This is a test... that works.Information on the 2019 sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, titled Far From Home, is ramping up but today we're learning that Spider-Man's first standalone movie in the MCU could have featured a direct reference to Michael Keaton's 1989 appearance as Batman. Of course, there was no shortage of Batman jokes floating around the Internet at the time that Keaton was confirmed to appear as Homecoming's main villain Vulture - with many fans musing at Keaton's amusing relationship with superhero cinema from Batman to Birdman to Vulture in the MCU.Table of Contents:

Nevertheless, Keaton proved to be a strong counterpoint to Tom Holland's young and inexperienced Spidey - punctuated by a very "human" story of a father trying to provide for his family. No doubt, Vulture's methods were extreme but, even before the film's big "twist" was revealed, Keaton had already grounded his sinister baddie with enough sincerity and relatable motivations to ensure the character successfully highlighted interesting aspects of Holland's Peter Parker.

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So what happened in the aforementioned outtake? According to Holland (speaking to a live audience at Ace Comic-Con in Seattle), the pair was filming Homecoming's climactic scene - in which Parker rescues Vulture from flaming debris - and Keaton dropped a classic Batman movie line.

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That all said, while lines like "I'm Batman" might be fun for comic book diehards and students of pop culture, there's no question the line and any laughs it might have generated would have undercut what was most important at the moment: Peter Parker defining his Spider-Man to the first supervillain he defeated.

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It's an important moment - one that, in combination with the other decisions that Parker makes throughout the movie, sums up this Spider-Man's moral code at a point where he, himself, is still trying to decide what kind of superhero he will become.

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Why does Spider-Man save Vulture? Simple: In Parker's mind, it's obvious: Spider-Man saves people - even if that means saving villains from their own evil deeds. It's a sentiment that seems to have inspired Vulture as well - given that the villain resists the temptation to out Parker as Spider-Man in Homecoming's post-credits scene.

In that context, it's easy to understand that, no matter how tempting it might have been to include that nod to Keaton's iconic turn as 1989's Batman, it would have trivialized a pivotal moment for Holland's Spider-Man now. Instead, it's a fun anecdote for Holland to share after the fact - albeit one that fans will, without a doubt, hope to see slip online eventually.

That or Keaton could always try to slip the line in, for real, when Vulture returns in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

NEXT: Why Spider-Man Homecoming 2 Is Far From Home

Source: Ace Comic-Con (via Comic Book)