Tom Holland has been Spider-Man for a decade now, and despite spending that time bouncing around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was always another superhero world sitting tantalizingly close by. Sony spent years building out its own universe around characters connected to Spidey, beginning with Venom and eventually expanding to include Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunterand yet, Holland’s Peter Parker never properly crossed over into any of them.
That wasn’t because Holland was fighting to keep Spider-Man away. Appearing on Happy Sad Confused with Josh Horowitz, the actor revealed that Sony did have plans to eventually merge the two worlds, but the right opportunity simply never materialised. When Horowitz asked whether Holland ever had to “take stands” against appearing in Sony’s other Marvel movies, Holland explained:
“To be perfectly honest, Tom Rothman is a really smart guy. They were building this universe and they had these plans to merge the worlds at some point, and I think that they just never found the right time to do so. I think it was on the cards, and there were never any battles of ‘We want you to be in this movie’ and ‘I don’t want to be in this movie’. That never happened.”
Holland added that Sony ultimately had confidence in what he, director Jon Watts and Marvel Studios were already doing with Spider-Man, rather than forcing a crossover simply for the sake of making one happen.
“I think they thought one day this will happen and, like lots of things in the creative world, it just never came to fruition and I think we were feeling great confidence in my franchise, with Jon Watts and with the Marvel guys, and the MCU, and Tom and the Sony guys just wanted us to continue on our path. There were never any times where I was being forced into a movie I didn’t want to be in. That never happened.”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
Could Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Still Meet Tom Hardy’s Venom?
The crossover fans arguably wanted most was between Holland’s Spider-Man and Tom Hardy’s Venom. The two characters came remarkably close after Venom: Let There Be Carnage transported Eddie Brock into the MCU, only for Spider-Man: No Way Home to send him home before the pair could meet. Horowitz raised that particular missed opportunity with Holland, describing Spider-Man meeting Hardy’s Venom as the dream for fans and Holland played as coy as a man who is notorious for giving away secrets can be.
“Who knows what the future holds for my Spider-Man? Anything can happen. Just wait and see.”
For now, Holland’s immediate Spider-Man future is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton rather than Watts and continues Peter Parker’s story after the world forgot his identity in No Way Home.
The movie stars Zendaya (Dune) as MJ, Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) as… well, wait and see, Jacob Batalon (Reginald the Vampire) as Ned Leeds, Jon Bernthal (The Punisher) as Frank Castle/Punisher, Tramell Tillman (Severance), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul) as Mac Gargan/Scorpion and Mark Ruffalo (Avengers: Endgame) as Bruce Banner/Hulk.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in cinemas tomorrow.
Release Date
July 31, 2026
Runtime
145 Minutes
Director
Destin Daniel Cretton
Writers
Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee
Producers
Amy Pascal, Kevin Feige, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad
