Tom Holland has revisited his past comments about quitting Spider-Man by the time he turned 30 — and suggested it might have been part of "a strategy to create fear" within Sony ahead of his contract renewal.
Back in 2021, Holland claimed that if he was still "playing Spider-Man after I'm 30, I've done something wrong" — a quote that sounded to fans like his tenure as Marvel's fan-favorite webslinger was coming to an end.
At the time, Holland was finished filming Spider-Man: Now Way Home, the final part of his initial trilogy, and had suggested that he was keen for a break from the character. He later took a year break from acting altogether.
But now, actually aged 30, Holland is of course back once more in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day — and the actor has strongly suggested he'll return for several further films afterwards. Fans suspect that he's signed a deal for a full second trilogy of movies, though this has not been officially confirmed, and an appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars seems inevitable.
"It's funny, I saw that quote pop up somewhere recently and I kind of reeled, because I was trying to remember what I meant," Holland told GQ when reminded of what he'd said. "I think the point of it is that I would love to pass the baton on, and I haven't achieved that yet," he continued. "It's definitely something that we talk about a lot at the studio."
Indeed, in a separate interview, Holland recently suggested he would like to eventually help usher in a new incarnation of Spider-Man — potentially Spider-Gwen or Miles Morales — and take on a mentor role as Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark performed for him.
"Maybe I need to change the quote to 37," Holland then suggested — something that would suggest he has at least seven years of being Spider-Man planned. More than enough for a couple of movies?
"I could also have been trying to leverage Sony and scare them into thinking I wasn't going to do Spider-Man 4 now that I had a new deal on the horizon," he cheekily concluded. "So I don't know what it could have been. It could've been part of a strategy to create fear."
As part of the same interview, Holland said he prompted a "very uncomfortable conversation" with Sony when he requested that Brand New Day's filming was delayed so he could first go shoot Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. The film itself finally launches in theaters on July 31.
Image credit: Marvel.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
