Before Spider-Man: No Way Home dropped and took over the box office, there was a multitude of rumors swirling around about which characters or actors would or wouldn’t appear in the threequel. Some appearances proved to be true (the Spider-Man Holy Trinity) while others were just false rumors. One rumor that had no merit was the possible introduction of Hobgoblin. The rumors had Jacob Batalon (aka Ned Leeds) becoming the villain. Months after No Way Home hit theaters, Batalon responded to the hearsay.
Traditionally, secrets and rumors aren’t addressed by the MCU or its stars until the final product reaches the masses. But the Hobgoblin rumors kept popping up as Leeds became the villain in the comics. Even the No Way Home actor became an advocate for his character to become the next big band for Spider-Man to face. Of course, it didn’t happen in the trilogy’s finale. Batalon mentioned to Variety what led him to never go all-in on the Ned-Hobgoblin connection.
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?
Being in the Marvel fold for so long rubbed off on the actor. The MCU has built its whole mystique on keeping fans on their toes about who is or isn’t popping up in their films. He probably watched his co-star Tom Holland’s loose lips early in his MCU tenure and pivoted in a different direction. Of course, Holland learned the error of his ways (or maybe not). Pulling the trigger too early on certain developments can ruin the film as the Reginald the Vampire actor dutifully pointed out.
Unfortunately, the MCU faithful might never see Ned take his villainous turn as he, MJ, and other characters have no memory of Peter Parker after Dr. Strange wiped him from their minds in Spider-Man 3’s heartbreaking finale. But that doesn’t mean the former MCU star couldn’t reappear in the universe as the Spidey villain at some point, especially with a new series of films planned. Like Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, you can never say never to the emergence of Hobgoblin.
Fans got to share a final moment with the Far from Home actor by watching him, Holland, and Zendaya roast each other over their audition tapes. Despite his MCU tenure ending (?), he will always be Parker’s computer-savvy BFF to the Marvel fanbase. While fans wait to hear more about Spider-Man’s new adventures, they can relive every moment of Ned Leeds and Peter Parker’s friendship by subscribing to Amazon Prime to view the MCU trilogy. Marvel fans can occupy themselves with the abundance of upcoming Marvel movies arriving in 2022.
