Tom Holland, Spider-Man himself, played a big role in getting Disney and Sony back to the table to reverse Spider-Man’s apparent exit from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And while there was plenty at stake, it all started with a simple—and on Holland’s side, drunk—phone call.
When Disney CEO Bob Iger stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live in early October, he relayed the story of how Holland wanted to reach out to him after Disney’s D23 Expo, noting that Holland “cried on the phone” as Iger saw just how much Holland cared about the character. But on Wednesday night’s episode of Kimmel, Holland tells his side of the story.
Holland confirms that he did ask for Iger’s email address after D23, which he had wanted to thank Iger for helping change his life. Iger responded, asking when he could call Holland. And Iger did call Holland a few days later while Holland was out at the local pub with his family for trivia.
“I’m like, three pints in, right?” Holland said. “I haven’t eaten much, and I get a phone call from an unknown number, and I have a feeling like, I think this is Bob Iger, but I’m drunk.”
He did note that he “weeped” on the phone with Iger, which led to more phone calls between Sony and Disney, although Holland noted how weird it was that major studio heads kept coming to him. But now that a new deal is in place, he’s happy with where Spider-Man is going.
“We had a really good plan with what we were gonna do with Sony,” he added. “The future of Spider-Man was still very bright, but it would’ve been a shame to take him out of the MCU. It’s where he belongs and we built such a strong character in that world and it would’ve been a shame to lose that.”
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