Tom Holland described the infamous brief split between Sony and Disney as a rift between a father and mother. While Spider-Man was fighting bad guys and dangerous threats across New York City, Tom Holland and the crew behind the franchise were also dealing with an unfortunate situation behind the scenes in 2019. That year, the two studios had failed to strike a deal, which could have prevented Tom Holland’s Spider-Man from appearing in the Avengers films and kept other MCU characters out of his standalone movies. 

It was a difficult time for the cast and crew, including Holland, who later opened up about feeling confused and uncertain during that period.

Back in August 2019, following the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Sony and Marvel famously split for a brief period after failing to strike a deal. During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Tom Holland recalled how everyone, including Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Holland himself, feared that Spider-Man would no longer be part of the MCU. He recalled the brief but difficult period and described it as feeling like the “mum and dad” were falling apart.

​"It was made very aware to me that they weren't moving on from me. It was just that the relationship between, like, Mum and Dad had fallen apart a little bit," Holland said.

Not just Holland, as he shared in the podcast, but Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige even told Empire that he had lost hope and was planning to part ways with Spider-Man. Fortunately, the situation between the two studios did not fall apart completely. A month later, in September 2019, Sony and Disney were able to strike a new deal, allowing Holland’s Spider-Man to appear in another MCU movie. Although Holland had little control over the situation, he still made an effort to help resolve it. 

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The actor shared that he attempted to fix things on a drunken call to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tom Holland explained how he had tried to help save the deal between Sony and Disney over Spider-Man’s future in the MCU. Holland said he was devastated when negotiations collapsed. He asked for Disney CEO Bob Iger’s email so he could thank him for giving him the opportunity to play Spider-Man and was waiting for a chance to talk to him. 

Holland got the call when he was in a pub in England with his family and was three pints in. The actor recalled that he spoke with Iger about how much the character and the MCU meant to him during the call. Iger later said Holland’s passion influenced him to contact Sony and help bring the two studios back to the negotiating table. And that may have played a little role in helping the two studios strike a deal in September 2019. It might be safe to say that Tom Holland, both as an actor and as Spider-Man's avatar, saved the films.

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