Is Tom Holland the new soul of the MCU? Joe Russo seems to think so

In an interview with GQ, Russo claims that Holland is taking over Downey's spot. The filmmaker didn't go into much detail about his statement. All he had to say was that "Tom is stepping into the role that Robert Downey once occupied for Marvel." He also added that Tom Holland is, "in a lot of ways the soul of the Marvel Universe", which is one of the best compliments you could ever get as far as the MCU goes.

Such comments coming from anybody is always noteworthy, but the fact that it's from one-half of the Russo brothers only serves to give it much more weight. The Russo brothers directed three out of the six MCU films that Tom Holland appeared in, starting with Captain America: Civil War. If there's someone who knows if Holland can step up to the plate, it's them. This isn't to say that Peter is a replacement for his MCU mentor. Rather, this just goes to show just how important Holland and his Spider-Man are for the MCU.

Just keep in mind that this isn't confirmation if Holland will continue to star in more Spider-Man and other MCU movies after Spider-Man: No Way Home. If it's any consolation, Downey also stopped at just three Iron-Man films and was in the MCU for a total of 11 years as well as 10 movies. If Holland and Spider-Man are going to take the same route, the wall-crawler could end up becoming the next face of the MCU even if he already is in the eyes of the Russo brothers.

In other MCU news, Marvel Studios just dropped a brand-new trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home ahead of its December 17, 2021, premiere date. The latest trailer shows Spider-Man fighting against a Vulture-less Sinister Six. So far, Marvel still hasn't confirmed if Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield are going to be in the film.