The Marvel Cinematic Universe first introduced Tom Holland as Peter Parker back in 2015's Captain America: Civil War. Since then, the actor has reprised his role as the wall-crawler four times with a fifth, Spider-Man: No Way Home, on the horizon.
However, with five Marvel films under his belt, many thought that Holland's tenure would be up. That doesn't seem to be the case. As Sony plans for another Spidey trilogy, the actor is reportedly staying as the face of the webhead for years to come.
Tom Holland is excited for more Spider-Man films
In an interview with Extra, Holland was asked about a recent statement to GQ about his willingness to continue his superhero role. During the GQ interview, the actor told the outlet: “If I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.”
Just a couple of weeks after, the actor has followed up on his statement in an interview with Extra. Now, Holland claims that his comments were “misconstrued” into something more controversial than he intended. He explained:
"[The GQ quote is] just a perfect example of how everything you say is misconstrued. No one actually speaks the truth. I don't know what the future of Spider-Man looks like. I don't know whether I'm going to be a part of it. Spider-Man will always live on in me, and I know that [Amy Pascal] and the studio are keen to figure out what the next chapter of Spider-Man will look like. If that happens to be with me, that's very exciting. If it's time for me to walk away, then I'll do so proudly."
Read More: Sony is working on a live-action Miles Morales movie
Time for a more diverse webhead
Holland explained that staying as the title Spider-Man would stop the character from becoming more diverse. This means that Sony and the MCU would stay with Peter Parker instead of moving to Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy or Cindy Moon.
He said:
"[What] I was referring to in that interview where I said 'If I was playing Spider-Man when I'm 30, I've done something wrong,' is [that] I'd be taking an opportunity [for] someone to come in and change what being Spider-Man means. Spider-Man could be more diverse. It could be a female character; it could be anything. So that's what I was saying, and thanks to the journalist for changing that. I really appreciate it."
Marvel has often pushed for a more diverse cast in its comics for decades. However, when creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many of the characters were based on the earliest versions of their comic book counterparts.
Just like the comics, this is changing. Sam Wilson is now Captain America, Kate Bishop is becoming Hawkeye and Riri Williams is becoming Ironheart. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is slowly becoming as diverse as its comics. Of course, just like comic books, Marvel will certainly be hard-pressed to move past Peter Parker.
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