Tom Holland Says Chris Pratt Was His ‘Superhero’ During The Marvel/Sony Spider-Man Dispute

For a brief moment, Tom Holland‘s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in some serious trouble. After the box-office success of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures both felt they deserved a bigger piece of the pie, but when the two studios couldn’t reach an agreement on how to divvy up the profits, Sony exercised its right to stop sharing Spidey with the MCU. Holland would be an Avenger no more.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the two studios found a way to extend Spider-Man’s time in the MCU. It also didn’t hurt that Holland pleaded with Disney CEO Bob Iger in a drunken phone call. That’s always a smooth negotiating tactic that won’t steer you wrong provided you’re the star of a billion-dollar franchise.

But in the midst of the custody battle, Holland found himself in a very awkward position when he still had to promote Disney’s Onward at D23 just days after the news broke that Marvel and Sony would no longer share custody of Spider-Man. Thankfully, Holland’s Onward and Avengers: Endgame co-star Chris Pratt was there to lend support even though the two actors were on the precipice of starring in competing cinematic universes. When asked by Variety who was his “superhero” during the dispute, Holland recounted the moment when he broke the news to Pratt.

“Chris and I were obviously standing backstage together before we called out on stage, and I was telling him the news and he hadn’t heard it yet. And he was like, ‘No, that’s not gonna happen. That’s not gonna happen. They’re gonna figure it out. And if not, you’ll be great. You’ll be fine.’ So it was just really nice to have him in my corner because he’s someone who I really look up to and I really appreciate.”

Clearly, Pratt’s pep talk worked because Holland took the stage at D23 and was rewarded by throngs of fans chanting “Save Spider-Man,” which undoubtedly played no small part in bringing Sony and Marvel back to the table to hash out a bright future for Holland’s webhead.