Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' Spider-Man actor Tom Holland attends Disney's D23 Expo 2019 to promote his Pixar movie, Onward; some attendees chant "Save Spider-Man" and Holland says he loves his fans 3000. There's been a great deal of uncertainty lately pertaining to Holland's Spider-Man in the MCU. Earlier this week, it was reported that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige would no longer be producing Sony's Spider-Man movies, which put the wall-crawler's future in the MCU into question. After all, since Feige oversees the MCU, if he's no longer involved with Spider-Man, the presumption is that Peter Parker will exit the MCU.
In the days since that initial report, Sony issued a statement on the Spider-Man deal negotiations, explaining their side of why discussions between the two studios broke down. Disney has remained relatively mum on the subject, especially with their biannual D23 Expo planned for this weekend. On Saturday Aug. 24, the Mouse House held its Walt Disney Studios panel, where Feige was on hand to promote upcoming Marvel releases like Eternals and Black Widow. While there was no mention of Spider-Man during Marvel's portion of the panel, Holland was brought out later, to promote his upcoming Pixar movie, Onward, in which he stars alongside fellow MCU actor Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy's Star-Lord).
When Holland and Pratt came out on stage to promote Onward, multiple journalists in attendance of the event - including THR's Borys Kit and Aaron Couch as well as ComicBook's Brandon Davis - reported to have heard brief chants of "Save Spider-Man" from the crowd. Then, after Pixar screened eight minutes of Onward, which Holland and Pratt stuck around to watch, the Spider-Man actor concluded his time on stage by saying, "It’s been a crazy week, but I want to let you know from the bottom of my heart, I love you 3000."
Holland's comments at the D23 Disney movie panel are the first time he's responded publicly to the current situation between Sony Pictures and Disney/Marvel regarding Spider-Man. Though the actor has still been active on social media, even posting photos from a hike he and Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. went on earlier this week, he has refrained from commenting on the reports regarding Spider-Man's status in the MCU. That is, until now. It's no surprise Holland at least vaguely referenced the Spider-Man chaos, given his notorious penchant for not being able to keep spoilers secret. And attendees were eager to hear from him since it's been at the forefront of fans' minds during D23. (It doesn't help that Disney included Spider-Man in their Avengers Campus Disneyland attraction and Spider-Man even appears on Marvel's D23 banner.)
However, now that Holland has opened the floodgates, he'll no doubt be further questioned by the press about his thoughts on the Sony and Marvel situation. It's unlikely he'll take as firm a stance as Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner, who pleaded with Sony to let Spider-Man stay in the MCU (though further reports on Sony and Disney's negotiations indicate it's not quite as simple as that). More likely, Holland will reconfirm he's still contracted for at least one more Spider-Man movie and won't take sides between Sony and Disney/Marvel. After all, Holland is working with both studios on upcoming projects, with another Spider-Man movie set at Sony (not to mention his long in-development Uncharted movie) and the upcoming Pixar movie, Onward. As for what happens to Spider-Man, his future in the MCU remains to be seen.