Tom Holland’s Marvel Cinematic Universe diss will have fully applied to the franchise for seven years after he initially made it. The stars of the MCU timeline play an integral role in its success over the course of its current 16-year-long run, with faces and names like Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and Tom Holland being inherently associated with the series and its biggest movies. Tom Holland himself has been a cornerstone of the franchise since his debut as Spider-Man in 2016, with the MCU Spider-Man trilogy providing consistent hits on both a financial and critical level.

As such, the actor has long-established working relationships with other MCU stars, often citing them as great sources of inspiration and advice for his work in the Marvel movie sphere and outside of it. That said, this respect doesn’t prevent him from having some banter with his co-workers, as evidenced at the 2018 Ace Comic-Con, where Holland responded to Sam Wilson actor Anthony Mackie’s statement that he hadn’t seen Spider-Man: Homecoming by saying, “I haven’t seen the Falcon movie… oh no wait, there isn’t one, sorry.” As it stands, this stayed true for longer than may have been anticipated.

Tom Holland’s MCU Solo Movie Joke Applied To Sam Wilson For 7 Years After It Was Made

Sam Wilson Has Had A Long Stint Without A Solo Movie Of His Own

Tom Holland’s joke about Anthony Mackie’s missing Falcon solo movie was seemingly only intended as a spot of amicable jousting, with the two actors often having a playful back and forth that adds an extra liveliness to events such as the 2018 Ace Comic-Con itself. However, it’s worth noting that this comment remained true for several years after the fact, and highlighted the way in which the MCU used the character of Sam Wilson perhaps too sparingly, particularly since his extensive comic book history offers a wealth of engaging stories for the franchise to explore.

It’s only now with Captain America: Brave New World that Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson is actively getting a solo film. Mackie even directly addressed how this countered the Spider-Man actor’s comments during announcements for the movie, stating, “Yeah, Tom Holland, f**k you!” at 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con in reference to Holland’s prior riff on his lack of a solo movie. As it stands, the 2025 release date for the upcoming MCU movie will mean this comes six years after the 2018 jab.

Anthony Mackie and Tom Holland also joked about this topic when The Falcon & The Winter Soldier released, reinforcing the running gag before Captain America: Brave New World itself was announced.

The slower MCU release timeline can perhaps partially be blamed for this considerable time period, as can the fact that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier gave Wilson a duo series first instead of a movie to spotlight him. That said, the close to a decade that it took to get to Brave New World after the quote is still a key detail in the Marvel movie landscape.

This is especially true when it’s taken into account that Sam Wilson will have been Captain America for 4 real-world years between Holland’s joke and the fourth Captain America movie, making his absence on the big screen in this specific period all the more notable. Indeed, movie-only audiences still haven’t seen Sam Wilson in the mantle, despite it being one of the MCU’s two biggest hero titles, and Wilson having had it since 2021’s Disney+ show.

Tom Holland’s MCU Joke Diss Still Technically Applies

The Falcon Title Isn’t Likely To Get A Direct Movie Spotlight

Since Tom Holland’s joke about a solo movie was directly to Anthony Mackie about Sam Wilson, the hero getting his solo story with Captain America: Brave New World does serve to counter it. However, because Holland directly refers to Falcon’s solo movie, it still technically applies to the MCU, since Wilson won’t be Falcon, but rather the new Captain America. As such, the character will have never had a Falcon film, and while Joaquin Torres – the new Falcon – is introduced in the upcoming story, it doesn’t currently seem likely a spinoff Falcon movie will emerge from this debut.

Given Falcon does appear to be once again in the role of Captain America’s MCU sidekick, the joke about the character’s fate may well be one that rings true eternally – or at least for the foreseeable future. Based on the MCU comments that have been made by Disney CEO Bob Iger about ensuring the franchise sticks to core established figures and sequels with its releases for the time being, it seems incredibly unlikely that Falcon’s future will be one that sees him gain his own movie any time soon, even if Brave New World itself teases big things for him.

Why It Took So Long For Sam Wilson To Get A Solo MCU Movie

Several Factors Lead To The Long Road For Sam Wilson’s Solo MCU Movie

Ultimately, Sam Wilson’s story being so associated with Steve Rogers’ own has been a blessing and a curse for his MCU journey. Sam and Steve’s bond brings the best out of both characters, and thus was a significant one for the MCU to lean into, especially as it established both figures. This method did also serve to relegate Wilson to the background in some ways, though, with him often serving as a way to balance out Steve’s man-out-of-time story and idealistic sense of values – arguably warranting Sam getting the spotlight later by taking on the Captain America role.

Much like Steve’s long-term ally and friend Bucky Barnes, Rogers’ friendship with Sam was his main story for much of the MCU. As such, Barnes and Wilson both only started to get their own more independent stories after Steve’s own Avengers: Endgame finale appeared to bring his arc to a close, with The Falcon & The Winter Solder coming not after, and then leading into Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* respectively.

Interestingly, even these two movies require their heroes to share the spotlight with other major Marvel characters, with Thunderbolts* actively being about the titular team, and the fourth Captain America installment having much focused on President Ross becoming the Red Hulk, with the story teases for the Phase 5 film suggesting he will be the center point of the plot in many ways. Since the sheer cast size of the MCU warrants its stories balancing their heroes with other key figures, this approach makes sense, and also retrospectively further explains why Sam Wilson didn’t get his own movie for so long.