For many people, Tom Holland is the ultimate Spider-Man, but the popular actor might be running out of options to show that he can be more than just your favorite friendly neighborhood superhero.
Rumors are circling that Holland will join forces with Austin Butler to portray a couple of drug-smuggling brothers in a new movie called American Speed. Not much is known about the movie, but the internet is already having its say, especially on the career of Holland, who many feel has struggled to find a footing outside of his Peter Parker portrayal.
While the British actor has had plenty of work over the years, including time spent threading the boards, he has yet to portray a character that can match his work as Spider-Man, despite his obvious talents in front of the camera. He had an enjoyable turn beside Robert Pattinson in The Devil All The Time, showed some chops for In The Heart of the Sea, and managed to not get drowned by a sodden script in Cherry, but he has yet to really elevate a movie, and he’s managed to land a few stinkers.
Dolittle didn’t do much, Chaos Walking ambled toward a disengaged audience, and Uncharted wandered off the map into total irrelevance, although the last one also had a Wahlberg-shaped albatross around its neck.
Butler, on the other hand, has shown himself to be a strong hand at navigating the risky waters of script choice. Oscar-nominated Butler has shone in several roles over the years, but his intense portrayal of Tex Watson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is what got people talking. He turned that into a starring role as the iconic Elvis, and since then, he has played a pretty slow game, showing up in The Bikeriders with Tom Hardy, Dune: Part Two for Dennis Villeneuve, and his Masters of the Air Apple TV series is getting great reviews.
Personally, I believe that Holland just needs the right director to force him to find something truly different inside himself. In much the same way that Tim Burton helped vapid TV pretty boy Johnny Depp find his inner weird, or Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio joined forces for a slew of top-notch cinema, Holland very clearly has all the talent in the world and potentially shines with the right creative mentor behind the camera.
He is also more than wealthy enough to do a similar arc to Daniel Radcliffe or Robert Pattinson. Both garnered plenty of wealth from successful franchises Harry Potter and Twilight and then sought challenging work on a smaller scale to really help build up their acting muscles.
Of course, he also has other options. He can happily retire with his co-star Zendaya and raise a family of hyper-athletic, extremely fashionable kids together. It’s 2024, chaps. Staying at home while your super-successful partner brings home the money is perfectly doable these days.
I hope that Holland sticks with the MCU long enough to give us the Wolverine, Deadpool, and Spider-Man move that Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman seem so keen on. The idea of Holland’s super wholesome Spider-Man teaming up with the foulmouthed Deadpool and the super grump iteration of Wolverine that Jackman is currently portraying would be a winner.