Disney’s Bob Iger on how Tom Holland helped bring Spider-Man back to Marvel

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

After a serious disagreement between Disney and Sony, it appeared as though Spider-Man would no longer be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After a dark period in which fans were left wondering how Spidey's exit would be addressed, the two studios managed to come to an agreement and all was right with the world. Just several days ago it was revealed that Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, actually played an instrumental role in getting Disney and Sony to come to an agreement and play nice with the wall-crawler.

How did it go down? Well, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new book, "The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned From 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company," and revealed that Tom Holland actually phoned him directly in order to pled his case for bringing Spider-Man home.

"We had an event called D23, which is a big Disney fan event, and Tom was there because he’s a voice in a new Pixar movie called Onward with Chris Pratt… It was clear that the fans wanted Tom back as Spider-Man, made by Marvel and our Marvel production team. And after D23, Tom reached out to folks who work for me and said, ‘Could I please have Bob’s email address or phone number?'" Iger said. "Of course I’m very protected so they were very careful. And I said, ‘Sure, have him contact me.’ And he did, we spoke. And he basically made a… he cried on the phone." Surpried, Kimmel asked, "Did he really?" And Iger responded with a chuckle, "No, not really."

"It was clear that he cares so much. And actually we care a lot about him. He’s a great Spider-Man, isn’t he?" Iger continued. "I felt for him, and it was clear that the fans wanted all of this to happen. So after I got off the phone with him, I made a couple of phone calls to our team at Disney Studios, and then I decided to call the head of Sony, and I said 'we gotta figure out a way to get this done. For Tom and for the fans,' and we did." The third film in the SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING series is now slated for a July 16, 2021 release.