Spider-Man: No Way Home Star Responds To Ned’s Hobgoblin Future Question
Jacob Batalon discusses the possibility of his character, Ned Leeds, becoming the villainous Hobgoblin in future MCU Spider-Man movies following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Batalon has played the character since his debut in Tom Holland’s first solo film Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017. The high-school best friend of Peter Parker was one of the first people the hero told about his secret super-identity. Ned has been Peter’s “guy in the chair,” and has helped him on his adventures. In his latest appearance; 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, Ned discovered he had the ability to manipulate the sling ring belonging to Doctor Strange in order to open portals. When Holland’s Spider-Man met with his multiverse variants played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, Ned was concerned to learn how Peter’s closest friends in other timelines frequently turned evil and attempted to kill him.
Fans of the comics found this throwaway gag a lot more interesting with the knowledge of Ned’s Marvel comics’ history. The original Ned Leeds was actually a work-rival of Peter’s at the Daily Bugle who competed for the affection of newspaper secretary Betty Brant. This Ned was not an innocent, bubbly companion, but an abusive and dark counterpart. Leeds was one of several characters to take on the mantle of the villainous Hobgoblin; one of Spider-Man’s iconic comic-book foes who featured regularly in the 90s animated cartoon. With Ned in the MCU now gaining supernatural abilities, and learning of Peter’s multiversal history of villainous best-friends, many Marvel fans are eager to see if Batalon’s character will eventually don the hood and glider.
Now, in an interview with Variety, Batalon has discussed the possibility of his character’s villainous turn. When asked if his version of Ned could ever become the Hobgoblin of the MCU, the actor gave a typically secretive response, illustrating how much he's learned after years on Marvel press tours. Check out his comments in the space below:
“From all my years of working for Marvel, I feel like I’ve learned to just not say anything. I can’t really speak on things and then say something that might actually be true and then I ruin something, you know what I mean?”
Last audiences saw of Ned in the MCU; he had had his former best friend wiped from his mind by Doctor Strange’s reset spell. Despite the Peter-shaped hole in his life, Ned was still seemingly close with Zendaya’s MJ and continued to visit her at her cafe job. With a second trilogy of Spider-Man films starring Holland supposedly on their way via Marvel and Sony, Batalon’s Ned is not confirmed to return; though the actor recently commented that “whatever happens happens.” In the meantime, many viewers have been eager to imagine what a transformation into Hobgoblin could look like for the currently friendly ally via fan-art online.
Whether or not Ned eventually turns to the dark side remains to be seen, but Batalon’s new comments mean that the actor certainly isn’t ready to rule it out. If he does eventually come to blows with Holland’s Peter, it would continue a long-standing tradition of Spider-Man’s closest friends becoming his greatest enemies. Hobgoblin is just one of several iconic Marvel villains who are yet to fight Spider-Man on the big screen, and will surely be high on the list for the next MCU Spider-Man baddie. Spider-Man: No Way Home is available now on home video and digital download.
Source: Variety