One Deadpool & Wolverine Cameo Has A Big Connection To Spider-Man Star Tom Holland

This article contains spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine."

Shawn Levy's "Deadpool & Wolverine," like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" before it, exists to show off a certain degree of corporate synergy. While "No Way Home" flaunted that Disney was able to wrangle multiple character from Sony-owned Spider-Man pictures, "Deadpool" shows off its ownership of multiple superhero characters once overseen by 20th Century Fox. The film is a parade of cameos, each one meant to elicit cheers from an eager audience of fans, presuming they are familiar with years of studio insider baseball. Curiously, the film assumes audiences have warm fuzzy feelings about movies once mocked as the worst the genre had to offer. Who knew audiences in 2024 would feel wistful about "Elektra?"

Here on /Film, we have spilled gallons of ink unpacking the film's many, many cameos, which include characters from Fox's many "X-Men" films, a character from "Fantastic Four," a bunch of Avengers, and even certain elements introduced in the TV series "Loki." "Deadpool & Wolverine" also features an army of Deadpools, each one from a different parallel universe. Because Deadpool wears a full-face mask, several of the parallel Deadpools were sneakily played by notable celebrities, including Matthew McConaughey, Blake Lively, and Rob McElhenney, the co-star of "Welcome to Wrexham" with Deadpool star/producer Ryan Reynolds.

Hidden somewhere in the "Deadpool & Wolverine" Deadpool army is a masked actor named Harry Holland, a young and upcoming performer with, as of this writing, only a few credits to his name. He worked as a PA and among the crew on blockbusters like "Spider-Man: Far from Home," "Spider-Man: No Way Home," "Cherry," and "Uncharted," all films starring Tom Holland.

Tom Holland, who has played Spider-Man in several films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is Harry Holland's older brother.

Harry Holland has six directing credits to his name, having started in 2015 with a family home video called "Tweet." In that film, Harry, his parents, and his three brothers, all play themselves. Holland also directed a very, very college-film-school style short in 2017 called "In the Middle of the Night," which was shot in black-and-white and is about addiction. His most recent short, made in 2022, was called "Last Call" and is about a mother (Lindsay Duncan) reconnecting with her estranged son. Tom Holland, and several of Harry's other family members, appear in these films periodically.

As an actor, Harry Holland has had a few background roles in high-profile films, sporting credits like "Bus Passenger." Curiously, Harry played the same role in two different films, playing "Shaker Kid" in both "Cherry" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home." His scenes were cut from the latter, sadly.

Prior to his involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry's brother Tom was building an impressive professional acting résumé with credits in "The Lost City of Z," "The Impossible," and "In the Heart of the Sea." Spider-Man was a plum gig for him, and he rocketed to stardom. Harry, meanwhile, is currently going through the "paying his dues" part of his film career. He's clearly interested in filmmaking and directing and, at the age of 25, can be closely exposed to the nuts-and-bolts of the film world thanks to his brother's fame.

According to People Magazine, Ryan Reynolds didn't know that Harry was one of the Deadpools. George Cattle, the film's stunt coordinator, was quoted as saying, "It may not be the Holland the world wanted, but it was the Holland we all needed!" Reynolds didn't find out until Harry's face was posted on Cattle's social media.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is now playing in theaters.