2021 is shaping up to be the biggest year of Tom Holland’s career, even if the long-delayed literary adaptation Chaos Walking is almost guaranteed to bomb when it finally hits theaters two years behind schedule in March.
Having surprised many with his incredible performance in Netflix’s The Devil All the Time, audiences will find out if the actor really is worthy of awards season consideration when the Russo brothers’ true-life crime thriller Cherry arrives in cinemas next month, before he headlines video game blockbuster Uncharted, in what marks the first real test of his box office drawing power and leading man credentials outside of his comfort zone as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Peter Parker
In December, Holland will then swing back onto the big screen in multiversal sequel Spider-Man 3, which is shaping up to be the most exciting web-slinging adventure yet if even half of the casting rumors turn out to be true. From there, the actor has no further projects on his schedule, but a new rumor claims that he’s pushing for a radical departure for the iconic superhero.
According to insider Daniel Richtman, Holland wants to have an R-rated Spider-Man turn up in the Deadpool movies and a few of the Sony-produced projects, too, which would see Peter Parker gaining a foul mouth and maybe even a thirst for blood in some graphic fight sequences. Taking to his Patreon account, the tipster wrote:
“Holland wants in [on] R rated Deadpool and SUPMC movies in which he can act more freely like swearing and stuff.”
Of course, not only would this be a fundamental misunderstanding of the character, but it’d also potentially alienate a massive amount of younger viewers and could conceivably cut the box office takings in half. That being said, there is some precedent for a more mature Spider-Man in the comics, but if Marvel and Sony decided to head down this route, it’d still need to be handled very carefully, especially given how they’ve already portrayed the hero up until this point.
