Tom Holland first played Peter Parker in 2016's Captain America: Civil War and, ahead of his return to the MCU in Spider-Man 4, the actor has covered the latest issue of Men's Health.
As well as showing the actor looking insanely jacked, the magazine caught up with some of the filmmakers who have worked with him over the years. Among them was Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts.
"He just was so young and sweet, and just charming, and then in the audition, he did a full backflip, like a standing backflip, in addition to being really great on tape," he recalled. "It was like watching a video of the real Peter Parker."
Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo added, "Tom is somebody who cares a lot about other people. He has a sense of responsibility and duty. He was all the things that reminded me of what I loved about Peter Parker as a kid. And he was a movie star. He had that movie-star quality. The charisma, the confidence, the energy."
"The thing that impresses me the most," Russo, who is expected to reunite with Holland for Avengers: Doomsday, continued, "is that he has become an international movie star from the time we met him until now. He is hounded by the press. He’s in a very high-profile relationship. And he has remained exactly the same through all of it."
"Completely genuine, completely earnest, and as lovable as he was the day he first walked into our office for his first audition."
Holland didn't share any Spider-Man updates in the interview but reflected on a recent incident a Whole Foods in Los Angeles which saw him forced to play the hero for real.
"They’re like going at it, right behind me," the actor said of seeing two men come to blows before he stepped in and pulled one of them away. "I can see that he’s recognized me immediately, and you could see the wheels turning, like, I’m really angry, but Spider-Man is telling me to calm down. So, yeah, I go to the supermarket."
The actor was also asked to name his favourite movie and replied, "I take no shame in saying Avatar."
Last month, longtime Spider-Man franchise producer Amy Pascal said, "We're starting shooting the next Spider-Man movie with Destin Daniel Cretton. He's a wonderful director. I love No Mercy, I love Short Term 12, I love Shang-Chi. I think he did a wonderful job."
When it was put to her that No Way Home felt like the perfect send-off for the web-slinger, Pascal responded, "Well, we have to deal with the fact that he decided he was going to give up being Peter Parker."
"And he was going to focus on being Spider-Man because being Peter Parker was too hard," she teased. "That's what the movie is about."
Spider-Man 4 has been officially dated for July 26, 2026 with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton helming a script penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.