What Spider-Man Leaving The MCU Means For Tom Holland
What will this friendly neighborhood Spider-Man do upon changing neighborhoods?
With the bombshell report that Spider-Man will be leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Sony and Disney couldn't come to a deal over revenue sharing, everyone has wondered what will happen to current web-head Tom Holland. Since being cast as Peter Parker in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, Holland has been riding the whirlwind Marvel train to superstardom. Building on the hype from that first appearance, the actor has garnered nothing but love from fans after headlining two Spidey films (Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home) and starring in two Avengers movies (Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame). Holland has become an important figure in the MCU — being the heir apparent to Tony Stark's legacy — and in Hollywood at large in a relatively short amount of time. However, leaving the MCU could have major repercussions for Holland at an important moment in his career.
Not one to rest on his superhero laurels, Holland has a whopping seven films in different stages of production as of August 2019. The 23-year-old is doing everything from voice work in projects like Pixar's Onward, period pieces like the post-WWII drama The Devil All the Time, and blockbusters like the video game movie Uncharted. It's safe to say the projects will keep lining up for Holland as long as he's front and center in critically-acclaimed, billion-dollar-grossing mega-hits. But if Spider-Man is out of the MCU, then Holland's next two appearances as the wall-crawler are in the sole hands of Sony — and those hands don't exactly have the steadiest grasp on what fans are looking for.
While Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was an animated success that's still fresh in the minds of the film-loving public, Sony hasn't had a genuine non-animated Spider-Man hit since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 – and that debuted over 15 years ago. Disney and Marvel printed money for over a decade with their MCU films, while Sony executives were taking numerous Spider-Man related pictures in and out of production, desperately trying to get a hold on what they wanted their own big-screen comic book universe to be. After the groundwork laid down by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, Sony can realistically just carry on like nothing has changed and trudge along with their own plans for Spider-Man. Some may call foul, but it looks like fair game.
Looking ahead, there are tons of places this decision could take Holland and the other films in its Spider-Man universe. Could the end of the Sony-Disney partnership mean Holland and Tom Hardy's Venom will headline a movie together? Will Holland even want to stay on as Spider-Man going forward after his current contract runs out? Only time (and some statements from Sony) can answer those questions.
Thus far, Holland has remained silent regarding the break-up, though fans are surely wondering what's on his mind. Leaving the Spider-Man suit behind can be a difficult career move — just ask Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.