Since Spider-Man: Homecoming debuted actor Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, there has been speculation concerning when and how, if ever, the character will become the supervillain Hobgoblin, as he did in the comics. His actions in Spider-Man: No Way Home and the nod to the comic books only served to fuel that speculation.
In an interview with Variety, Batalon was asked about whether or not Hobgoblin was in his Marvel Cinematic Universe future. Batalon responded, "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?"
Ned Leeds made his comic book debut in Amazing Spider-Man #18 (written by Stan Lee, illustrated by Steve Ditko and lettered by Sam Rosen). He was eventually revealed to be the alter-ego of the Hobgoblin, though there have been several retcons to regarding his willingness to partake in the Hobgoblin's acts of villainy. In recent years, he was revealed to be a stand-in for Roderick Kingsley, who was the real Hobgoblin. Leeds is eventually murdered by the supervillain known as the Foreigner.
Spider-Man: No Way Home saw the titular superhero turn to Doctor Strange to rewrite reality in order to undo Mysterio's actions from Spider-Man: Far From Home. Strange's spell unintentionally causes the multiverse to spill into the MCU, causing villains such as Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Electro and Lizard to appear. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch recently touched on Strange's actions and defended them, stating, "I know we all love Peter Parker, but can we just rewind to the point that [Doctor Strange's] spell is interrupted something like six times?" He added, "I think it's just too easily written off as: '[Doctor Strange's] going to have to pay for his arrogance.' It’s not all arrogance, actually. I think some of it is a very calculated risk. But we'll see where that takes him."
The latest instalment in the MCU broke numerous box office records, with the latest numbers showing it blasted through Avatar's domestic earnings. For comparison, Spider-Man: No Way Home earned $760.9 million domestically while Avatar earned $760.5 million. Worldwide, No Way Home has grossed $1.8 billion at the box office.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently in theaters and on digital, arriving on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on April 12.
Source: Variety