diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb
index 65cbdbe92b..32161e4286 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils/curl.rb
@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ module Utils
     end
 
     def parse_headers(headers)
+      return {} unless headers
+
       headers.split("\n").to_h do |h|
         partitioned = h.partition(": ")
         [partitioned.first, partitioned.last]
@@ -145,10 +147,9 @@ module Utils
         end
       end
 
-
-      args += ["--location", "--remote-time", "--output", destination]
+      args = ["--location", "--remote-time", "--output", destination] + args
       # continue-at shouldn't be used with servers that don't support partial requests.
-      args += ["--continue-at", "-"] if destination.exist? && supports_partial
+      args = ["--continue-at", "-"] + args if destination.exist? && supports_partial
 
       curl(*args, **options)
     end