Marvel needs to represent more than “a straight white guy”, says Spider-Man actor Tom Holland

“These films need to represent more than one type of person”

Tom Holland has said that Marvel needs to represent “more than one type of person” in its films.

The Spider-Man: Far From Home actor, who portrays the titular character, said that diversity means telling the stories of characters that differ from those of the “straight white guy”.

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Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Far From Home

“The world isn’t as simple as a straight white guy,” Holland said in an interview with The Sunday Times. “It doesn’t end there, and these films need to represent more than one type of person.”

When he was asked if there will be an LGBTQ+ superhero in the future, Holland answered: “Yeah, of course. I can’t talk about the future of the character because honestly I don’t know and it’s out of my hands.

“But I do know a lot about the future of Marvel, and they are going to be representing lots of different people in the next few years.”

Holland’s comments follow responses from fans about Marvel’s positioning of its first openly gay Marvel character (in Avengers: Endgame) in April.

The gay character in question was a grieving man (played by the film’s co-director Joe Russo) who features briefly in a support group attended by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). The move received mixed responses from viewers with some hailing it as “significant” while others found it to be too minor and “tone deaf”.

Not a spoiler, but I think the most significant thing about Avengers Endgame was the fact that it’s the first MCU film to acknowledge the existence of gay people

— Kristian Johns (@guy_interruptd) April 28, 2019

I love #endgame and I admire these directors but hoo boy is this a tone-deaf moment.

— Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) April 27, 2019

Sam Wilson, whom Steve Rogers passed the Captain America baton to in Avengers: Endgame, was to debut in the latest Spider-Man for a special closing appearance.

But the filmmakers ultimately decided it would divert too much attention away from Peter Parker’s story arc.

Creative executive Eric Carroll told ComicBook: “We briefly talked about bringing in Falcon as Captain America at the end, like maybe once Peter’s arced, and he’s sort of like leading the team, like maybe he calls in a favour.

“We also thought it was really important to the arc of this movie that there not be other Avengers available to Nick Fury or Peter, so he’d have to step up and do it himself,” Carroll said.

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