By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Spider-Man actor Tom Holland recently launched his own non-alcoholic beer, the kind that MCU heroes like Tony Stark would surely have turned their noses up at. Still, the actor seems very proud of the product and recently shared a tale in which he was nearly foiled from buying his own drink (named Bero) because he had trouble proving he was at least 21 years old with his English ID. Tom Holland’s story of his struggles to buy his own beer was meant to be whimsical and relatable, but everything from the product to his viral marketing efforts is a perfect matter for the sad state of the MCU.
Bero & Tom Holland
Now, before I get into my cranky rant about Tom Holland’s beer being a metaphor for the MCU, it’s important to answer the obvious question: why did he make the stuff in the first place? According to the Spider-Man actor, he participated in Dry January (in which you abstain from drinking alcohol) in 2022 but kept thinking about how much he wanted to have a drink throughout the month. Holland responded to these urges by stretching his sobriety to six months, and after realizing how much healthier and happier he felt, he was inspired to create a non-alcoholic beer.
This story is actually fairly touching, and cheers to the Spider-Man actor for taking such active measures to improve his health. With that being said, it’s still a bit weird to see Tom Holland hawking a non-alcoholic beer, especially because his fame is almost entirely due to playing an underage superhero in the MCU. Plus, this beer brand has unintentionally become the perfect metaphor for the very Marvel brand that made Holland famous.
Bero & The MCU
For example, Bero’s brand identity seems to be that of a drink that’s grown-up (as Tom Holland discovered, you can’t buy it without proof you’re 21 or older) but not too grown-up, which is why the kind of beer usually consumed by AARP members is being shilled by a young MCU hero. However, “grown-up but not too grown-up” is also the perfect description of Marvel, a cinematic universe that patted itself on the back for finally letting Star-Lord say the F-word back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Another example of this is Captain America: Brave New World, a movie that gestures towards heady themes like family forgiveness and international unity while also making Harrison Ford into a red rage monster. Or Thor: Love and Thunder, a movie that tried to combine a story about a beloved hero’s debilitating cancer with a story where a thunder god gets zapped naked and travels the cosmos thanks to screaming goats. This is honestly the Marvel formula writ large, with stories a tad more mature than cartoons but far less mature than actual dramas made for actual adults.
Speaking of making movies for actual adults, it’s not a coincidence so many Marvel fans and even creators like James Gunn and Joss Whedon responded negatively to Martin Scorcese’s criticisms of the MCU. The director famously compared these films to theme park rides because they aren’t “the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” Like Tom Holland’s non-alcoholic beer, the MCU can merely emulate great films, but even its best efforts are a hollow echo of movies that weren’t made to sell action figures.
Now, the actor whose likeness has sold countless figures is selling his own beer, and he’s using cutesy viral tales of his shopping misadventures to do so. Honestly, the whole thing feels like the modern Marvel phenomenon of “leaks” which are, in spirit, planned by professional marketing departments far in advance. And your mileage may vary, but the attempt to make hollow PR feel like organic enthusiasm for a product leaves a worse taste in my mouth than Bero (and that’s saying a lot).
At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with liking non-alcoholic brews, just as there’s nothing wrong with enjoying Marvel movies. But Tom Holland’s beer is, by definition, a fake version of the real thing, and that’s what the MCU has become to actual cinema. And half a decade after Scorceses’ incisive comments, it’s time for fanboys to stop attacking others who might want to enjoy the real thing from time to time.
Or, to put it another way: sometimes, a man just wants a good beer. And sometimes, he just wants a good film. Unfortunately, Tom Holland and the MCU that made him famous seem like they are no longer capable of delivering either.
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