While leaked call sheets and some rumours indicated that actor Jacob Batalon would be playing
Ned Leeds in
Spider-Man: Homecoming, we now have official confirmation via Batalon himself in a new interview. In a discussion with KHON2 News, Batalon confirmed his role as the classic Spider-Man character, but revealed that instead of being a Daily Bugle reporter, this version of Leeds is Peter Parker's best friend in high school.
"Well, Ned Leeds; I play Peter Parker's best friend in the film," Batalon said.
"We are both in high school; we are about fifteen. And it's just about Peter dealing with being a superhero and going through puberty. He still has to worry about homework; he still has to worry about his crush liking him, while trying to save someone who's probably in a burning building. He can't tell anyone because he's not the cool kid, so he's just stuck with this really cool life that he can't tell anyone about."
Leeds is most famous for being a mainstay of Spider-Man's supporting cast in the comics, and is later brainwashed into posing as one of Roderick Kingsley's Hobgoblin scapegoats. This isn't the first time Need Leeds has been altered;
The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series had the character as "Ned Lee", a Korean-American reporter for the Daily Bugle. Many fans speculated that Batalon was playing a version of Ganke, a character created by Brian Michael Bendis who is the best friend of Miles Morales' Spider-Man. It is possible, of course, that Marvel decided to use elements of both characters in this take on Leeds.
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