Meet the Filipino Actor Playing Peter Parker’s Best Friend in the New Spider-Man Movie

In case you missed it from the new trailer for “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, a young Filipino actor has been cast as Peter Parker’s high school buddy. While a minor character, it marks a step forward for Asian representation in the Marvel cinematic universe.
Jacob Batalon, a Filipino-American actor who recently made his debut in the film “North Woods”, is playing Ned Leeds, a classmate and best friend of Peter Parker. Batalon’s character is supposedly an amalgamation of Leeds, Peter Parker’s Daily Bugle co-worker in the original comics, and Ganke Lee, a supporting character of Miles Morales’ Spider-Man series, Entertainment Weekly reported.
In the trailer, Batalon, is shown as an effective comic relief and convincing confidant to young Peter Parker. While his character’s name is a known supporting character in the comics, Batalon’s portrayal looks a lot closer to Ganke Lee’s persona.
Such similarities, however, have led some fans to wonder why Marvel did not have popular Miles Morales play the new Spidey instead.
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If Batalon does end up playing the original comics’ Leeds, we might expect more from him in the future movies as the character eventually became a version of Hobgoblin in the comics.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming”, which is scheduled to hit theaters July 7, 2017, stars Tom Holland as the titular web-slinging hero, Michael Keaton as the Vulture, Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, Laura Harrier as Liz Allan and Zendaya as Michelle, Peter’s love interest.
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