Spider-Man: Tom Holland Thought He'd Be Fired After Captain America: Civil War

Tom Holland debuted as the Spider-Man of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, and he was pretty sure the studio would fire him soon after. That may seem strange now, considering he's currently filming his third Spider-Man movie and sixth Marvel film, but at the time, Holland wasn't so secure in his role as the web-slinger. "From the moment of shooting Civil War to Spider-Man: Homecoming, I was convinced they were going to fire me," Holland tells Daniel Kaluuya for Variety's Actors on Actors. "I don't know why. Civil War hadn't come out yet, and I just didn't hear anything from anyone. I can't really explain it. It was awful, but they didn't — obviously. It's been crazy, mate. I've loved every minute of it."

This came after an arduous, months-long audition process that ended with Holland busting his laptop after learning he got the role via an online news post. "By that point, it had been an amazing enough of an experience that if I hadn't got the part, I would've felt like I'd at least achieved something to get to that point," Holland recalled. "I went out to play golf with my dad. I lost and I was upset, and I remember going on my phone and checking Instagram, and Marvel had posted a picture of Spider-Man, of the cartoon. And by this point, I kind of had assumed I hadn't got it, because no one had called me.

"I got my computer, and my dog was sitting next to me. I type in 'Marvel.' I've still got the article saved on my computer. It said, 'We would like to introduce our new Spider-Man, Tom Holland.' I broke my computer, because I flipped it up in the air. It fell off my bed; my dog went nuts. I ran downstairs. I was telling my family, 'I got the part! I got the part!' And obviously, that was right about the time when Sony had got hacked, so my brother, Harry, who's quite tech savvy, was like, 'No. There's no way that's real. They would have called you. They've been hacked.' And then the studio called me and gave me the news. It was so bizarre how it happened."

Holland went from Captain America: Civil War to playing Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming. After that, he reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. His third Spider-Man movie is reportedly a multiversal affair involving past Spider-Man movie stars and villains. The film opens on December 17th.