Every Wednesday that Pope Francis is in Rome, the head of the Catholic Church holds an audience at the Vatican where people come from far and wide to see and even meet him. Among this week’s audience was Spider-Man himself, who shook the Bishop of Rome’s hand before sharing a brief chat with The Pope. It's random, I know, but the encounter is made sweeter once you know the identity of the Italian Web-Slinger.
No, it wasn’t Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire in the Spidey suit. Check out which Spider-Man did shake hands with the Pope this week, via Twitter:
🎥VIDEO | Among those waiting in line to greet Pope Francis at the end of his weekly audience on Wednesday was Spiderman.The comic book hero held his mask in his hand as he bowed before the Pope and greeted him.This unusual visitor was Mattia Villardita, a young man who visits… pic.twitter.com/w0FVVXLpdfMay 10, 2023
The Catholic Church shared a short video of an unmasked Spider-Man visiting The Pope. As the video shows, Spider-Man bowed in Pope Francis’ presence before sharing a friendly moment together. And, as it was additionally revealed, this superhero’s identity is Mattia Villardita, who regularly dresses up as Spider-Man to bring smiles to the faces of children in pediatric hospitals. Check out Villardita doing his thing:
As the Spider-Man movies have taught us, there’s almost an infinite amount of Spider-heroes out there with different backstories. One in our universe has been revealed to be Mattia Villardita, who not only met The Pope recently, but resides in Italy and does good for the children in his community. It must be so rewarding to surprise kids with Spider-Man while they are in pain and dealing with unfortunate health challenges. Mattia Villardita’s Instagram account is all good vibes and he seems to be a real-life superhero!
Tom Holland has certainly brought his Spider-Man to children's hospitals before to surprise kids, along with once filming a sweet video for a young heart-transplant patient. After wrapping up his MCU trilogy in 2021 with Spider-Man: No Way Home, the actor has been taking a break from playing Peter Parker. He has an Apple TV+ series coming next month in the form of The Crowded Room, which will have him playing a young man who gets arrested for being involved in a 1979 New York shooting. It sounds like Holland will be taking on a very different role after becoming well-known for playing a superhero.
Even so, there’s still some Spider-Man fun on the way this summer with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse expected to have a huge box office debut when it hits theaters in June. The sequel to Into the Spider-Verse will continue Miles Morales' story and see him meet even more Spider-heroes from all over the multiverse. The latest Across the Spider-Verse trailer included an A+ MCU reference that could point to Holland somehow finding a role in the animated movie. We’ll certainly find out when Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hits theaters on June 2. Until then, you can now watch most of the Spider-Man movies on Disney+.
