Unlike his character Spider-Man, Tom Holland is still a prominent member of the Disney family, as demonstrated during his Saturday appearance at the studio's D23 Expo.
The 23-year-old actor was at the event to promote his Disney-Pixar animated movie Onward, co-starring Chris Pratt, Octavia Spencer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Holland took the stage just days after Disney and Sony confirmed the termination of their Spider-Man deal—a split that puts the webslinger's MCU future in question.
Despite the drama, Holland, who has played Peter Parker since 2016, appeared to be in good spirits.
"It’s been a crazy week, but I want you to know I am grateful from the bottom of my heart and I love you 3,000," he told the audience, referencing one of Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) most famous lines.
In a sit-down with PEOPLEprior, Holland said, “Basically, we’ve made five great movies. It’s been five amazing years. I’ve had the time of my life. Who knows what the future holds? But all I know is that I’m going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. It’s going to be so fun, however we choose to do it. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.”
Though Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will no longer be a part of the Spider-Man franchise, it's reported Holland will reprise his role for the next two standalone films. Spider-Man director Jon Watts is also expected to return.
“I’m feeling about Spider-Man gratitude and joy,” Feige said to EW. “We got to make five films within the MCU with Spider-Man: two standalone films and three with the Avengers. It was a dream that I never thought would happen. It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that we’d be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and I’ll always be thankful for that.”
The fallout between Sony and Disney reportedly came down to money, as the latter wanted a 50/50 co-financing stake in future Spider-Man installments. Though Sony ultimately rejected the offer, the studio claimed it was Disney who decided to pull Feige from the franchise.
"We are disappointed, but respect Disney's decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film," Sony's statement read. "We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him—including all their newly added Marvel properties—do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue."
