‘Spider-Man’ Star Tom Holland Talks About Meeting Stan Lee

Tom Holland is the latest actor to bring the iconic Marvel character Spider-Man to life on the big screen, and the first to do so in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For that, he owes a debt to Spider-Man’s co-creator Stan Lee.

Holland was a guest at the Comicpalooza convention. During his panel, he discussed what it was like to meet Stan Lee.

“I met Stan for the first time on Spider-Man for the movie, and he was doing ‘Hey Margerie, how’s your mother?’” Holland recalled. “He was lovely and it was a huge honor to meet him. I mean, just growing up, I’ve been a huge fan of his, watching the movies, seeing him pop up here and there. And then the next time I saw him he was filming like the Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, and one other film, I can’t remember what it is, at the same time, it might have been Black Panther. I saw him as three different version of Stan that day.

“He is an amazing man that I love. And I think what’s amazing about Stan is he love talking about his journey, how he came up with this characters, where he took the characters, where he wishes he took the characters.”

The feelings Holland has for Lee seem to be reciprocal. Last week, Lee tweeted out his feelings about Holland’s performance as Spider-Man.

“I think [Tom Holland] is a great Spider-Man,” Lee tweeted. “He is the exact height and age I envisioned when I first wrote Spider-Man. Spidey was never supposed to be too large. How is my friend Tom doing?”

Holland responded in kind, tweeting, “Thanks very much Stan. It all started with you sir. Looking forward to catching up soon bud.”

Lee co-created Spider-Man with artist Steve Ditko. The character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #1 in 1962 and quickly proved popular enough to headline his own series. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 was released in 1963.

Since then, Spider-Man has had multiple television series and six films, being played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield before Holland took over in 2016, debuting in in Captain America: Civil War before headlining Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Holland was careful during the panel not to reveal when Spider-Man will next be seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, likely to avoid spoiling what comes in Avengers 4 after Peter Parker’s fate in Avengers: Infinity War. However, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming is expected to begin filming this summer, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the villain Mysterio.

The sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming is scheduled to open in theaters on July 5, 2019.

Holland’s Spider-Man can currently be seen in Avengers: Infinity War, which is now playing in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel opens on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.