Peter Benjamin Parker is a fictional character primarily portrayed by Tom Holland in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise—based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Parker is initially depicted as a high school student at Midtown School of Science and Technology who received spider-like and superhuman abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider and operates as a vigilante in New York City known as Spider-Man. Parker is recruited by Tony Stark, who goes on to mentor him and inducts him into the Avengers during the battle against Thanos. Following the Blip, Parker's secret identity becomes public, and the events that transpire after he enlists Stephen Strange's help to reverse this causes the multiverse to open allowing several villains and heroes from alternate realities to enter with one of the villains ultimately killing his aunt. Strange and Parker eventually resolve the crisis by casting a new spell that permanently erases the world's shared knowledge of his civilian persona, including the bonds he once shared with his loved ones, friends, and other superhero allies while sending multiversal individuals back to their native reality.
Holland's version of the character is the successor to the Peter Parker played by Tobey Maguire in the Sam Raimi trilogy (2002–2007) and the Peter Parker of The Amazing Spider-Man duology (2012–2014) played by Andrew Garfield, both of whom reprise their roles, join the MCU multiverse, and appear alongside Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). To distinguish himself from the other versions, he is nicknamed "Peter-One".
As of 2022, Parker is one of the central figures of the MCU, having appeared in six films. He will return in the fourth Spider-Man film currently in development as well as star in Spider-Man: Freshman Year, an animated series that explores the character's origin story, serving as a prequel to his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War (2016). He also made a cameo appearance in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). An alternate version of Parker appears in the animated series What If...? (2021), voiced by Hudson Thames. In Iron Man 2 (2010), director Jon Favreau's son Max appears as a child wearing an Iron Man mask who is saved by Tony Stark and in 2017, it was confirmed that this was retroactively the introduction of a young Parker.[3][4] Holland's portrayal of the character has been well received and he has earned a number of accolades for his performance.