Whenever a new actor is cast as an iconic character, there will naturally be comparisons of the new actor, and those who have come before. Fans engaged in heated debates over which Batman was better,Christian BaleorBen Affleck, and which Joker delivered the definitive performance,Jared Leto,Heath Ledger, orJack Nicholson. These comparisons started sprouting up again whenTom Hollandwas cast asSpider-Man, making his debut in last summer’sCaptain America: Civil War, leading into this summer’s stand alone adventureSpider-Man: Homecoming.Tom Hollandjust threw some new fuel on this comparative fire, claiming that his Peter Parker could beat up those Peter Parker’s who came before him, played byTobey MaguireandAndrew Garfield.
WhenTom Hollandmade his debut as the web slinger in the Marvel blockbusterCaptain America: Civil War, he became the third actor in the past 14 years to playPeter Parker/Spider-Man.Tobey Maguireplayed Spidey inSam Raimi’s trilogySpider-Man(2002),Spider-Man 2(2004) andSpider-Man 3(2007). Instead of making a fourth movie withSam RaimiandTobey Maguire, the studio decided to reboot the whole franchise, castingAndrew Garfieldfor 2012’sThe Amazing Spider-Manand its 2014 follow-upThe Amazing Spider-Man 2.Short List Magazinecaught up withTom Holland, who was asked whether he thought who would win, if all three Spidey’s were to meet and throw down in a fight. Here’s whatTom Hollandhad to say below.
“Me. Absolutely. Hands down.”
Naturally, that whole point is moot, since it would likely take some sort of cinematic miracle to bring all three versions of this character together on the big screen. Speaking of fights, many fans were surprised to learn thatTony Revoloriwas cast as Flash Thompson, a role that has been previously portrayed by much larger actors, withJoe Manganiellomaking his feature film debut as Flash Thompson in the 2002Spider-Man, andChris Zylkaplaying Flash inThe Amazing Spider-Man.Tom Hollandrevealed that thisFlash Thompsoncharacter is still a bully to Peter, but not in the physical sense. Here’s what he had to say below, alluding to his time spent “undercover” as an American high school student to prepare for this role.
“American high schoolsare so different to British ones. Bullying wasn’t really a thing, so when they cast Flash Thompson they knew they didn’t need a 6ft 5in jock to beat Peter Parker up. They needed a rich, smug kid commenting on how bad his trainers were. And I did it to practice my American accent.”
One ofTom Holland’s co-stars is no stranger to the superhero genre, withMichael Keatontaking on the villainousVulturerole. One of his best-known roles was as the DC Comics heroBatmanin the 1989Tim BurtonmovieBatmanand the 1992 follow-upBatman Returns. When asked about his interactions withMichael Keaton,Tom Hollandrevealed that his co-star never let the youngster forget that he was onceBatman.
“Pretty cool. He’s a badass. We have a fight in the movie and I punch him. He turns around and says [in a deep voice], ‘I’m Batman.’ He kept doing Batman quotes on set.”
Spider-Man: Homecomingwill have the July 7 weekend to itself this summer, and while we’ll have to wait a few more months to see this in theaters, Sony and Marvel have already started working onSpider-Man: Homecoming 2. The studios have set a August 19, 2025 release date for the sequel, which will likely be the second installment of a trilogy. There have long been rumors that each one of these movies will focus on a year of Peter Parker’s high school career, but that has yet to be confirmed. Hopefully we’ll get a new trailer forSpider-Man: Homecomingin the very near future.
