Tom Holland Says He ‘Wept’ in Drunken Call With Bob Iger to Save Spider-Man

Tom Holland is a real-life superhero — he saved Spider-Man! Disney head Bob Iger recently credited the 23-year-old Avengers star with helping to bridge the gap between Sony and Marvel to keep Spider-Man in the MCU after he was set to go back to Sony for good. 

On Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Holland addressed Iger’s claims that he is responsible for keeping the web slinger in his Marvel home. 

“I wouldn’t say it was entirely my doing,” he said, before teasing, “I saved Spider-Man… no, I didn’t!”

He noted that the news that Spider-Man was initially leaving the MCU came when Holland and his Avengers co-stars were at D23, the Disney convention. 

“I was obviously devastated, and all my Marvel friends were there and they were taking Marvel pictures and I was not allowed to be in them. It was awful,” he recalled. 

At the time, he asked if he could have Iger’s email address to thank him for the opportunity to work with him in the MCU. Iger then asked if he was free to talk on the phone, which Holland agreed to. What he didn’t know was that the head of Disney would be calling him at an inopportune time — the night of his family’s pub quiz or trivia night. 

“I’m three pints in, I haven’t eaten much, and I get a phone call from an unknown number. And I have a feeling. I’m like, ‘I think this is Bob Iger. But I’m drunk,'” he recalled. 

During the conversation, Iger expressed that there might be a chance to keep Spider-Man in the MCU, and Holland then had two major studio heads on back-and-forth calls about the subject. 

“It was really interesting for me to have these two studio heads like, ‘What do you think?'” he admitted. 

When Kimmel said that Iger noted Holland had cried during their conversation, he replied, “I wept!” before insisting, “No, I didn’t weep,” and then finally admitting, “I did, yeah. No, I was really emotional because I felt like it was all coming to an end.” 

He also assured fans that no matter what the outcome had been, Peter Parker would have lived on. 

“We had a really good plan with what we were going to do with Sony. The future of Spider-Man was still very bright, but it would have been a shame to take him out of the MCU,” he said. “It’s where he belongs.”

Holland’s Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo agreed last month when ET asked him about the decision. 

“I think it’s amazing,” he said of Spider-Man staying in the MCU. “He’s a great guy, he’s a great actor, and yeah, I had a good feeling that they would work it out.”

ET’s Kevin Frazier caught up with Holland on Wednesday at the premiere of his new animated film with Will Smith, Spies in Disguise

“It’s really interesting, actually, because you spend so much time working with each other, but you never meet,” he told ET of the movie. “So today, Will and I, it was the first time we’d ever met. No, for real, so it’s been a really, really crazy process… I feel like I know him because I’ve been working with him and hearing his voice for the last two years, but I’m sure we’ll be fast friends and it’ll be great.”

And though he plays Smith’s “wingman” in the film, is Holland a good wingman in real life?  

“I’m a pretty good wingman. Yeah, I’m pretty good. I’ve been a wingman a bunch of times. I’ve got three younger brothers,” he declared, before seemingly retracting his boast. “I’m not that bad at it. I’m giving myself too much credit. I’m OK at it.”

Spies in Disguise hits theaters Christmas Day.  

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