Hollywood loves nothing more than casting people well outside of the desired age range to play high school students, but in a dramatic turn of events nobody saw coming, Tom Holland was an honest-to-goodness teenager when he made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.
Only just, though, with the actor turning 20 a month after the movie was released, and he’s now 25 and still playing the teenage Peter Parker. Having already admitted that he doesn’t want to see himself playing the role when he’s 30, Sony need to get moving on his next solo trilogy in double-quick time.
Even though No Way Home reshuffles the deck and wraps up the arc that first started in Homecoming, the MCU is going to be a completely different place by the time Spider-Man 4 comes along, especially with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dropping in May. Confirming something we already sort of knew, Holland teased Peter’s college years during his latest film’s panel at CCXP.
“Also, Peter Parker is finally heading off to college, and the word is out. So yeah, everyone knows that he is Spider-Man. So throw your fan theories out the window, they’re probably not true. Or are they? And get ready to see one of the most ambitious films we’ve ever made. An incredible story with lots of heart, laughter, high-flying action, mind-blowing effects, and some insane villains. No Way Home is the culmination of the Homecoming trilogy and the start of a Multiverse of possibilities.”
College brings an entirely different set of trials and tribulations than high school, so it should at least slap a fresh coat of paint on the formula. If the next Spider-Man blockbuster keeps to the current release strategy, then we could be seeing how Holland gets on with the next stage of his academic studies around 2023.