Why do criminals become criminals? Sometimes they’re just crazy. Other times, the feel oppressed by society. In some cases they are just trying to feed their family. In this clip, we see Adrian Toomes, a regular guy who has a contract with the City of New York to clean up a site after the massive Avengers fight to save the planet from an alien invasion. Just as the project is getting under way, a government official shows up and tells Toomes that his services are no longer required. Toomes is baffled. He invested heavily in capital and labor to complete this task and if he loses the contract his finances could be ruined.
Rather than comply with the government’s order, Toomes decides to start his own salvage operation. One of his employees creates all kinds of interesting things with the alien technology and Toomes begins selling it on the blackmarket. Decked out in a wild pair of wings, Toomes has become the Vulture, scavenging alien parts that his operation will turn into weapons.
The economics of crime is based on the presumption that not all criminals are insane. Some of them weigh the costs and benefits of engaging in crime and find that, every so often, crime probably does pay. For Toomes, that calculus has a tremendous financial upside.
