Tom Holland believes the actor who takes over his role as Spider-Man could be playing an LGBTQ version of the iconic character.
Although the character of Peter Parker / Spider-Man has traditionally been a straight, white teenager, last year (2018) saw the release of the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which featured black Hispanic teen Miles Morales as one of a number of Spider-Men from different universes.
In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, Tom, who currently plays Peter in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, said that “of course” he could see the character being gay in the future.
However, he insisted it was up to writers and producers to make the decision, adding: “I can’t talk about the future of the character because, honestly, I don’t know, and it’s out of my hands. But I do know a lot about the future of Marvel, and they are going to be representing lots of different people in the next few years.”
“The world isn’t as simple as a straight white guy. It doesn’t end there, and these films need to represent more than one type of person,” the 23-year-old continued.
Tom has also helped the LGBTQ community, as he learned that his cross-dressing performance as Rihanna on U.S. TV show Lip Sync Battle had given a young transgender kid a confidence boost.
“I met a lady in Texas who had a young boy in her school who likes to wear women’s clothes,” he explained. “He was bullied. Then I dressed as Rihanna, and she told me that boy felt so much more confident because he saw Spider-Man do it. That was really touching. Me just doing a dance routine helped someone.”
Spider-Man: Far From Home is in cinemas now.
