They might be about to become teammates in Avengers: Infinity War, but Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland weren’t always so familiar with one another. In fact, during an early encounter between the pair, Cumberbatch mistook the young Spider-Man actor for one of his fans.
The Doctor Strange star told People Now about an occasion last year when he failed to recognize the man who brings Peter Parker to life in the MCU:
“I was filming Sherlock on a bridge and I was running and I heard this guy going, ‘Benedict, Benedict!’ And I thought, ‘Oh it’s a fan, I’m just going to keep walking back to my start mark.’ And he was like, ‘Benedict, it’s Tom!” And I was like, ‘Tom?’ And it was him, coming home in an Uber from the Captain America: Civil War premiere.”
This anecdote comes shortly after Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo teased that Doctor Strange and Spider-Man will share some scenes in the film. Apparently, the pair of British actors have “great chemistry” and we can’t wait to see them together on the big screen.
If his encounter with Holland makes it sound like Cumberbatch ignores his fans in favour of his friends, this couldn’t be any further from the truth. As Celebretainment reminded us, the actor has previously spoken about how he finds the dedication and devotion of his fans “overwhelming and utterly humbling.”
“I came out and saw this huge line of people and said, ‘Is that for some event?’ And they said, ‘No, it’s for what you’re doing tomorrow’. I was like, ‘How long have they been there? What? All day? In this heat? Have they got water?’ And they said, ‘Yeah some of them have, some of them haven’t?’ ‘Are they going to be on the street tonight? Can I go and talk to them?’
“There were furtive looks between the security [and they said] ‘We can make that happen if you really want to.’ And I said ‘Hell I do.’ I want to meet the people who make this possible because it’s all about them and their enthusiasm and their devotion, it’s overwhelming and utterly humbling, whether they’ve come from miles [away] or put all that effort into cosplay, it’s really inspiring and humbling and reminds you what it’s all about.”
You can see Holland in his solo debut as the wallcrawler in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is in cinemas now. Cumberbatch, meanwhile, will next appear as Stephen Strange in Thor: Ragnarok, due to arrive on November 3rd.
