Tom Holland Talks Making Projects That Distance From ‘The Marvel Machine and Spider-Man’s Security Blanket’

It’s kind of funny how actors are initially so excited when they get cast in a Marvel movie and say, “This is cool, I can do this forever!” Then a few years later they say, “Damn… I can’t wait to get out there and make real movies and play really interesting characters.” If this is how Marvel actors feel, Marvel definitely needs to step up their game!

During a recent interview with THR, the Spider-Man actor Tom Holland he talked about how he wants to work on other projects like The crowded room AND Cherry, projects that make him uncomfortable and distance him from “the Marvel machine and Spider-Man’s security blanket.” He explained:

“I want to do things that scare me, things that make me uncomfortable. When you do what we do, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. This show is a perfect example of that. Ben constantly tells me, if you don’t commit yourself, they won’t believe you. The reason I wasn’t putting in the effort is because I was scared. I’ve never done anything like this before. I got so used to the Marvel machine and Spider-Man’s security blanket, feeling protected. So, doing something like that was incredibly scary, but because it was so scary, it was so fulfilling and rewarding. Going forward, if there’s something I feel like I can’t do, I want to do that. Playing some kind of stupid English idiot is not what I want to do because this is my life, right?”

I get it, things get boring and uninteresting after playing a character for so long. When it gets to that point, it’s up to the creative team to start mixing things up to make the characters interesting again. Meanwhile, as Marvel figures out what they’re doing, actors like Holland are going out looking for real projects that will get them excited about acting again. They’re looking for characters to play that push them to their limits because Marvel can’t accommodate them.

This is why Holland seems so concerned about doing Spider-Man 4. The actor previously explained that he wanted to “protect [Spider-Man’s] legacy” and says he doesn’t want to “do another one just for the sake of doing another one.”

“All I can say is that we’ve been actively engaged in conversations about what a fourth take on my character might look like. Whether or not we can find a way to do the character justice is another thing. I feel very protective of Spider-Man. I feel very, very lucky that we got to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect its legacy. So , I’m not going to do another one for the sake of doing another one. It’s going to have to be worth the character.”

The actor previously said he would be “the luckiest guy in the world” if he continued to play Spider-Man for the rest of his life. However, he went on to say that if “we can’t find a way to compete with the third, he’ll ride off into the sunset.”

Holland also said there’s a part of him that wants to distance himself from Spider-Man, saying, “It was me, Amy, [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige, [executive producer] Rachel [O’Connor], other Marvel executives sometimes chime in. It’s a collaborative process. The first meetings were about, “Why should we do this again?” And I think we’ve found the reason why. I’m really, really happy with where we are creatively.”

Even if they found a reason to continue with the character, he explained: “But I’m also a little worried about it. There’s a little bit of stigma around the fourth in all franchises. I feel like we’ve hit a home run with our first franchise and there’s a part of me that wants to walk away with my head held high and pass the torch to the next lucky guy who gets to bring this character to life.”

Regardless of where Spider-Man’s story arc goes, Spider-Man 4 will be made and it was recently reported that the film will begin production in 2024. For Holland’s sake, I hope they come up with a great and interesting story.