Zendaya’s Favorite Thing About Tom Holland Playing Spider-Man Has Nothing To Do With Him Acting Onscreen
If you’re like me, a lifelong Spider-Man fan, you’re probably more than pumped because not only did we get a brand-new trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but we are also inching closer to its release on the 2026 movie schedule. As someone raised on Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man trilogy, I sometimes forget just how much “weight” comes with carrying the mantle of such a beloved character. Well, Tom Holland’s co-star and real-life partner Zendaya just reminded me by pointing out her favorite thing about him playing Spidey, and it has nothing to do with his onscreen persona.
In a chat with Fandango for the upcoming Spider-Man film, Zendaya explained that her favorite part of watching Holland be Spider-Man is not a stunt, a scene or even the way he plays Peter Parker. For her, it has everything to do with how he handles being Spidey off-screen. She explained:
My favorite thing about Tom’s Spider-Man is how Tom handles Spider-Man outside of ‘Spider-Man.’ Because so many people connect to this character, to Peter Parker, to Spider-Man, and especially young people, especially children. And I think that he’s just handled that weight with such grace and really loves and cares so much about the character and what the character means to other people. And realizing that, like, when you are in front of these kids, you are Spider-Man. You are this person to them. And I just love seeing how you [to Tom Holland] carry Spider-Man through your life in real life.
What could have been a pretty standard answer to an interview question turned into one of the cutest possible images of the Uncharted star: dressed in his new head-to-toe red-and-blue spandex, meeting kids who do not see a movie star doing press but the real Spider-Man.
That is the part that really stands out to me. When I was growing up, I was always so excited about the new superhero movies, and I never thought much about whether the actors in those suits felt any responsibility beyond showing up and doing the job. You hoped they respected the character, sure, but you did not always imagine them carrying that responsibility into real life. According to Zendaya, Holland absolutely does.
That makes sense given how long the British actor has been tied to the role. Holland first appeared as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War before leading his own trilogy and becoming one of the emotional centers of the MCU’s post-Endgame era. He has grown up with this character in public, and fans have watched his Peter go from wide-eyed teenager to a young adult carrying a very lonely kind of grief after the ending of No Way Home.
Zendaya’s comments also add another layer to Brand New Day. After the spell that erased Peter from everyone’s memory, this next movie seems poised to follow the Wall-Crawler as he starts over without the safety net of the people who loved him. That is heavy material for a character who still means so much to kids.
Her answer quietly explains why Holland’s version has connected so strongly with fans, too. His Peter Parker has always felt sincere, sometimes painfully so. He is funny, awkward and brave, but he also feels like someone who understands that being a superhero means showing up for people even when no one knows your name.
In that way, Tom Holland feels like the living embodiment of the character, from Ben Parker’s “with great power comes great responsibility” to May’s “when you help someone, you help everyone.” You love to see it. And though he might have an idea who he wants to embody the character after he hangs it up, I hope that, given how much he cares about Spider-Man, it’s not for some time.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31.
