Tom Holland's Spider-Man Replacement Speaks Out After Damaging Comments Come To Light

As Marvel fans anticipate updates on the fourth Spider-Man film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new controversy put the web-slinger back in the spotlight—but not for reasons anyone expected.

Since first suiting up in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has become a cornerstone of the MCU.

His standalone trilogy—Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)—blended high school drama with superhero spectacle, culminating in a multiversal showdown that brought together Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield.

With nearly $2 billion in global box office earnings, No Way Home became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. However, since its release, the MCU has faced box office struggles, with Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) marking a recent return to form.

Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the film followed Pixar’s Inside Out 2 (2024) in crossing the billion-dollar mark, with Moana 2 (2024) hitting the milestone in early 2025. Marvel failed to pick up Deadpool’s momentum, though, with February’s release of Captain America: Brave New World (2025) hitting just $371 million worldwide.

Despite the overwhelming success of No Way Home, progress on Spider-Man 4 has been slow. Tom Holland previously confirmed that development was stalled due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.

However, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige reassured fans in mid-2024 that the project was moving forward. Holland later announced in late 2024 that Spider-Man 4 would begin filming in summer 2025, with a release set for July 2026, following Avengers: Doomsday (2026).

Meanwhile, the animated side of Spider-Man’s universe has been expanding. Marvel Animation’s What If…?, which premiered in 2021, reimagined key MCU moments with an alternate spin. While many actors reprised their roles, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Holland were among those who did not, with Hudson Thames stepping in to voice Peter Parker.

Thames’ involvement has continued with Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, formerly Spider-Man: Freshman Year.

Marvel confirmed his return at D23 Expo, alongside an impressive voice cast that includes Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Eugene Byrd as Lonnie Lincoln, Grace Song as Nico Minoru, Hugh Dancy as Otto Octavius, Kari Wahlgren as May Parker, Zeno Robinson as Harry Osborn, and Paul F. Tompkins as Bentley Whittman.

The Disney+ series follows an alternate timeline where Osborn mentors Peter Parker instead of Tony Stark, setting him on a vastly different trajectory. However, what should have been an exciting launch for the show was overshadowed by controversy surrounding Thames’ comments.

During an interview with Collider, Thames was asked about the show’s direction and made remarks that immediately sparked backlash.

“I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn’t, and I was like, ‘Yes, this is great, it’s so well written,’ like it feels real,” Thames said. “I’m the oldest of five boys, so I feel like I kind of know what’s happening in their lives and in high school, and it felt like it was doing that justice.”

In recent years, the term “woke” has become politically charged, often used negatively to criticize diversity and inclusion efforts. Social media quickly reacted, with many fans calling for Thames to be recast.

Now, over a month on since those comments came to light during the run of the now-concluded Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Hudson Thames has addressed what he said.

“So, obviously, something that I said was cherry-picked and used essentially with no context just to kind of stir up some drama,” Thames told Juju Green/Straw Hat Goofy earlier this month.

“We were talking about that little period of time before the show came out, and I was noticing a lot of comments online that I was getting, that was either people being nervous or expressing concern that the show was using topics of diversity and equality in an inauthentic or disingenuous way.”

Disney, in more recent years, has often been the target of so-called “anti-woke” supporters who claim the Mouse House prioritizes diversity and inclusion over the project itself.

This was seen in the studio’s live-action remake catalog, with movies such as Peter Pan & Wendy (2023), The Little Mermaid (2023), and the upcoming Disney’s Snow White (2025) all stirring discourse due to the casting of its main characters.

In the animated field, recent movies like 2022’s Lightyear and Strange World drew ire for their LGBTQIAP+ representation, with the latter featuring Disney Animation’s first openly gay teen character. However, on the flip side, the company received backlash when a transgender storyline was removed from Pixar’s longform Win or Lose series on Disney+.

“It made me defensive, like I wanted to kind of defend our show a little bit. It was such a poor choice of words. My point was that our show doesn’t have to do that, it doesn’t have to pull any tricks. Jeff [Trammell] did such a brilliant job, in my opinion, of writing what he knew,” the voice actor added. “Equality and diversity was just already baked into the story he wrote, and nothing felt forced, I suppose, so I was really just trying to compliment the grace in which that all plays out in the show, and ironically, it’s what attracted me to the show so much in the first place.”

When it comes to Jeff Trammell, the director previously spoke on the issue not long after Thames’ initial comments went public.

“Ha, I love Hudson and didn’t focus too much on what he said,” Trammell wrote on Reddit. “I believe he simply misspoke, and I know that’s been weighing on him. I think we made a fantastic show that is going to appeal to a wide audience and hopefully captures what I love about this Spider-Man: that he’s a guy who cares deeply about the people around him and always tries to do the right thing.”

Beyond Holland’s portrayal, the Spider-Man legacy continues across multiple adaptations. Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007) set the stage for modern superhero films, while Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology (2012, 2014) offered a more emotionally driven take on Peter Parker.

The animated Spider-Verse films introduced audiences to Miles Morales, with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) earning an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), continued Morales’ journey, with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse currently in development.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage is set to return as Spider-Man Noir in a live-action series from MGM+ and Amazon Prime.

With Spider-Man’s future spanning live-action, animation, and multiversal storytelling, the legacy of the beloved character remains as strong as ever—though the latest controversy shows that not every part of the web-slinger’s story is without turbulence.

How do you feel about these recent developments? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!