It's pretty safe to say that Spider-Man is one of the biggest superheroes in comic book history. For that reason (among many, many others), it's no surprise that he's also one of the biggest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, he might not be as tenured as some of the original Avengers in that franchise, but he very quickly became one of the most popular in the MCU after his debut appearance in 2016's Captain America: Civil War.
Portrayed by Tom Holland, the webslinger has made his presence felt in the form of his own trilogy (consisting of Spider-Man movies Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home), as well as continuing to play a major role in ensemble movies such as the Avengers franchise. He's now set to return in both of those MCU subfranchises in the very near-future, with a new Spider-Man trilogy and two Avengers appearances already scheduled in the years ahead.
However, there is reportedly set to be a bit of a twist in one of those projects.
Spider-Man stunt double to reportedly replace Tom Holland in multiple scenes for Avengers: Doomsday
According to a new report from veteran industry insider Daniel Richtman, a stunt double will film some of Tom Holland's scenes as Spider-Man in Avengers: Doomsday as the star will be busy filming Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Filming for that movie takes place across the first quarter of the year, while the Marvel film is expected to begin production in spring, meaning that the two will likely cross into each other.
While that means that Holland will technically be replaced by his stunt double in those particular scenes, he will still be a part of the movie whenever production on The Odyssey wraps. This allows Avengers: Doomsday to carry on production without him for as long as possible before he eventually is able to take part in the filming of the Marvel movie. Holland will, of course, be playing Peter Parker whenever he is unmasked and will likely provide voiceover for any scenes that he didn't physically take part in.
It's not unheard of for a stunt double to do all of the action scenes in a superhero movie anyway, but not only does Holland do some of his own stunts in the Spider-Man movies, this also might mean that the stunt double would take part in other scenes that would involve Spider-Man talking with other characters or walking beside other heroes, for example. So with that in mind, it might mark a bit of a change, depending on how much of the initial production period Holland misses.
This approach would be similar to the one that Disney Plus series The Mandalorian took for its third season. Although the titular character in the Star Wars show is suited up almost all of the time, Pedro Pascal did all of the mannerisms and physical acting involved in the first two seasons, but for its third he was unable to take part in all of the production, meaning that a stunt double did the physical acting and Pascal provided the voiceover at a later stage in post-production.
When this information makes its way around the internet, it can annoy some fans who weren't aware of that before, but it can also enhance the project if the stunt double nails all of the mannerisms associated with the character. Spidey may be a difficult one to do that for, but it shouldn't affect the quality of the finished product when it arrives in movie theaters. And after all, it may just be for a few scenes; we really don't know at this point. That's also not even taking into account the fact that reports can change, so there is still a chance that Holland could be there for the production of Avengers: Doomsday.
We said that Holland was busy filming another movie earlier and "busy" really is the keyword here, for the star is set to film Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man 4, and Avengers: Secret Wars back-to-back. Now that is commitment.