Tom Holland improvised *that* Peter Parker scene during Infinity War, and get ready to cry all over again
Warning: Major spoilers for the end of Avengers: Infinity War ahead! We’re literally talking about the big climax scene — so, you know, *spoilers* abound.
There were so many deaths in Avengers: Infinity War, it can be hard to pinpoint the biggest one of the entire film. If we’re talking most shocking, that honor goes to Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), because how can the MCU kill off its most popular/lucrative star so soon after announcing a sequel?! If you’re talking about the most underrated loss, that’s probably Heimdall (Idris Elba), because there has not been enough talk/mourning of losing those piercing golden eyes. Even the most expected/predicted death, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), hurt because knowing that a character has to die to maintain stakes in the MCU doesn’t make losing one of the most charming villains any easier. But if we measure by the most heartbreaking, there is a clear-cut winner above all the rest.
Peter Park’s death has absolutely wrecked audiences over the past week since Infinity War debuted, and no matter how many times you see this film, his final moments never fail to make you cry real tears. Tom Holland perfectly captures every single emotion possible, and watching him realize — thanks to his spidey senses — that he’s about to disappear at the snap of Thanos’s fingers is gut-crushing. Peter clutching Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and crying out, “I don’t feel so good, Mr. Stark” is maybe the single most agonizing moment of the entire MCU to date.
Want to feel even more despair over that scene? It turns out sweet, innocent, adorable puppydog Holland improvised that entire moment. Go ahead, let out those tears. We’ll wait. We totally get it.
According to a Reddit user who sat in the front row of a panel at an Iowa high school with Infinity War co-director Joe Russo, Holland was instructed to “act like you don’t want to go” during his final moments before he turned to ash. And yeah, it’s safe to say that he totally took that direction and ran with it. Cool, cool, cool, now we’re crying all over again.
But that’s not all! Russo was apparently in a very sharing mood because he also revealed that Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) — who was noticeably (and unfairly, if we may add) absent from Infinity War — lived through Thanos’s attack on the Asgardian refugee ship at the very beginning of the film. Apparently, some Asgardians did manage to escape in pods, and Valkyrie isn’t the only surviving refugee. And seeing as how Russo wasn’t willing to reveal what Korg’s (Taika Waititi) fate was, let’s assume (and hope!) that Korg is also still alive. You can’t kill off two of the best Asgardian characters and not even show it onscreen. That’s just not how any of this works.