Tom Holland Wants To Turn Spider-Man R-Rated
Tom Holland wants his Peter Parker/ Spider-Man character to take a more mature and R-rated path moving forward.
Tom Holland has only been in the role for a few years now, but as the definitive face of Spider-Man, he’s put his stamp on the character in a way previous actors really weren’t able to. With the popularity and cache of what he’s brought to Peter Parker, Holland is also getting more of a voice in how the character’s movies will move forward in the future. Insider Daniel Richtman is reporting that Tom Holland wants to be part of the R-rated shenanigans of the Deadpool movies where, among other things, he can let the curse words fly.
The role of Spider-Man, up until this point, has often (sometimes to a fault), trended overtly wholesome with an apple pie and vanilla ice cream kind of vibe. It’s generally in line with the character on the comic book pages who’s shy and subdued as Peter Parker with a whimsical sense of snark when the web-slinging starts. That Tom Holland would want to start leaning a little more into the biting nature, pushing some of the boundaries of the character, makes a lot of sense considering it would separate him from previous iterations.
Tom Holland has so far played Spider-Man to rave reviews so getting him in a more R-rated version of the character might feel a little bit off. He’s not a curse-word slinging kind of kid in these movies. But as the character ages and possibly becomes rougher around the edges, especially after the events of Far From Home we could see a more hardened version who’s a bit more disillusioned with the world. Entering the Sony Picture Universe of Marvel Characters would allow that bit of more freedom.
There’s also a sense that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker would act as a near-perfect foil for Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool. The latter has nearly zero f@#$s to give, fully embracing the character’s boundary-pushing demeanor in movies that almost trend even beyond an R-rating. It’s easy to imagine Holland’s Parker dipping his toes into this world, enamored with Deadpool’s R-rated bravado. And with Tony Stark’s mentoring presence now gone, he could be looking for some new guidance. Deadpool isn’t likely to be the best choice, but Peter Parker has always been somewhat impressionable.
Deadpool 3 is technically on the way but has some time to go before hitting the big screen. The script, being penned by The Great North showrunners Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux is in the works as they take over for Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who penned the first two. One has to assume the tone from the previous films will carry over and that Tom Holland signaling his wish to get involved could heavily influence a possible storyline. The movie is currently in pre-production with some speculation it won’t hit screens until at least 2023. That’s a ton of time to work or rework a story if they saw fit to include a character like Spider-Man who’s had plenty of interactions with Deadpool on the comic book pages.
Before we get a more “mature” version of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man though there’s plenty of the character in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe coming down the pike. The much-anticipated Spider-Man 3 is in pre-production and could be an absolute event. Nearly every character (Spidey and otherwise) from the iterations of the franchise is slated to return in what could be a crazy trip into the Marvel multiverse. Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are reportedly set to reprise their roles alongside Tom Holland. And the list of previous villains supposedly making their return comprises nearly the entirety of the Spider-Man universe.
Our next chance to see Tom Holland on the big screen will likely be in Chaos Walking alongside Daisy Ridley. I say “likely” because this potential blockbuster has been mired in a bit of development hell over the last few years. It was originally supposed to hit the big screen in early 2019, but that was delayed thanks to reshoots. Then pandemic-related closing pushed it back further to January. But even that didn’t hold and now March 5, 2022, looks like the date. Though based on its history, I’m not exactly holding my breath.
In general, as Tom Holland matures as an actor and fully embraces the Spider-Man role, it makes sense that he’d want the character to “grow” in a way that seems a bit more realistic or even darker. If he gets a chance to sneak into a Deadpool movie then we might get a chance to see just that.
