3 min readWHEN A 19-year-old Tom Holland was first announced as the next Spider-Man, the then-rising actor only had a handful of credits to his name. Flash forward to 2026, and he’s led the highest-grossing opening weekend ever at the box office. Holland and Zendaya, who first met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming and have since tied the knot, just raked in over $400 million in a massive box office weekend. That comes on the back of a pair of films that both actors (and co-star Jon Bernthal) appear in: Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation of The Odyssey.
At the time of his casting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, skeptics could have pointed to previous iterations of Spider-Man being more mature. After all, Tobey Maguire was 26 when the first series of live-action films (directed by Sam Raimi) began to be released in 2002, and Andrew Garfield trailed closely at 27 for his superhero debut in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Unlike with Maguire and Garfield—whose tenures as the web-slinger lasted five years at most—a significant portion of the fans who first watched the then-teenage Holland portray the iconic masked superhero have since been able to grow up alongside him for what is now nearly a decade.
Meanwhile, some who might be just getting introduced to Holland, whether it’s from Brand New Day or his turn as Telemachus in The Odyssey, are leaving the summer blockbusters with a new celeb crush.
Holland shows off his superhero physique a few times in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and it’s clear that the 30-year-old star has been working hard. One scene in particular finds the web-slinger going shirtless in a bathhouse as he meets with New Avengers leader Yelena, also known as the new Black Widow (and played by Florence Pugh). It’s clear that he’s seen some major results and has been rewarded for his hard work.
Ádám, a 21-year old fan, has been a longtime fan of Holland’s and was one of many to post about the actor’s bulked-up transformation.
“I’ve been following Tom’s career since his debut as Spider-Man,” he shared. “I think growing up watching Tom as Peter Parker, you got used to him playing the energetic, slim high-schooler. His transformation for Brand New Day feels like a true coming of age moment for his version of Spider Man. I think it really shows how dedicated he is to evolving with the role.”
Holland himself has also been open about changing his fitness routine as he’s approached, and ultimately entered, his thirties. “In these movies the suits are often padded,” he shared with Men’s Health last year. “Then they’ll add CGI to make the way the padding moves look more natural. I want to add enough muscle that the padding and CGI aren’t necessary.”
“I’m trying to add mass, but I’d also quite like to add a bit more definition to my abs – I’d love to have an eight-pack,” Holland added, explaining that he worked with his trainer to build a ladder-style bodyweight routine that consisted of pull-ups, press-ups, and squats.
“Start with one pull-up, two dips, three press-ups, four sit-ups, five squats–that’s round one, and you basically go all the way up to 10, so the last round is 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 [of each movement]. And then you’ll go all the way back down to one. That is a monster workout.”
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the British actor achieved that goal and got to show off. While he keeps his Spider-Man mask on in order to maintain his anonymity, he gets to have a shirtless moment that has practically broken the internet.
Continue scrolling for some of our favorite Tom Holland thirst posts.
Buy Spider-Man: Brand New Day Tickets Here
Lexi Lane is a culture writer. Her work has previously appeared in NBC News, Variety, and more. When she's not at her laptop, you can find her in a movie theater.
