitentiary conduct—never confide in your cellmate—and, believing he was on his deathbed, told fellow con Blackie Drago the location of his hidden Vulture ensemble, having Drago vow to take wing to exact revenge upon Spider-Man. Drago had other ideas— lining his pockets through aerial thievery—but once he busted out of jail and became the new Vulture, he inevitably found himself in Spidey's sights. After a brief crime spree as the Vulture II, Drago was challenged by Toomes himself, fully recovered and back in the air, who defeated the usurper and reclaimed his Vulture mantle. A third Vulture briefly appeared in the mid- 1970s—Dr. Clifton Shallot, a university professor and bio-mutation scientist to whose body the Vulture uniform melded. The Vulturions, thieves who appropriated Toomes' technology, tried to take over the villain's roost in 1985. Yet Adrian Toomes, the one true Vulture, has bested all comers to resume his perch as one of Spidey's most retaliatory enemies, attacking the hero numerous times over the decades with his ability to soar at nearly 100 mph to heights of over 11,000 feet. Like the predator from which he takes his name, the Vulture will not rest until he picks apart Spider-Man's carcass. The Vulture was played by Paul Soles (also the voice of Spidey) in the animated cartoon Spider- Man (1967–1970) and by Eddie (Green Acres) Albert in the 1994–1998 Spidey toon. Scott McNeil voiced a parallel-world Vulture in three episodes of FOX Kids' Spider-Man Unlimited (1999–2001).

What does it mean when you dream about a vulture?

A vulture is a bird that feeds on carrion (dead animals). Popular culture has further invested them with the associated trait of waiting for something to die. So a dream about a vulture often reflects a situation in our waking life in which we feel that someone else is waiting for us to die, or death in a less literal way, such as waiting for us to fail. A vulture dream can, of course, represent the opposite situation in which we are waiting for someone or something else to die or to fail.

vulture

[′vəl·chər]

(vertebrate zoology)

The common name for any of various birds of prey in the families Cathartidae and Accipitridae of the order Falconiformes; the head of these birds is usually naked.