Credit: Marvel Studios/Sony PicturesThere have been many iterations of Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ web-slinging teenage superhero, Peter Parker (AKA Spider-Man), over the years. But perhaps none are as widely appreciated as Tom Holland, who made his MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War (2017). Now, following three massively successful solo movies and memorable roles in both Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), it sounds like the actor might be preparing to retire the Spidey suit in pursuit of non-franchise roles, according to a recent interview.
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From Spider-Man (2002) alum Tobey Maguire to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) star Andrew Garfield, dozens of actors have adopted the iconic superhero moniker for numerous movies and TV shows since the character was introduced in Marvel comics back in August 1962. With lengthy lore and thousands of iterations across different mediums, Spider-Man is unquestionably one of the most recognizable figures in pop culture today, made all the more in-demand by Sony and Marvel’s Homecoming trilogy and the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).
Filmmakers have had a bit of fun exploring the concept of a Spider-Man “Multiverse” in recent years, with the three most prominent live-action Spideys (Holland, Garfield, and Maguire) joining forces for the critically acclaimed Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Although the MCU flick introduced some exciting plot threads that could see Maguire and Garfield’s Peter Parkers returning to help lead the TVA’s Multiversal Army against Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), the still-unconfirmed Spider-Man 4, which would see the return of Holland, has yet to receive much of any official update whatsoever.
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Demand is certainly high for Holland’s comeback as the MCU’s “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,” especially considering the cliffhanger ending of No Way Home, which saw Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) erasing MJ (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds’ (Jacob Batalon) memories of Peter in its final moments. With the door wide open for his admittedly uncertain return, only time will tell when, or if, Holland will appear somewhere down the line, perhaps for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2026) or Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Until then, Holland recently voiced his thoughts on the “Marvel machine” during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in which he spoke on his desire to explore non-superhero roles in the future.
As Holland starts to re-emerge from his brief acting hiatus, he was asked where he sees himself going from here. Although the actor’s post-Spider-Man career hasn’t exactly shown much promise due to lackluster reception to his leading roles in Apple TV+ miniseries The Crowded Room and Sony’s video game adaptation, Uncharted (2022), Holland revealed that he wants to continue to “do things that scare [him]” and “make [him] uncomfortable:”
I want to do things that scare me, things that make me uncomfortable. When you do what we do, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. [The Crowded Room] is a perfect example of that. [Benedict Cumberbatch] is consistently telling me, if you don’t commit, they won’t believe you. The reason I wasn’t committing is because I was afraid. I’ve never done anything like this before. I got so used to the Marvel machine and the safety blanket of Spider-Man, feeling like I was protected. So, doing something like this was incredibly scary, but because it was so scary, it was so fulfilling and so rewarding. Going forward, if there’s something that I feel like I can’t do, I want to do that one. Playing a sort of stupid English doofus is not what I want to do because that’s my life, right?
Holland is undoubtedly correct in saying that his recurring Marvel gig feels like a “safety blanket” of sorts, especially when considering that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige used to make actors sign ten-year contracts to ensure their commitment to the franchise. While that controversial footnote has since been omitted from MCU contracts, actors like Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, and Brie Larson have stuck around post-Endgame for various sequels and Disney+ TV shows, and Holland is no exception.
It’s also interesting to hear Holland refer to his Spider-Man gig in the past tense, given that that his tenure at Marvel is far from over — or so we think, at least. Although a fourth Holland-led Spider-Man movie isn’t a priority for the superhero studio at the moment, Sony head honcho Tom Rothman did tell Deadline last year that Sony “hopes to get working on the next Spider-Man movie” with “that whole group” from the existing trilogy, presumably, referring to Holland, Batalon, and Zendaya. Feige also revealed to EW in February that they “have the story” already, and scriptwriters were “just putting pen to paper” at the time.
Of course, these statements were issued before the historic WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which brought all Hollywood productions to a standstill for over four months. Disney and Marvel have since been forced to reshuffle much of their Phase Five and Phase Six release schedule, meaning Spider-Man 4 will probably take a back seat unless the story is pivotal to audiences’ understanding of The Kang Dynasty.
Ultimately, even if Tom Holland’s career took somewhat of a stumble with the mixed reactions to The Crowded Room, he still considers the experience to be “so fulfilling and so rewarding.” This could signal that the actor is looking to expand his prospects beyond Marvel, and justifiably so, considering he’s donned the Spidey suit since he was just 18 years old. As he gets older and continues to bulk up his portfolio, it’s understandable that Holland would want to take more risks moving forward. Still, fans of his take on Peter Parker can only hope that he’ll stick around long enough to earn his happily ever after before saying goodbye to the MCU.
Which Spider-Man actor is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!