Tom Holland Has Spent Over a Decade Trying to Get This Spider-Man and Kraven Scene Into a Movie

Tom Holland has spent more than a decade trying to get one of his favorite Spider-Man comic book moments onto the big screen.

The scene comes from Ultimate Spider-Man #21 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, and it features Spider-Man having a hilariously brief encounter with Kraven the Hunter while on his way to fight Doctor Octopus.

Holland recently talked about the comic while discussing his favorite Spider-Man stories with Marvel, revealing that he’s been pitching the moment since before Spider-Man: Homecoming was released.

He explained: “My favourite moment — and I tried to get it into this movie, Destin, and you’ll remember this — is in Ultimate Spider-Man. He is on his way to fight Doc Ock, and Kraven shows up and kind of throws a bit of a spanner in the works”

Anyone reading the comic might naturally expect Kraven’s arrival to kick off a big fight. Instead, Spider-Man brings the whole thing to an abrupt and very funny end.

Holland continued: “And you think as you’re reading it, they’re like, oh, there’s about to be this, like, massive action sequence between Spider-Man and Kraven. And it completely, like, undercuts the tension, because Spider-Man just punches him once and essentially, like, buries him in the ground.”

It’s such a great Spider-Man gag. Kraven arrives looking like he’s about to become a major obstacle, only for Spidey to flatten him with a single punch and continue on his way.

Holland has wanted to recreate that moment since the beginning of his run as Peter Parker. “And I just remember reading that before the first movie, before Homecoming. And I’ve been pitching that idea for over a decade. I just, I always loved that moment.”

Destin Daniel Cretton has heard Holland’s Spider-Man and Kraven pitch as well, but he apparently had no idea the actor had been carrying the idea around for so long.

Cretton joked: “That’s hilarious, because when you pitched that to me, it was like you pitched it as if you came up with the idea last night. I didn’t know you’d been sitting on it.”

Holland clearly refuses to let this one die, and it’s easy to understand why. Instead of turning Spider-Man vs. Kraven into another elaborate action sequence, the comic plays with the reader’s expectations and turns the confrontation into a punchline.

Whether Holland ever gets the chance to recreate the Ultimate Spider-Man moment in live action remains to be seen, but after pitching it for more than 10 years, you’ve got to respect the commitment.