‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Star Tom Holland Wasn’t at Marvel’s Hall H Panel, and He’s Not Afraid to Admit How That Felt

San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H has become something of a sacred space for Marvel Studios, the exact stage where some of the franchise’s biggest reveals have played out over the years. For Tom Holland specifically, it’s also the same room where his entire Spider-Man journey first began back in 2016.

That history made this year’s Hall H lineup feel especially notable, given that Marvel’s Comic-Con panel arrived at a moment when Holland has never been more visible in pop culture, currently starring in both ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ simultaneously.

Despite that, Holland himself wasn’t actually part of Marvel Studios’ Hall H presentation this year. Instead, Jon Bernthal took the stage on his behalf, teasing an exclusive first look at Spider-Man and Punisher facing off against Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk ahead of ‘Brand New Day’s’ release just days later.

Holland reportedly wasn’t previously aware the panel was even happening, and by his own account, only found out after the fact by seeing online that several of his fellow castmates were up on stage without him. That kind of surprise reaction speaks to just how sudden and unplanned his absence appears to have been from his own perspective.

That absence stands out given how packed this year’s Hall H truly was. According to Marvel’s own recap, the panel also featured a major reveal for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, with directors Joe and Anthony Russo bringing out much of that film’s ensemble cast across specially built stages in the back of the hall.

The panel’s scale created its own set of complications well before Holland’s situation became a talking point. Reports from the convention floor described chaotic scenes outside Hall H, with fans who had waited overnight or even for multiple days reportedly being turned away despite holding official wristbands, adding to what many attendees described as one of the more disorganized Hall H experiences in recent memory.

Notably, ‘Brand New Day’ had its own separate panel at the convention entirely, hosted by Sony Pictures rather than Marvel Studios, since Sony continues to handle the marketing and distribution rights for Holland’s solo Spider-Man films. That arrangement means Holland’s absence from Marvel’s Hall H slot doesn’t necessarily reflect anything about his standing within the franchise itself, simply a scheduling and studio-jurisdiction quirk tied to how Spider-Man’s rights are structured.

Even so, being left out of a moment so many of his fellow Marvel stars were part of clearly registered with Holland on some level, based on how surprised he reportedly was to learn about it only after seeing it unfold online. For an actor whose career has been so closely tied to that specific stage, it’s an understandable reaction even within an otherwise massive year for his career.

With both ‘Brand New Day’ and ‘The Odyssey’ continuing to dominate box office conversations, Holland’s absence from one Comic-Con panel is unlikely to slow down what’s already shaping up as one of the biggest years of his career.

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