Spider-Man: Tom Holland Says No Way Home Is “Dark,” “Sad,” and “Not Fun”

Peter Parker has been bringing a youthful and exuberant enthusiasm to Marvel for decades, especially thanks to his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though actor Tom Holland recently teased that the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home won’t be the playful romp most fans are expecting. Given not only the fact that the character is a teenager, but also that his standalone films don’t focus on world-ending threats, the Spider-Man films have often been a source of levity in the franchise, but the cataclysmic changes for the new film apparently make for a more macabre experience. Spider-Man: No Way Home lands in theaters on December 17th.

“What people will be really surprised about is that it’s not fun, this film,” Hollands explained to Total Film, per GamesRadar. “It’s dark and it’s sad, and it’s going to be really affecting. You’re going to see characters that you love go through things that you would never wish for them to go through. And I was just really excited to kind of lean into that side of Peter Parker.”

He continued, “Peter Parker is always someone who’s looking up. He’s always really positive. He’s always like, ‘I can fix this. I can do this.’ Whereas in this film, he feels like he’s met his match. He’s like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ That was an aspect of the character that I’d never seen before, and I was really, really excited to try to tackle.”

Early reports about the film teased that the MCU’s Peter Parker would be battling with a number of his iconic foes from throughout the character’s live-action exploits, with official looks at the film confirming that these threats will be setting their sights on Spider-Man, due in large part to a spell cast by Doctor Strange splintering the multiverse. Adding to the intensity of the film is that Parker is still coping with the fact that his identity was revealed by J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home, with much of the general public branding Parker as a menace more than a hero.

While it might not be fun, Holland still thinks it will be the best Spider-Man film in the MCU.

“I haven’t seen the film yet but I’ve seen pieces of the film, and it’s the best work we’ve ever done,” Holland confessed. “It’s the best Spider-Man film that we’ve ever made. I really don’t think fans are at all ready for what they’ve put together. I know that I’m not ready, and I know that it’s going to be brutal.”

Spider-Man: No Way Home lands in theaters on December 17th.

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