Earlier this year, MCU fans were waiting with bated breath to discover whether Tom Holland’s Spider-Man would remain in the MCU. After talks with Sony Pictures and Disney collapsed, it looks as though we would be waving goodbye to Spidey after all. However, after apparent “drunk crying” from Tom Holland, things got back on track – but what happened?
Tom Holland has revealed he has a role to play in Spider-Man being reinstated in the MCU, after talks between Disney and Sony could not come to an agreement.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the British star said: “We were at D23… and the news came out and I was devastated.
“I was really upset and all my Marvel friends were there taking Marvel pictures and I wasn’t allowed to be in them.
“It was awful. I asked if I could get Bob Iger’s email because I just wanted to say, ‘Thank you, this has been an amazing five years of my life. Thank you for changing my life in the best way and I hope that we can work together in the future.’
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Spider-Man MCU feud: How did Tom Holland SAVE Spider-Man? ‘Drunk crying’ (Image: Sony)
“I got his email and I sent him the email and he responded very quickly saying, ‘I’d love to jump on the phone with you at some point, when are you free?’
“And you don’t give Bob Iger a schedule you just say, ‘Whenever Bob.’
“So, two, three days go by and then my family and I went to the pub quiz in our local town.
“We’re doing a quiz and I’m three pints in, haven’t eaten much, and I get a phone call from an unknown number and I have a feeling. I’m like, ‘I think this is Bob Iger but I’m drunk.’”
“So my dad’s like just take the call you’ll be fine. So I answer the call and I’m like, ‘Hey Bob actually I’m really glad you called…’”
‘I just said thank you for the opportunity and he said that there is a world where we can make this work.
“It was interesting for me to have these two studio heads saying ‘what do you think? I don’t know, I’m an actor.’
Kimmel then asked Holland if he did indeed “weep” on the phone, as was told to him by Iger.
Holland laughed and said: “I wept. No I didn’t weep, I did. Yeah I was really emotional because I felt like it was all coming to an end.
Tom Holland as Spider-Man in Spider-Man Far From Home (Image: Sony)
“No, we had a really good plan with what we were going to do with Sony.
“The future of Spider-Man was still very bright but it would have been a shame to take him out of the MCU.
“It’s where he belongs and we’ve built such a strong character in that world and would have been a shame to lose that but I’m just glad we managed to work it out.”
Earlier in the year, Iger went on Kimmel’s show and told his version of the story.
Spider-Man and MJ from Spider-Man Far From Home (Image: Sony)
He said: “We had an event called D23 and Tom was there because he’s a voice in a new pixar movie called Onward.
“He said something on stage and it was clear the fans wanted him back as Spider-Man made by Marvel and our Marvel production team.
“And after D23 Tom reached out to folks who work for me and asked for Bob’s email address ad phone number…
“He did and we spoke, basically he cried on the phone, no not really, but it was clear he cared so much and we care about him.
“He’s a great Spider-Man. I felt for him and it was clear that the fans wanted all this to happen so after I made a few calls.
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Spider-Man and Nick Fury in Spider-Man Far From Home (Image: Sony)
“And then I decided to call the head of Sony and said, ‘We have to figure out a way to get this done for Tom and the fans.’
“And we did… sometimes companies, when they negotiate, they kind of forget there are other folks out there who actually matter.”
Clearly Spider-Man’s emotional drunk call had an impact, as now Spider-Man is firmly back in the MCU where he belongs.
At present, the next Spider-Man film is pretty far away, with a release date of April 2021, but fans will be keen to see where he shows up in the upcoming Marvel slate.