After six years of playing Peter Parker, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Tom Holland in the role. However, having a musical theatre actor from Surrey stepping into the spandex of the high schooler from Queens wasn’t always an obvious choice for the MCU.
Recently, a Marvel stuntman discussed what it was like to watch Holland, along with a small group of other hopeful Spider-Man actors, who were up for the role of the Web-Head, come in to do a chemistry test with Chris Evans. Just in case you need the reminder, Spidey’s first MCU film was Captain America: Civil War, way back in 2016.
James Young told the Corridor Crew that Holland’s training in dance and acrobatics certainly came in handy during the audition; “They had the actors come in, in the underwear Spider-Man suit, the one he wears in the first movie. They did this whole sequence of ‘Hey that shield doesn’t obey the laws of physics at all,’ they did the whole thing… Chris (Evans) came in on his day off.”
Young continues; “Tom goes ‘Hey Joe, would you mind if I take my own entrance?’ and I just feel Kevin (Feige), Joe (Russo), and all of them go ‘Huh?’ to me, and Tom Holland proceeds to skip and throw the most perfect side flip. Straight past Chris Evans, lands on his mark, goes “Hey Cap, how you doing?” Spins around, ‘You like my suit?’ All you heard was jaws (dropping)… I got goosebumps and tears in my eyes. This kid just came in, and that’s Peter Parker.”
It took some time for Marvel Studios to wrangle Spider-Man away from Sony and into the MCU, but the results were worth it. The Spider-Man trilogy (within the MCU) has only increased in popularity as it’s gone on, with the three films making $880 million, $1.1 billion, and $1.8 billion respectively.
It’s fair to say that Holland managed to spin his way to success. If you’re brushing up on all things Marvel ahead of 2022’s releases on screens both big and small, check out our guide to Phase 4.