Tom Holland Has Proven He Can Go Dark, So Can He Go Back to Happy Movies?

In addition to his charisma, kindness, and talent, one of Tom Holland‘s greatest assets is his adorable babyface. Like the babyfaced Spider-Men that came before him—Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield—Holland used this to advantage, embodying an instantly sympathetic hero who is young, naive, and just so darned cute.

But lately, Holland’s adorable baby face has been covered in bruises. Or dirt. Or tears. Or the scars of his haunted past. And honestly? I’m tired of it.

In his latest film Cherry, which began streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, Holland stars as a young man who gets his heart broken, enlists in the Army, goes over to Iraq at the height of the War, develops extreme PTSD, gets addicted to opioids, and starts robbing banks to fund his addiction. It’s, uh, pretty upsetting, to say the least.

Somehow, Holland’s last big role preceding Cherry was even bleaker. His character in Netflix’s The Devil All the Time, Arvin Russell, led an almost comically horrible life—a young man from a backwater town in Ohio who just wants to protect his sister, but who is instead plagued by abuse, psychological torture, violence, sexual assault, suicide, and murder. Holland gave it his all, and his performance had his stans buzzing—but the graphic nature of the film also had fans warning each other on Twitter that Holland’s sweet lil’ face might not be worth the emotional trauma of the movie.

Coming up, Holland is starring in a dystopian action-thriller called Chaos Walking. While I’ve yet to see it—the film does not yet have a streaming or on-demand release date—I’m willing to bet that the whole “dystopian” part means it’s not going to be a particularly happy-go-lucky time. Based on the official stills from the film of him look sweaty, dirty, and sad, it’s actually going to be a pretty miserable time.

To be clear: It’s not that Holland doesn’t have the range for these super dark dramas. He absolutely does. He’s more than proven that. In fact, his performance carried both The Devil All the Time and Cherry. But I don’t want to watch Holland be tortured anymore. It’s just too excruciating. Some people have faces that are punchable. Take Ben from LOST, for example, a role that involved getting punched a whole lot, played by the great Michael Emerson. But Holland’s face is the opposite. It’s too adorable. Every time someone hurts him on screen, I physically recoil. It’s like watching someone kick a puppy. I can’t take it anymore.

So can we get Holland in a romantic comedy or something? Maybe alongside his Spider-Man co-star Zendaya, or perhaps opposite the charming Lana Condor from those To All the Boys movies? He’s already proven he’s a natural when it comes to quippy dialogue and young love. I could easily see him leading the next big romantic comedy of the decade.

Let’s give this kid something to smile about. He deserves a happy ending that doesn’t come by fighting the bad guy in a spandex suit. And frankly, Tom Holland fans deserve that, too.

Watch Cherry on AppleTV+