In 2015, the same year Marvel handed Tom Holland the Spider-Man suit, he was doing some of the best television work of his career, though you probably didn’t see it. Decked out in a flat cap and fur collar, in rooms usually lit by just one candle, he plays Gregory Cromwell in BBC’s Wolf Hall. Gregory is the son of Henry VIII’s chief fixer, Oliver Cromwell (Mark Rylance), and his job for six episodes is mostly to watch his father ruin people’s lives while trying to look like he’s keeping up with all the cutthroat political scheming surrounding him. He isn’t, but that’s kind of the point. Holland spends the whole miniseries a half-step behind the adults in the room, and the result is the least Tom Holland performance Tom Holland has probably ever given.
Ten years later, Wolf Hall is still near the top of his Rotten Tomatoes page, hanging on above a stack of Spider-Man sequels and the Uncharted movie no one talks about. It’s easy to forget he’s in it at all. (Marvel casting has a way of erasing everything an actor did before it.) But now that we’ve all seen him hold his own as Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’sThe Odyssey, this piece of obscure TV trivia looks more like a receipt.
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‘Wolf Hall’ Turns Henry VIII’s Court Into Must-Watch TV for Period Drama Fans
To understand why Holland’s performance works, you have to look at the show he’s disappearing into. Peter Kosminsky directed the six-part miniseries from Peter Straughan‘s adaptation of Hilary Mantel‘s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Rylance’s Thomas Cromwell mostly listens. He watches the room and remembers what people say so he can use it against them later. A blacksmith’s son from Putney who ended up as Henry VIII’s chief fixer, Rylance plays the man Henry used to annul his first marriage, break from Rome, and dissolve the monasteries, as someone with a monumental chip on his shoulder.
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Collider Exclusive · Marvel Personality Quiz Which MCU Hero Are You? Spider-Man · Daredevil · Iron Man · Punisher · Thor · Cap
Six heroes. One destiny. Answer 10 questions to discover which Marvel Cinematic Universe hero shares your personality, values, and fighting spirit. Will you swing, fly, or thunder your way to glory?
🕷️Spider-Man
😈Daredevil
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🤖Iron Man
💀Punisher
⚡Thor
🛡️Cap
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01
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What drives you to do what’s right? Choose the answer that feels most like you.
02
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It’s 2 AM. Where are you? Your answer says more about you than you’d think.
03
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How do you handle a villain who keeps escaping justice? Every hero has a method. What’s yours?
04
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How do you feel about keeping a secret identity? The mask — or the lack of one — says everything.
05
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You’ve lost someone important because of your heroism. How do you carry that? Every hero pays a price. The question is how they pay it.
06
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What’s your role when working with a team? Who you are under pressure is who you actually are.
07
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Where do you draw the line between justice and revenge? The answer defines what kind of hero you really are.
08
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When you’re not saving the world, what does life look like? The person behind the mask is always the more interesting story.
09
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What keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
10
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The battle is lost. You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and exhausted. What do you do? This is your tiebreaker — choose carefully.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your MCU Hero Is…
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Based on your answers, the Marvel hero who matches your spirit, values, and instincts has been revealed.
Queens, New York
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🕷️ Spider-Man
You carry the weight of the world on shoulders that are younger than they should have to be — funny, loyal, and endlessly self-sacrificing.
You do the right thing not because it’s easy, but because no one else will.
You understand that responsibility isn’t a burden you choose — it’s one that finds you.
Whether it’s a neighbourhood mugging or a multiverse crisis, you show up.
Peter Parker’s lesson — that great power demands great responsibility — isn’t a slogan to you. It’s the code you live by, even when it costs you everything.
Hell’s Kitchen, New York
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😈 Daredevil
You fight in the shadows between law and chaos, guided by a fierce moral compass that refuses to let the guilty walk free.
You use every tool available — your mind, your body, your faith — to protect those the system overlooks.
You’ve looked into the darkness and chosen not to become it, though the line has never been easy.
Matt Murdock’s duality — champion in the courtroom, devil in the alley — mirrors your own.
Relentless, conflicted, and unwilling to stop. That is exactly you.
Stark Industries, Malibu
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🤖 Iron Man
Brilliant, driven, and occasionally insufferable — but always the person who solves the unsolvable problem.
You lead with your mind and back it up with resources, innovation, and a stubbornness that borders on heroic.
You started out looking out for yourself, but somewhere along the way the world became your responsibility.
Tony Stark’s arc — from ego to sacrifice — is your arc too.
You build, you plan, and when the moment comes, you’re willing to give everything. Because in the end, you’re Iron Man.
New York City
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💀 The Punisher
You’ve been through fire that would break most people — and it did change you, completely. What’s left is unyielding, relentless, and operating by a code forged in grief.
You don’t ask for forgiveness, and you don’t expect gratitude.
You see a corrupt, broken world and you’ve decided to do something about it, consequences be damned.
Frank Castle’s war is born from love twisted by loss — and so is yours.
Uncompromising and unflinching — the world may not agree with your methods, but your conviction is absolute.
Asgard · Protector of the Nine Realms
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⚡ Thor
Powerful, proud, and on a lifelong journey to become worthy of the legend you carry.
You lead with strength but have learned — sometimes painfully — that true greatness comes from humility and growth.
You’re larger than life, yet more vulnerable than you let on.
Thor’s story is one of transformation: from arrogant prince to worthy king, from isolated warrior to beloved protector.
You bring the storm when it’s needed — and the warmth when it matters just as much.
Brooklyn, New York · The Avengers
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🛡️ Captain America
You believe in something bigger than yourself — and you fight for it even when the world has moved on and nobody else will.
You don’t bully the small guy, and you never stop when it gets hard.
Steve Rogers didn’t become a hero when he got the serum — he was always one. So were you.
Your strength isn’t in your fists; it’s in your refusal to compromise what’s right, no matter the cost.
In a world full of people taking the easy road, you’re the one who picks up the shield and stands up — every single time.
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Damian Lewis, meanwhile, plays the mercurial king. His Henry VIII is charming one minute and dangerous the next, and half the fun of the show is watching Cromwell figure out which one he’s got in front of him. It’s about how power moves in a court where being loud and obvious usually gets you killed. That’s a hard show to act in. It’s a much harder show to act in when you’re only 18-years-old. Which is what makes Holland’s presence there so strange, and so good.
‘Wolf Hall’ Is Still One of Tom Holland’s Best Roles, and One of BBC’s Best Dramas
Gregory Cromwell has no big scenes to hit. He’s the boy who got sent away to school, comes home, and realizes the people who used to underestimate his dad are now afraid of him. Holland plays him as always alert and just a bit bewildered; a kid slowly realizing what his father has become, and struggling to make sense of it. The restraint is what stands out the most. Almost every part Holland has taken since has asked him to sell a feeling, and sell it loudly. Think of the tearful third acts of the Spider-Man movies, the shell shock in Cherry, the earnest boyishness of every talk-show couch he’s ever sat on. Wolf Hall asked him for something else. It handed him all of three seconds of screen time and expected him to hold his own against veteran actors without the help of a mask and CGI magic. He does. Easily.
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Rewatching Wolf Hall now, after a decade of Holland being asked to be charming and cheeky, is a nice little shock. The show itself is one of the best British costume dramas of the 2010s: a beautifully made chronicle of how a nobody became the second most powerful man in England. It was also a precursor to what Holland could do before he strapped on a pair of spandex, a tease of what might come after Spider-Man, and a fascinating kind of TV time capsule.
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