PLAY MOVIES HOLLAND LIVES SPIDEY DREAM

mind the mega- strength and the whole climbing up walls thing, Tom Holland’s true superpower is positive thinking.

As a kid there was no other superhero for the UK actor than Spider- Man. He had all the paraphernalia, the costumes ( by his count, more than 30 over the years), the bedspread, pyjamas — you name it. And he has long harboured a burning ambition to play the much- loved comic book web- slinger. So much so that about five years ago, he boldly stated in an interview that he’d like the gig ( and that of James Bond) after Andrew Garfield hung up the blue and red spandex outfit.

“I feel like if you put something out into the universe then you increase your chances of it happening,” the confident, affable and well- spoken Holland says.

Holland got his chance earlier than he might have thought. Rather than retiring from his role as Spider- Man, Garfield was sidelined after two solo outings that, while far from disastrous, didn’t perform as well as hoped either critically or at the box office. Then, thanks to an unprecedented deal between Sony, the studio with the rights to Spider- Man, and Disney, home to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, Holland made his debut as Spidey in last year’s Captain America: Civil War.

Holland first shot to fame on the West End stage as the lead in hit musical Billy Elliot, and followed that up with movie appearances in The Impossible with Naomi Watts and In the Heart of the Sea with Chris Hemsworth.