Tom Holland Thought He’d Be Fired From MCU After Captain America: Civil War

Tom Holland was convinced that Marvel Studios was going to fire him after Captain America: Civil War. The actor debuted as the MCU's Spider-Man in the Joe and Anthony Russo film, pitting Steve Rogers against Tony Stark. Despite the generally positive feedback from his introduction, Holland reveals that there was a point that he had a gut feeling that he was going to be booted out of the job even before the movie came out in theaters.

So far, Holland has reprised the role of Peter Parker four more times after Civil War. The events of the 2016 film directly led to his first solo adventure in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It's then followed by MCU culminating movies Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He also closed out the Infinity Saga with Spider-Man: Far From Home, which functioned as the overall arc's epilogue. Now, he's set on appearing in his third standalone flick, with the untitled Spider-Man 3 set to hit theaters this December. Considering how beloved this version of the web-slinging hero is, it's difficult to believe that Holland initially thought that his stint was only going to be in Civil War.

Speaking to fellow MCU star Daniel Kaluuya on Variety's Actors on Actors, Holland recalled his start in the MCU. He traced it back to the rigorous audition process, which included doing test screenings with Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans separately. Ultimately, the actor booked the job, but even after he finished work on Civil War, he had a nagging feeling that he will lose his MCU gig. Interestingly, however, he says that there's no reason why he thought that.

“From the moment of shooting ‘Civil War’ to ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ I was convinced they were going to fire me. I don’t know why. ‘Civil War’ hadn’t come out yet, and I just didn’t hear anything from anyone. I can’t really explain it. It was awful, but they didn’t — obviously. It’s been crazy, mate. I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Looking back at Holland's time as Spider-Man, it sounds a little bit silly that he was stressed about getting fired after just one project. As of now, he's played the iconic Marvel hero the longest, passing his predecessors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The Russos, who were instrumental in the casting process, have been vocal about their good fortunes in landing Holland. He's not only able to do his own stunts but also got great chemistry with his co-stars, particularly Downey. Interestingly, Holland's Spider-Man was almost pulled out of the MCU following a brief conflict between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Fortunately, they eventually came up with a new agreement that will have the character remain in the universe in the foreseeable future, with his next project being the Christmas-set Spider-Man 3.

At this point, there's no end in sight yet for Holland's Spider-Man, given his popularity. Granted that not everyone's a fan of how Marvel Studios' treatment of the character as he's often dubbed Iron Man Jr. by naysayers, the majority of fans are happy with how his arc is going on in the MCU. The wall-crawler is about to be more important in the MCU as Spider-Man 3 is set to be a cornerstone for the franchise's multiverse. Taking all this into consideration, fortunately, Holland couldn't be any more wrong with his Captain America: Civil War prediction.

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Source: Variety