Credit: Marvel StudiosOne month has passed since director Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) slung into theaters across the globe. With it came the return of Tom Holland as the titular character fresh from his stint as a world-saving Avenger, and a whole host of Multiversal action spanning three huge franchises.
As the box office performance continues to swell, rumors and then un-rumors of Holland’s return in the future of the Spider-Man universe have swirled. Now, the actor has ignited a fresh bout of confusion after a seemingly cryptic speech.
Following on from Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2018), and lastly, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), No Way Home saw Holland return as Peter Parker, alongside real-life girlfriend, Zendaya (MJ), and Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds. Rather unsurprisingly following months of rumors, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire returned as their respective Spider-Man incarnations, joining their own franchise (Sam Raimi’s and Marc Webb’s) villains Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Lizard (Rhys Ifans), and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
Related: Marvel’s New Spider-Man Finally Speaks Out After Replacing Tom Holland
Holland has proven to be one of Marvel Studios’ most lucrative stars, delivering an incredible box office turn at the movie theaters, especially in the pandemic era of moviegoing. The Marvel Universe movie has stormed to the top of the charts worldwide and has become Sony Pictures’ most profitable film of all time.
The future is uncertain for Spidey, at least in the sense of whether the character will appear next in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe or the MCU. Amy Pascal has headlined Spider-Man for Sony since the start and her partnership with Marvel boss, Kevin Feige, has seen the character that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko made famous, soar in popularity and profitability.
At the end of last year, Pascal announced that — despite Holland’s contract reportedly being up after No Way Home — there was another trilogy featuring the Marvel star in the works. Speaking to Fandango (via The Hollywood Reporter), the Sony executive said:
“This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel — [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie,” Pascal said an in an interview with Fandango published Monday. “We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go on to the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.”
Related: Marvel Is Already Changing Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire Scenes in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’
However, following Pascal’s exciting announcement, which is a far cry from the events that transpired between the studios after Spider-Man: Far From Home (which saw a drunken Holland discuss the future of Spider-Man with former Disney CEO, Bob Iger), Marvel and Sony later confirmed that there were no official plans for a new trilogy. The studios do however remain on increasingly positive terms.
Now, Holland has once again sent the Marvel fandom into a frenzy after a speech delivered thanking fans and critics for their support of his latest feature film. Rotten Tomatoes shared the post:
@TomHolland1996 gives a massive THANK YOU to the critics and fans for #SpiderManNoWayHome’s three #GoldenTomato Award wins!
.@TomHolland1996 gives a massive THANK YOU to the critics and fans for #SpiderManNoWayHome's three #GoldenTomato Award wins! pic.twitter.com/ctYOblVYQs
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) January 14, 2022
In the video celebrating Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s status as Rotten Tomatoes Best-Reviewed Movie of 2021, Holland had this to say:
“Guys Spider-Man No Way Home has received three Golden Tomatoes, so I just wanted to say a massive thank you on behalf of everyone from Sony and Marvel, the critics, the fans who have shown so much love and respect and support for our movies. It means the world, and hopefully, we can do it again and again and again. But thank you, thank you, thank you. And we’ll see you soon.”
“Again and again and again.” Three agains? Trilogy? That may be reading too much between the lines but the fact that Holland is even referencing seeing fans again after his time is seemingly up as Spider-Man — he has shared the advice he would pass on to his future replacement as well as who his pick for the next web-slinger will be — is interesting to note.
Whether Holland will crossover completely into Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, joining the likes of Jared Leto’s Morbius and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter in movies of the same name, or will continue his tenure in the MCU, remains uncertain. After the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it seems safe to say that Holland’s journey could go either way. Whichever direction the studios take Spidey next, it is sure to feature Tom Holland in some capacity, and rightly so.
It would also be interesting to see Miles Morales crossover into live-action, or the return of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) as Spider-Gwen. And it could happen too, as we know the Multiverse is well and truly open for business.
Where do you think Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will appear next? Let us know in the comments down below!
Spider-Man: No Way Home also stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Marisa Tomei (May Parker), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), JK Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), and Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock).