Tom Holland Talks Spider-Man Plan to “Pass the Baton”

Tom Holland presents a tour de force in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but the fans are naturally eager to figure out what’s next for Peter Parker. Holland seems to have a bright future, insisting he’ll play the role for as long as Marvel and Sony want him; given box office predictions for Brand New Day, that could be quite some time. But Marvel boss Kevin Feige has also started talking about Miles Morales, which means it’s surely only a matter of time before there are major changes in the MCU’s spider-verse.

Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Holland confirmed “there’s a whole plan that we have been working on… since we finished Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s laid out,” he said. “It’s gonna change for sure, but I have a really clear vision to the passing on of the baton, and I think it’s really exciting.” In fact, according to Holland, “that is the thing that I want to do most for this character, for sure.”

Tom Holland Wants His Spider-Man to Have a Legacy

It’s not hard to guess where this story is going; we’re headed towards the live-action debut of Miles Morales. Kevin Feige recently referred to this as the “destiny” of the MCU’s Spider-Man franchise, and he’s not wrong; Miles was teased all the way back in Spider-Man: Homecoming, when Donald Glover played his uncle, the Prowler. Holland seems particularly keen on the idea, and it feels as though he views the passing of the torch as securing something of a legacy for his Spider-Man. Holland has no intention of going anywhere soon, but he seems to want to end well.

There have been rumors Holland has signed up for another Spider-Man trilogy. Those are unconfirmed, but if accurate, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this trilogy end with the introduction of Miles Morales as an all-new Spider-Man. It is possible we’ll get something like the modern comics, where Miles and Peter both act under the Spider-Man codename at the same time, but that doesn’t really fit with the kind of story Holland is teasing. He wants to pass the baton on in the end, to step away when he feels the time is right. That’s probably for the best, because modern comics have largely failed Miles; he’s overshadowed by Peter, and seldom gets his time to shine anymore.

Ironically, that was a legacy of 2015’s Secret Wars event. That saw every different universe collide, and it ended with some elements left in the wrong universe – Miles being one of them. He wound up coexisting with Peter Parker rather than stepping into his shoes, and it really hasn’t worked out all that well. We can only hope Marvel learn from the comic books’ mistakes, and handle this much more carefully and thoughtfully. If Holland wants a legacy in Miles Morales, then it needs to be a good one.

For now, though, Holland’s Spider-Man has positioned himself as a key potential ally in the coming Mutant Saga. Spider-Man has a rich history with the X-Men – they even appeared in a story in the classic ’90s animated series – so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the wall-crawler become a power player. Holland may plan to pass on the baton in the end, but that’s surely not going to be for quite some time.

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