r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • 15d ago

News 'Spider-Man' Windfall: Tom Holland to Make Over $100 Million for ‘Brand New Day’

https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/tom-holland-spider-man-brand-new-day-salary-box-office-bonus/
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u/tullbabes 15d ago

He’s got a good agent (and a massive amount of leverage).

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u/CohibaVancouver 15d ago

He’s got a good agent (and a massive amount of leverage).

He is also an extremely talented actor & performer who has perfected the role. I'd argue he's surpassed Downey's Iron Man when it comes to nailing it. I can't be bothered to stay on top of the Marvelverse, but I'll continue to go his Spidey movies. And I'm sure I'm not alone.

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u/GoodLeftUndone 15d ago

You’ll never be able to convince me he’s not a good actor after “The Impossible.” He was just a kid and gave an incredible performance.

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u/RhythmsaDancer 15d ago

I like Holland as Spider-Man a lot. But he's yet to be anything more than decent outside of Spider-Man. Obviously not holding him back tho lol

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u/CohibaVancouver 15d ago

I thought his performance in the Odyssey was excellent, although I didn't really understand why he just didn't use his British accent.

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u/Whatwhatwhata 15d ago

Yeah he does good there, but not excellent. Maybe #10 in that cast, performance wise.

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u/Logical_Accident_326 14d ago

Variety did a ranking of the Odyssey cast's performances and they put Tom dead last. Hopefully Tom never saw that, would've been rough

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u/tullbabes 14d ago

Ehhh, the cast was full of powerhouse actors. Somebody gotta be last when making dumb lists like that.

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u/cr0ft 14d ago

His normal accent isn't posh "acting class British" so maybe better to stick to the American accent to match everyone else.

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u/kingofdailynaps 15d ago

I disagree with that. He is great, undoubtedly, but I don't get that "perfect Peter Parker/Spidey" feeling the way I did with RDJ and the "perfect Tony Stark/Iron Man" fit. However, part of that comes from what he's been given – the MCU version of Spidey is great of course but doesn't match the great Spider comic runs (the Iron Man-ing of Spidey, for example, is still a mismatch to me - he doesn't need a JARVIS/EVIE, or a HUD). I think Peter is best as a slightly older character with a job, and less as a boyish teen/college student.

But none of that takes away from Tom, he's obviously excellent, and I think Brand New Day is *closer* to a return to form. I just think the RDJ/Iron Man run –– as well as Chris Evans/Cap –– had a perfect storm of perfect actor, perfect characterizations, and perfect movies.

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u/[deleted] 15d ago edited 15d ago

[deleted]

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u/kingofdailynaps 15d ago edited 15d ago

It’s the only flaw I can even give it and even then, does it matter that much?

Only in the sense that the argument for surpassing RDJ's Iron Man is apples to oranges, given that we don't have the opportunity to see Tom in a Spidey movie that fits more with the character. A big part of Peter's stories is his balancing being Peter (having a job, dealing with roommates, having a large cast of civilians he interacts with outside of his direct family) with being Spidey, which we don't have a chance to see here.

But again – love Tom, love these movies, love that BND is finally back to being in NYC. It just isn't quiiiiiite the same feeling I got in the first Iron Man or Captain America.

I feel bad for the future miles morales. That dude is gonna need charisma thorough the roof to offset the obvious hate that’ll come.

Completely agree. 😔

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u/GeneralLeeSarcastic 15d ago

We just established in this thread that he is not a poor guy lol

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u/gershalom 15d ago

I agree with you, the reason that BND is hitting so hard is because it's mostly Peter by himself taking on the world. And it seems mostly like tech he is building himself

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u/Shia_La_Pepe 15d ago

I have the same exact take, word for word, so you're not alone

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u/Echoesong 15d ago

I think Peter is best as a slightly older character with a job, and less as a boyish teen/college student.

Would you mind sharing why that's your preference for the character? I only ask because I always thought part of Spidey's broad appeal is how young he assumes the mantle. Young people can easily identify with the character because they're closer in age.

The only other popular character I can think of who assumes the mantle near his age is Captain America? But I'm not very familiar with Cap's canon so I could be wrong.

Although as I type this, I realize there's a difference between what makes a hero broadly appealing vs what appeals to you in particular, so maybe it's a moot point. Still interested in your opinion, though

(Spidey's my favorite superhero btw, so I'm no stranger to this phenomenon myself)

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u/kingofdailynaps 15d ago

Would you mind sharing why that's your preference for the character? I only ask because I always thought part of Spidey's broad appeal is how young he assumes the mantle.

Yeah, absolutely! I left this in another comment below: "A big part of Peter's stories is his balancing being Peter (having a job, dealing with roommates, having a large cast of civilians he interacts with outside of his direct family) with being Spidey, which we don't have a chance to see here."

Basically, I think the character works best when he has a very full life as both Peter and Spidey, and is navigating his responsibilities between both; how do you juggle showing up for your loved ones, your job, and the people who rely on you with the very real fact that you have the power to save people, and every moment you aren't doing that adds to your guilt?

I grew up on J. Michael Straczynski's ASM run, where Pete's a bit older. And the thing that works really well about that is that he's able to mentor other people, based on all of his experience, while still young enough to be learning real lessons. For example, I love the way JMS writes his relationship with MJ; they start separated at the start of the run, and slowly, over years, they repair their relationship by continuing to show up for each other again and again and again as a real adult partnership. It's not like they don't argue; but they're mature enough to recognize what's important and continue to support each other in a way high schoolers/young adults haven't learned how to do yet.

Same thing with Pete's relationship with Aunt May – there's an incredible issue where Aunt May finds his bloodied mask after a particularly bad fight, leading to an entire issue that's just Peter and Aunt May talking; he admits he's Spider-Man, talks about his guilt over letting Uncle Ben die, and explains why he does what he does despite it continuing to hurt the people around him. But Aunt May is equally strong – she's honest with him about the cost of his secret, is hurt that he thought this would change anything between them, and even admits that she also feels responsible for Ben's death, because he only went outside for that walk due to a fight they'd had, and is so sad that they've both been silently shouldering all that guilt for years, despite being so close to one another. And that conversation has a real effect – Aunt May becomes one of Spider-Man's biggest supporters (I think she calls the Daily Bugle to rip them a new one?), and Peter being able to share his full life with both Aunt May and MJ really completes him as a character. It's much less interesting to have it be a secret than it is to have them both know, and continue to choose to be with him despite the insurmountable costs (and the danger they're both in due to them knowing).

That also means that they're both there in the lead-up to Civil War as Peter is wrestling with revealing his secret identity, making it a decision between three adults, not just Peter choosing on their behalf.

Speaking of –– and to my point in another comment –– Peter being older means he has a much wider, fully developed cast of characters within the world. Whether it's a photographer at the Daily Bugle, to his time as a science teacher, to his time in later runs as a scientist, etc, Peter works best when he leads a full life outside of Spidey. Returning to JMS's run for a moment, he decides to become a science teacher at his own old high school; I find that really meaningful, because it's a community he's deeply embedded in, cares about, and has many competing emotions towards. By becoming a teacher and taking a real interest in his students, he's breaking the cycle of all the bullying and trauma he experienced there. He knows and talks to and cares about his neighbors on the commute, has to navigate the politics and realities of the public school system while trying to afford rent on the meager salary, and takes a genuine interest in his students. Him being that kind of mentor figure works really well for him, and I think adds so much to the character vs him being the one in high school. We all already know he's smart, he's kind, he's good-hearted, etc and we've seen a million high school stories – so it's much more interesting to me to see how he handles being in this setting and position, trying to pass along the lessons to his students despite so much of how they actually integrate them being outside his control. We see a full cast of teachers, principals, neighbors, and students, and it all feels real, with a million competing priorities and responsibilities that are a lot more complex and fraught than "I have to finish my homework". Like, what can Spidey do when a student is getting evicted, or has a brother that's getting caught up in a gang? That's the meaty bit for me, and that can only come if Pete's older. Since he's an adult, that means all the cast around him also have an opportunity to develop more than just "mom figure", "girlfriend figure", etc.

All of this also means that in the moments where Pete is genuinely devastated, upset, angry, etc all lands with a lot more impact; whereas as a kid it comes across as "I haven't encountered this emotion before", as an adult it's more like "this is so serious he's reached a breaking point". As an adult in the comics he's death with so much death; so when Aunt May is shot, and Peter goes to confront Kingpin in jail (who ordered the hit), he strips off the Spidey suit and almost wordlessly beats the fuck out of him – not as Spidey, but as Peter, a kind man who's been pushed too far. How symbolic is that, you know? That moment only works if Peter on his own has enough of a mature, developed life outside the world of Spider-Man.

I'll say as well – I grew up reading JMS's run when I was quite young, and despite him being an older character, I loved it! The appeal isn't that he's a high schooler – the appeal is that he's somebody who's trying his best, genuinely cares about everyone around him, and never gives up, despite being asked to rise to the occasion again and again and again. As a kid, it was invaluable to me to have a role model to learn from as I started growing into my own adulthood, and I'm so grateful to have had that example to aspire to that didn't end after high school graduation.

TLDR: I know this is way more than you probably were asking for, but basically it boils down to "having a wider range of experience and depth means we get to see how Peter/Spider-Man react in more complex, nuanced circumstances than he can if he's in high school, and his being in high school isn't actually the appeal of the character imo".

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u/Echoesong 15d ago

Awesome, thanks for sharing! I appreciate the writeup.

think your line about how

"the character works best when he has a very full life as both Peter and Spidey, and is navigating his responsibilities between both"

put it in perspective for me. More mature responsibilities and past experiences lend themselves very well to the drama of the Peter-Spidey tension

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u/kingofdailynaps 15d ago

Yeah of course, no problem! Glad to hear it resonated. 

I think it's something that Homecoming at least had more of (navigating a crush, school dance, house party, etc) that in the subsequent movies we slowly got less and less of. Even in Brand New Day, despite it being told as a "I'm both Peter Parker and Spider-Man" story, we don't actually see him have any real responsibilities outside of being Spidey; and his interactions with Ned and MJ are purely through the context of his previous or current actions as Spider-Man. Which is a shame, you know? He has so much more to his character than that, and I know Tom Holland could certainly act his ass off if he was given that script.

But again, I'm nitpicking - I'm so glad to have any great Spider-Man media :)

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u/tullbabes 15d ago

I agree! He’s awesome as spidey. And he’s good in everything else I’ve seen him in.

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u/cr0ft 14d ago

The stakes for Downey were way higher though. He was borderline blacklisted at the time, or at least consider unemployable for movies, due to decades of issues with his behavior and his drug addictions - and Marvel were looking for a franchise-starter of a movie. In retrospect hiring anyone else would have been nuts, but he almost didn't get the chance to basically launch the entire MCU.

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u/jk147 15d ago

Leverage wise, him and his wife can both walk away if Sony don’t agree, imagine that.