Tom Holland Wishes He Could Change One Thing About His Spider-Man Casting

Spider-Man has a long and varied film history. The first Spider-Man movies were recuts of the 1977 TV series "The Amazing Spider-Man," and starred Nicholas Hammond as the title hero, a man who could climb walls and swing through the streets of New York on homemade webs projected from his wrists. In 1978, there was a Japanese Spider-Man film based on the Toei TV series, starring Shinji Tōdō as a robot-controlling version of the hero. Better known to American audiences are the three big-budget Spider-Man blockbusters that Sam Raimi directed between 2002 and 2007. Those films starred Tobey Maguire. Raimi's films were followed by two movies in rebooted continuity called "The Amazing Spider-Man," starring Andrew Garfield. When the second of his films tanked, Sony (who held the films rights to Spider-Man) decided to move away from that continuity and co-produce an even newer version of Spider-Man, folding the character into Disney's already-successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. That version is played by Tom Holland.

Holland began playing Spider-Man in "Captain America: Civil War" in 2016. The actor was 19 years old. He has since reprised the role for "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Avengers: Infinity War," "Avengers: Endgame," "Spider-Man: Far from Home," and "Spider-Man: No Way Home." It's been a lucrative role for Holland, and plans are afoot to include him in further MCU projects. "No Way Home" in particular was a banner moment for Spider-Man fans, as a multiverse plot conceit allowed Holland to interact on-screen with both Garfield and Maguire, also playing their Spider-Men iterations.

While Holland has been grateful for the opportunity to play a famous comic book character in a series of ultra-hit films, he does have a personal regret. In a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed that his youthful enthusiasm for the Spider-Man job had him overlooking the fact that he was replacing Garfield, whose "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" had only recently bombed. Holland wishes he had reached out to Garfield to apologize for usurping his throne.

"Captain America: Civil War" was released in 2016, but "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" had only come out two years earlier, in 2014. In terms of rebooted pop continuities, this is hardly any time at all. When Spider-Man joined the MCU, a lot of fans breathed a sigh of relief, happy to see one of Marvel's most famous characters finally join the Avengers in their series of hit films. From Andrew Garfield's perspective, there must have been something condescending about the studio calling Holland's film "Spider-Man: Homecoming." The title implied that Garfield's version of "Spider-Man" was adrift, away from home, sowing his wild oats. When Holland took over, he "came home" to Disney. It feels somewhat dismissive. 

Holland didn't put it in quite those terms, but he did understand that swiftly taking over the role from Garfield might have felt like the latter was having his feet trodden upon. Holland was able to put himself in Garfield's shoes, and assumed that it would hurt to be fired from such a prestigious gig — but only years later. Holland said that he wished he had the wherewithal at age 19 to explain himself to his colleague: 

"If I'd made my second movie, and it didn't necessarily deliver in the way it should have done, and they recast me, I would really struggle to bounce back. Andrew bounced back in the most unbelievable way. I just wish I'd called him and just said, 'You know I can't turn down this opportunity.'"

Luckily, there don't seem to have been any hard feelings. Holland was merely being sensitive. Garfield went right into prestigious dramas like "99 Homes," "Hacksaw Ridge," and Martin Scorsese's "Silence," seemingly not too upset at losing the Spider-Man gig. Also, he agreed to return for "No Way Home" (something he openly lied about), allowing he and Holland to interact on screen together. Indeed, Holland has said that he, Garfield, and Maguire still catch up from time to time in a group chat. It's all very sweet.