Tom Holland has finally directly addressed the Underoos in the room. He's going to continue to play Spider-Man, and has a positive attitude about the future, whatever it holds. He shared a full statement on the MCU matter during Disney's D23 event.
It has been several days since the bomb dropped that Sony and Marvel were planning to end their shared custody agreement over Spider-Man in Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige's MCU movies. Tom Holland shared photos with Iron Man Robert Downey Jr., but didn't mention the news that was worrying fans. He later shared love for fans from the D23 stage while promoting Onward, hinting to the "crazy week" without saying anything specific.
However, after the D23 panel, Tom Holland and Kevin Feige both opened up to EW about the Sony/Marvel split. Here's how Holland (and probably his publicity team) gave the news a hopeful and positive spin:
Basically, we’ve made five great movies. It’s been five amazing years. I’ve had the time of my life. Who knows what the future holds? But all I know is that I’m going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. It’s going to be so fun, however we choose to do it. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.
Fans may want to cling to "Who knows what the future holds?" in the hope that Disney and Marvel will come to a financial agreement and keep Spider-Man in the MCU.
It's sad, though, to hear Tom Holland speak of the five amazing movies like he's graduating from the MCU. He was in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. He was supposed to be with us for at least one more MCU movie, following Far From Home. But the future seemed bright and endless even from there, not only for Peter Parker, but for other MCU crossover characters like Happy Hogan. (What's going to happen with him and Aunt May now? Didn't think of THAT did you, Sony and Marvel suits?)
It's hard to imagine how Tom Holland's Spider-Man could be "even cooler," especially if he's divorced from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it's not like Sony has nothing going on, and that seems to be part of why they don't want to give Disney a 50/50 split. They have enough going on through their own merits at the moment, thanks to the success of Venom, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, not to mention the two shared movies with Marvel Studios, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home. The latter recently became Sony's highest-grossing movie of all time.
Sony is now growing its own "Sony's Marvel Universe," following Venom with a sequel directed by Andy Serkis, along with Jared Leto's Morbius. There was always a question of whether Tom Holland's Spider-Man would appear, since he was a no-show in Venom, and the silver lining here is that just got a lot more likely.
Stay tuned for more updates and answers, and maybe changes if Disney/Marvel and Sony can come up with a deal.
