Tom Holland has left behind a Spider-Man impersonation competition alongside content creators, with Zendaya helping to judge the final round.
The surprise appeared in the form of a video created by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, who invited five content creators dressed as Spider-Man to compete in a series of challenges testing agility, strength, reflexes, and acting ability. The contestants believed they were taking part in a standard competition and were unaware that Holland and Zendaya would later join the event.
In the entire competition, contestants performed acrobatic moves, demonstrated their interpretation of Spider-Man’s famous “spider-sense”, completed strength tests, and acted out scenes inspired by the Marvel superhero. Several participants were eliminated as judges narrowed the field.
The contest took an unexpected turn when Holland entered as a mystery finalist, remaining masked while competing against the remaining contenders. The Spider-Man actor joined challenges that included recreating iconic superhero poses and demonstrating character mannerisms associated with the web-slinging hero.
Zendaya then joined the judging panel for the final stage of the competition. After watching the finalists perform, she delivered the deciding vote on who best embodied Spider-Man.
Zendaya noted before selecting contestant number two as the winner, “It’s a difficult decision. It really is. Everybody was so talented”.
The decision meant Holland was eliminated from the contest and finished behind the winning participant. When Holland’s identity was finally revealed, the crowd reacted with surprise as it emerged that the actor had unknowingly lost a Spider-Man impersonation contest centred on portraying the very character he plays on screen.
The appearance came as Holland and Zendaya were in Madrid to promote Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which releases worldwide on July 31.