Tom Holland Says He's Still Spider-Man After Emotional Moment at D23

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ANAHEIM – Tom Holland was at the D23 Expo to talk to Disney fans about his new upcoming Pixar film “Onward” but it was his comments about the character he’s most known for that made the most news.  A character that just happens to be at the center of a dispute between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures after the $1.1 billion success of “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”

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The now 23-year-old actor initially ad-libbed his departure from the D23 stage by stating, “Hey, it’s been a crazy week but I want you to know I am grateful from the bottom of my heart and I love you 3,000.” That “Avengers: Endgame” reference seemed to indicate that Holland might still be trying to use his leverage (he reportedly has an option on a third solo film)  to get both studios back to the bargaining table to collaborate on a third picture.  That doesn’t seem to be the case.

In an interview with EW and People backstage at D23 Holland noted, “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.”

READ MORE: Spider-Man Studio Drama: It’s Just Business For Disney & Sony [The Discourse Podcast]

Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios who produced the last two “Spider-Man” films, added, “I’m feeling about Spider-Man gratitude and joy. We got to make five films within the MCU with Spider-Man: two standalone films and three with the Avengers. It was a dream that I never thought would happen. It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that we’d be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

Spider-Man’s movie rights have been licensed to Sony Pictures since the early 2000’s following a complicated string of failed earlier efforts. Sony had produced five “Spider-Man” films with two different Peter Parkers – Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield – before the disappointing box office results of “Amazing Spider-Man 2” in 2014.  During that period Marvel Studios had appeared as a major creative force with hits such as “Iron Man,” “Thor” and the first “Avengers” film.  Fans dreamed of having Spider-Man join up with his fellow Marvel characters but as with previous Marvel Entertainment agreements from decades prior, as long as the studios kept making a new film every three years (or thereabouts) the film rights would not revert back to Marvel.

The failure of the second Garfield movie found both parties forming a rare partnership to reboot the franchise. Feige and then Sony Chairman Amy Pascal came up with an agreement in 2015 to share the rights to Spider-Man in two Sony Pictures and for Marvel to be able to integrate him into the MCU.  That meant a new Spider-Man, Holland, debuting in “Captain America: Civil War” before his official re-launch in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Sony distributed and had a final creative say on their films, but Feige, along with Pascal (no longer the head of the studio), were both producers. Holland’s version of Spider-Man became more popular after appearing in the global smashes “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” the former becoming the highest-grossing movie of all-time.  Marvel was able to bring Spidey into the MCU for its peak creative moment and Sony got the cache of having their no. 1 franchise be an “Avenger.”

Last week news broke that talks had broken down between the studios over partnering on a third “Spider-Man” film and keeping Holland’s character in the MCU.  Disney wanted a bigger share of the pie (clarified to 30% after initial reports of 50%) and Sony, now under Tom Rothman’s prevue, refused.  Despite familiar Marvel faces such as Jon Favreau and Jeremey Renner hoping for reconciliation, it appears the window is now truly closing on Spider-Man’s involvement in upcoming Marvel Studios films.

For now, at least.