Tom Holland, The New Spider-Man, Explains Why He Hates Spiders – And Cats

On the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film, Tom Holland plays a teenager who gets superpowers after being bitten by a spider. With that kind of a backstory, you would expect Tom to at least be appreciative of spiders – but instead, he’s terrified of them. And if that’s understandable, as many people are scared of spiders – it turns out Tom also hates cats, which might get him in trouble with a large part of the world’s population.

Tom, who turned 21-years-old last week, is getting ready for the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming next month. The film will mark Tom’s first solo Spider-Man project, after wearing the Spider-Man suit for a few scenes on Captain America: Civil War. In an interview with CNET, Tom reveals his fear of spiders, and also his unexpected hatred for cats.

“I’m Terrified. Like 100 percent I hate spiders. And I thought I really liked them, and I learned that’s just false. I really can’t be around spiders, it scares me so much. We had one on set the other day for a photo-shoot, and I just said ‘no, I can’t do it’, I hate them, they’re terrifying.”

If you’ve ever seen one of the previous Spider-Man movies, or read the comics, you would know Peter Parker turned into Spider-Man after being bitten by a radioactive spider. And while we don’t know the full plot details of the Spider-Man reboot, it’s safe to assume an actual spider will be involved.

Given Tom Holland’s fear of spiders, he showed a lot of bravery in a video challenge posted to YouTube last month, in which the actor had to stand quite close to a real, big spider – while answering trivia questions. And while Tom can be seen screaming and cowering in fear as the spider moves ever so close – he did eventually agree to hold him in his hands. Hands shaking in fear – but still, his own hands.

Realizing he’s playing a character who uses the powers of a Spider – Tom even joked he should ask the real spider for some tips – “‘Dude how do you do that, Bro?”

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, however, some of Spidey’s powers will not come directly from those terrifying spiders, but will be based on technology, thanks to a new suit Peter Parker is getting from Iron Man himself, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). And just like Iron Man’s suit, the Spider-Man outfit will hide many bells and whistles, some of which Peter will have to discover on the go.

“The suit is almost like the most advanced iPhone ever,” Tom explains, “It can do so much. It helps him track people and it helps him listen into conversations and it helps him pick out threats and stuff. It’s just a really, really cool, fun way of integrating modern technology into a superhero from back in the day.”

Going back to Tom’s complicated relationship with animals, it turns out spiders are not his only enemy – cats are too. Those fluffy, adorable bundles of joy and claws should steer far away from Tom, who is very much a dog person. In a video interview with CNET, he explains his ill feelings towards felines.

“I love dogs with all my heart… I hate cats. They’re just evil, conniving… I don’t mind cats, they’re just uhhh [Makes a disgusted face]… I’m also allergic to them. I think that if you fed someone else’s cat, that cat will slowly become your cat. If you did that to someone’s dog, they wouldn’t do that.”

One animal did manage to capture Tom’s heart – his dog, Tess, which he bought two years ago. Jokingly saying that he misses her more than his family, Tom admits that while his parents were angry at first about the new dog – now they don’t allow him to take her anywhere, because they’re in love with her as well.

With Tom’s family living in England (where he’s originally from), he doesn’t get to see his Tess a lot – but he often posts pictures of her on Instagram.

Spider-Man: Homecoming will be released on July 7, and we will finally get to see whether Spidey (or rather – Tom) will get to make a stand against his ultimate villain – a cat.

[Featured Image by Marvel Studios]