Tom Holland in the DCU? Five Characters That Actually Make Sense

When James Gunn fielded a fan question on Threads about whether Tom Holland might one day find a home in the DC Universe, he stopped well short of making any promises — but the conversation he sparked was too interesting to leave alone. Holland, who has spent a decade defining live-action Peter Parker across the MCU, represents a rare kind of performer: one whose physical instincts, emotional transparency, and comedic timing are versatile enough to survive a franchise transition, should the circumstances ever align.

According to ScreenRant, Gunn's response was characteristically measured, noting his doubts that Holland would pursue a role like Aqualad after years inside the Spider-Man suit. Still, the exercise of imagining where he might fit within James Gunn's expanding DC Universe is a worthwhile one — not as idle fantasy, but as a genuine study in casting craft.

The Case for Nightwing

Of all the candidates, Dick Grayson's Nightwing is the most structurally compelling fit. The character shares a surprising amount of narrative DNA with Peter Parker — both are young men shaped by tragedy and surrogate parental figures, both rely on acrobatic instinct rather than brute strength, and both carry an innate brightness that distinguishes them from the darker archetypes around them. Holland has spent years perfecting that particular register. Grayson's trajectory from Robin to his own identity as Nightwing in Bludhaven mirrors, in broad strokes, Peter's growth from neighborhood hero to something larger. Given that James Gunn has confirmed Batman sequels won't film back-to-back, there's ample runway for a Nightwing introduction to breathe across multiple projects.

Barry Allen, Wally West, and the Speed Force Question

The Flash presents a genuinely interesting fork in the road. Gunn's DCU has yet to firmly establish which version of the scarlet speedster will anchor its mythology, and Holland could credibly serve either. Barry Allen would allow him to bring something distinct to a character already defined in television by Grant Gustin's decade-long run on the CW. Wally West, however, might be the more dramatically rich option — a younger hero navigating the weight of a legacy not originally his, a dynamic that would play directly into Holland's established strengths.

Ted Kord's Blue Beetle and the Gadgeteer Template

There is something genuinely appealing about imagining Holland in the role of Ted Kord, a version of Blue Beetle defined entirely by intelligence and engineering rather than innate superpower. It would be a meaningful gear shift from Spider-Man's organic abilities, and the prospect of Kord eventually mentoring Jaime Reyes adds a generational dimension that Holland has spoken about wanting to explore — even if that specific opportunity doesn't materialize within the MCU.

Kyle Rayner and the Green Lantern Corps

With the DCU's Lanterns series already introducing multiple Green Lanterns and staking out ambitious cosmic territory, Kyle Rayner represents the most natural expansion of that roster. An artist by background, Rayner wields his ring through creativity and emotional imagination — qualities that would give Holland's performance a distinct texture within an ensemble that already skews toward military and authoritative personalities. The character's optimism and relative inexperience compared to Jordan or Stewart would also suit Holland's current screen persona well.

Batman Beyond as the Long Game

The most speculative — and perhaps most cinematically exciting — possibility is Terry McGinnis, the Batman of a future Neo Gotham. The relationship between Terry and an aging Bruce Wayne echoes the mentor-protégé dynamic that defined Holland's MCU years, but refracted through a different genre lens entirely: part neo-noir, part science fiction. Whether the format would be animated or live-action, the casting logic holds. Jennifer Holland's recent comments about Gunn's ambitions for the DCU's future suggest the universe is being built with exactly this kind of long-horizon thinking in mind.

None of this, of course, is confirmed — Holland remains the MCU's Spider-Man for the foreseeable future. But the fact that Gunn himself engaged with the question at all suggests a director who thinks carefully about what performers bring to a universe, not just what roles need filling.