Spider-Man 4 script is "excellent," but not quite there yet, says Tom Holland

Tom Holland has every intention of returning as Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he wants to get it right, and so far, it hasn’t been right. “We have a creative and we have a pitch and a draft, which is excellent,” Holland said on The Rich Roll Podcast (via Variety). “It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me. Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room, like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.”

Holland said “one of the challenges” is making sure the solo Spider-Man adventure fits “into that timeline at the right time to benefit the bigger picture” of Marvel, but he expressed excitement about being let into the creative process of the MCU. It’s a benefit he doesn’t take lightly—in fact, he’s been channeling the character’s famous motto, that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Originally, he explained, he had a six-picture deal that put him “at the beck and call of Marvel and Sony, and proudly so, it’s been the best experience of my life. I’m now at a juncture where I can say no. And now that I’ve been afforded that power, I am struggling to figure out what is the right thing to do.” 

He went on, “It’s meant I’ve had to put my foot down in certain instances, which I haven’t been allowed to do in the past.” Navigating this leverage has been tricky, but Holland is in a place where he can choose the best thing for himself—and the character—rather than the best thing for the studio. “I don’t want to make another movie for the sake of making it.”

All that said, he does indeed want to make another Marvel movie—”many more” movies, in fact. MCU godfather Robert Downey Jr. has offered Holland advice, and they’ve been speaking about Downey’s return to Marvel as Doctor Doom, “which is super exciting,” Holland said. “That was a tough secret to sit on because I have a reputation for ruining things and I strategically have done no press.”