Since Tom Holland took up the mantle as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actor has become notorious for spoiling things in the superhero movie pipeline. For a while, I kind of thought this was an endearing bit that Marvel was having him do to generate some viral marketing, but it turns out that the guy might just actually be…like that.
During Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Los Angeles premiere, Holland was asked by Complex if there was a specific moment he regretted living up to his reputation as a walking spoiler, and he recounted a story about how, during a surprise appearance at a theater on opening night of Avengers: Infinity War, he spoiled the film’s ending for a crowd of people who had just sat down to watch the movie.
“I thought that we were walking into a room of people that had seen the movie,” Holland recalls. “I thought the movie had ended, and I walked on stage and I said, ‘Don’t worry everybody, I’m still alive!’ And there was this huge collective sigh. I kind of was like ‘Wow, I thought that was gonna get a bigger reaction,’ and I looked at Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios president] and Kevin was like [imitates Feige trying to tell him to stop talking]. I wish I could go back and relive that moment.”
The story was crazy enough on its own, but then I saw comments saying that this core memory for Holland and the people in the room has actually been captured for posterity.
You can see Holland try to save face but he is clearly pretty embarrassed when he realizes what he’s done. For those that don’t know, Spider-Man, along with half of the Marvel universe, dies at the end of Infinity War after Thanos collects all the Infinity Stones and snaps them out of existence. This would be undone a year later in Avengers: Endgame, but the movie’s final moments are pretty somber as we watch beloved heroes turn to dust. Spider-Man’s death scene is especially brutal, as the high school student pleads to Iron Man for his life.
But that was eight years ago, and now Spidey has been back for a while, and has starred in three of his own movies since. Despite his reputation for spoiling stuff, he managed to stay quiet about Stranger Things actor Sadie Sink’s secret Spider-Man: Brand New Day role. The honor of spoiling that went to R&B singer Steve Lacy.