A few months ago, Marvel fans briefly had the rug pulled out from under them when it was announced that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man would no longer be appearing in the MCU. After killing it in five MCU films as the wall crawler, tensions between Sony and Disney caused Spidey to be pulled from appearing in future Marvel Studios produced films. Needless to say, fans were beside themselves. How could you end Spidey’s MCU story after the cliffhanger in Far From Home? Turns out, nobody was more upset about this development than Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland.
And it appears that one teary-eyed, drunken phone call involving the young British actor and Disney’s CEO Bob Iger is what got the ball rolling on bringing Spidey back in the MCU. The ever affable Holland appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week, ostensibly to promote his new animated movie Spies in Disguise. Eventually, Kimmel turned the conversation to he month-long cold war between Sony and Disney and Holland’s role in ending it. It turns out it all came down to a phone call with Iger… which occurred after Holland had several drinks.
You can listen to Holland tell the whole adorably sad story to Jimmy Kimmel around the 9:40 mark in the video above.
Sony Pictures
Although at first Holland downplays his role in making sure Peter Parker got to continue on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his Avengers pals, the ever-cheeky young actor more or less drops the whole humble act quickly. “I saved Spider-Man” he said. And with that, Kimmel’s live studio audience erupts in cheers and applause. He can be as humble as he wants to on camera, but they all know that Tom Holland is the hero in this particular Hollywood story.
Tom Holland also talked about hearing the news of the Sony-Disney breakup at D23 Expo back in August, where he couldn’t even take any photos with his fellow MCU actors. Technically, he was there to promote the new Pixar film Onward, and not anything Marvel related. But still, when you’re Marvel’s premiere character and you can’t pose for pics with the other Avengers? You know that’s gotta hurt.
Sony Pictures
Fortunately for us all, that drunken phone call was all it took to get “mom and dad to make up,” so to speak. Although the deal is technically for one more Spider-Man film, plus another Marvel Studios team up movie, this gives both studios time to iron out the kinks to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I think it’s safe to say we all want to see Tom Holland keep playing Peter Parker until he’s 40. Let him finish high school, go through the college years, and eventually see Peter take over Stark Industries. Yeah, that doesn’t happen in the comics. But Tony Stark isn’t dead in the comics either. We can make room for a little change.
Tom Holland’s next Spider-Man film is scheduled for release in the summer of 2021.
Featured Image: Sony Pictures
