Tom Holland Addresses Future of Spider-Man at D23 Amid Studio Wars

Ryan Lattanzio

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“Spider-Man: Far From Home” actor Tom Holland took to the D23 Expo main stage in Anaheim on Friday to address studio drama over who gets the rights to the Marvel character, which he has played in five MCU films beginning with 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” The titular web-slinger recently was forced to decamp the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper after Disney and Marvel Studios failed to broker a new deal with Sony.

“It’s been a crazy week, and I love you all from the bottom of my heart, and I love you 3000,” Holland said, referencing Tony Stark’s farewell line to his daughter in “Avengers: Endgame.” (Holland and Stark actor Robert Downey, Jr. recently took to Instagram to share a reunion on an outdoor hike.)

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Holland was in attendance at the Expo to tout his new animated fantasy film “Onward” from Disney and Pixar, where he stars opposite Chris Pratt, another MCU mainstay, as two teenage elf brothers trying to bring some life back into a magical world. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer also star. Check out a poster and still from the film, as revealed at D23, below.

The Disney and Sony fallout left Spider-Man in the lurch earlier this week, with the two major studios unable to reach a financing agreement that would ultimately secure Holland’s place in the MCU. Sony seems unwilling to share profits as it builds its own Spider-Man universe, which includes 2018’s animated smash “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

According to insiders at D23, a “memorial” is being held for Spider-Man’s excision from the MCU. Check out an image from the scene below.

This news arrived after “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” which is just about to be re-released in a few weeks, became Sony’s highest-grossing film of all time. Two more Spidey films are in development with Tom Holland attached to star and Jon Watts set to direct, but without Kevin Feige as lead creative producer.

Feige is busy enough, anyway, with a boatload of projects being unleashed in theaters and on Disney+ when it launches this November. Marvel is currently unveiling its slate of new titles at D23.

 

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