He’s the Peter Parker to her MJ, and now they’ve taken their relationship off the screen and into the real world.
Zendaya, 24, and Tom Holland, 25, shocked Marvel fans when they were spotted making out in his car on Thursday, July 1, after years of denying they’re a couple. According to photos published by Page Six, the Spider-Man co-stars and longtime friends stopped at a red light to share a steamy kiss while they took a drive at sunset in Tom’s $125,000 Audi.
For fans of the franchise, it’s the happily ever after they’ve always wanted—considering Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire dated after 2002’s Spider-Man, and Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield dated after 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
In 2017, rumors spread that Zendaya and Tom were an item, but the duo insisted they were just friendly.
E! News has reached out to their reps to confirm they’re now officially official, but pics (and Spidey senses) don’t lie.
Here’s a look back at Zendaya and Tom’s complete history.
July 2016: Three days before the pair’s first major public event together at 2016 Comic-Con, Tom posted a picture of himself in the pool with Zendaya and another friend, captioning it, “Summer Sunday’s [sic].” It suggested they were already hanging out in their down time.
June 2017: Zendaya admitted to Vogue that she had a secret relationship for four years from 2012 to 2016, before he ended things. She didn’t reveal his name but noted, “It was my first love… It wasn’t a good ending.” She revealed she was single at the time and that there hadn’t been any relationships since.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for DisneyJuly 2017: A source told E! News that Z and T were dating, but keeping it private. As Spider-Man: Homecoming hit theaters, the source shared, “They got to know each other while on set,” revealing, “They became friends and started getting romantic a few months ago. They both are such great people. It’s cool they got together. Everyone gets along with them.” (Plus, another source said that Zendaya went with Tom to get a Spider-Man-themed tattoo just a few months earlier, at celebrity hotspot Bang Bang Tattoo.)
Just over a week later, Zendaya seemed to shut down the rumors of their romance when she responded to claims that they vacationed together. “Wait wait…my favorite is when it says we go on vacations together HA!” she tweeted. “I haven’t been on a vacation in years! [three crying-laughing emojis] hbu @TomHolland1996???” Tom replied: “Does the press tour count [laughing emoji] [tongue out emoji].” We’re gonna say no.
August 2017: Z firmly denied they’re involved on a romantic level. “We are friends,” she told Variety, responding with a hard “no” when asked if there’s anything more going on. “He’s a great dude. He’s literally one of my best friends. This past how many months we’ve had to do press tours together. There’s very few people that will understand what that’s like at 20 years old,” she noted.
December 2017: The former Disney Channel star introduced Tom to her parents, per Page Six. An onlooker told the outlet he “charmed” her mom and dad while they dined at Bobby Van’s Central Park South in New York.
May 2018: Tom turned heads when he posted a picture of Zendaya at the Met Gala to his Instagram Feed (not his Story, y’all). “All hail the queen,” he wrote of her Joan of Arc look. “Killing it mate [raised hands emoji].”
September 2018: Skai Jackson‘s mom, Kiya Cole, appeared to out the couple when she replied to Just Jared‘s Instagram post that mentioned her “rumored real-life boyfriend Tom Holland.” Kiya reportedly wrote, “Yes. It’s true. They been on the low for a while,” per Seventeen. She later backtracked by writing, “Nothing posted or said was me. I could [sic] care less or know who was dating who. Please stop asking.”
May 2019: The Euphoria actress and Cherry actor playfully trolled each other on social media. It started when Tom posted a picture with Zendaya and their co-star, Jacob Batalon, but he tagged Zendaya over his crotch, instead of on her body (we can only presume it was accidental). Z went along with the joke, commenting, “I’m assuming because you don’t know how to work ig, that’s the reasoning behind my name placement,” with tons of laughing-crying emojis.
June 2019: Tom addressed the rumors about his relationship status head on. In an interview with ELLE, he said he was not in a relationship and focusing on work. However, he is “definitely a relationship person” in general, according to the actor. “I’m not the fleeting type at all; it’s not my way of life.”
In the same chat, he gushed about Zendaya’s amazing stunt skills, which raises some eyebrows. “I was standing there with Jacob, and I was like, ‘Oh look!'” he recounted of watching her film a daring trapeze scene. “I remember thinking, There’s no way she’s going to jump off that—it’s like 60 feet. And then she jumped. We were gobsmacked.”
Also in June, both stars appeared on camera for an interview with ET Canada, where they again appeared to deny there was any spark between them. Tom said it was “a little annoying” that fans want MJ and Peter to be dating in real life, while Zendaya acknowledged “it comes with a territory, like, we kinda know what we signed up for a little bit… It is what it is.”
August 2019: Rumors swirled that Zendaya was dating her Euphoria co-star, Jacob Elordi, after they were seen on a trip to Greece together.
January 2020: Sike! Zendaya seemed to squash the gossip about Jacob when she called him her “best friend” while presenting him with an award at the American Australian Association Arts Awards in New York. Around the same time, Jacob said she was “like my sister.”
February 2020: The rollercoaster continued when Zendaya and Jacob were photographed in New York together. An eyewitness told E! News, “She seemed to be really enjoy being with him. At one point he reached over and kissed her on the forehead. She had a big smile on her face and was very comfortable with them.” A separate source shared with E! News they had been dating “for months” and that things “became romantic” after Euphoria‘s first season aired.
May 2020: Tom reportedly got a girlfriend, The Spanish Princess actress Nadia Parkes. Per The Daily Mail, the couple had been together more than three months and were quarantining together at his home in London.
November 2020: It’s over between Jacob and Zendaya, if there was anything there at all. Jacob started dating Kaia Gerber, though he had nothing but nice words to say about Z. “She’s a power unto herself and so talented,” he told Vanity Fair. “Such a sweetheart.”
February 2021: Tom shared some interesting comments about breakups, while not explicitly confirming that he may have split with Nadia. The Onward voice actor told Esquire he was worried about his followers going after an ex: “If you were to break up with that person, people will have their own opinions as to why you broke up or whose fault it was. And me being a famous person and having people that love me around the world, if I were to break up with a poor girl, they might think it was her fault. And I wouldn’t want that pressure to be on someone because of me.”
Later that month, The Greatest Showman actress answered an interview question about what she most likes “in a man.” Zendaya corrected, “I most like in a person, how about that?… What is the quality I most like in someone?”
Her answer? “I would say, ‘kindness’ is kind of not the best way to describe it, but some people are just good people, and you can just feel it,” she remarked. “And I don’t know how to explain that, but there’s this little spark they have, or this little special thing that they have, that just you feel safe and happy around them. I don’t know what that is, but some people have it, and it’s special.”
On Feb. 24, Zendaya and Tom announced the title for their next movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, with a video skit.
March 2021: Tom revealed he is in touch with Zendaya while spilling the advice she gave him for dealing with excited Spider-Man fans. “Talking to Zendaya’s helped me a lot, actually,” he explained to British GQ. “I used to come across sometimes as a bit of a d–k to fans, mainly as I was always so surprised that they’d want a picture with me or signature or whatever.”
The English actor added, “I’d have the typical Londoner reaction, one of instant suspicion: ‘Why are you talking to me?’ Zendaya spotted this and quickly told me that this sort of reaction was going to be more aggro than just smiling and taking the picture. She totally changed the way I am able to be more comfortable in public.”
July 2021: Tom and Zendaya locked lips at long last. The Marvel stars were photographed kissing during a car ride in Los Angeles, which seemed to confirm their romantic relationship. Neither star has commented publicly about it.
