Completely ignoring the universe-altering events of Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe almost suffered another huge loss last summer when Sony decided to end their working relationship with Marvel Studios, seemingly taking Spider-Man out of the franchise with an eye to utilizing the character in their own slate of comic book movies.
Instantly, the internet was sent into meltdown as fans struggled to process the idea of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker packing his bags and heading across town to the Sony lot, especially so soon after Far From Home had sailed past the billion dollar mark at the box office to become the highest-grossing Spidey movie ever made.
There were stories making the rounds on virtually an hourly basis about the future of Spider-Man, with most in agreement that money was the deciding factor for Sony taking their web-covered ball and going home. Caught in the middle of all this was Holland himself, with the star making a conscious effort to stay out of the limelight as the rumors and speculation dominated headlines, although he did find the time to go hiking with on and off-screen mentor Robert Downey Jr.
Eventually, the two sides came to a new agreement, with a Far From Home sequel announced to be part of the MCU with a summer 2021 release date, albeit with the caveat that Spider-Man is reportedly contractually obligated to appear in the Sony-verse at some stage. It turns out that Holland played a key role in the negotiations, too, including a now-famous phone call with Disney chief Bob Iger after the young actor had knocked back a few drinks.
In a recent interview to promote Pixar’s Onward, the 23 year-old claimed that the whole thing had been blown out of proportion by the media, and that he wasn’t three sheets to the wind when he spoke to the Mouse House’s CEO as had been widely reported.
“It’s so funny how the press twists stories, though. Like, I told the story that I had a few pints and Bob rang me. And then you read the coverage and it’s like, ‘Tom Holland was lying on the floor totally drunk when he spoke to Bob Iger’. I mean, I had a couple of beers. It wasn’t like I was smashed.”
Whether he was drunk or not, the fact that Tom Holland was so involved in the process of getting Sony and Marvel to allow the character-sharing agreement to continue just shows how deeply he cares about playing Spider-Man, when a lot of actors would simply follow the money and up sticks to work for the highest bidder.
