Forget Knull and Kingpin, Ned Leeds Could Break the Internet If He Takes the Role of a Fan-Favorite Villain in ‘Spider-Man 4’

‘Spider-Man 4’ was confirmed to be in development over a year ago, and although not much is known about the movie at the moment we do know that Destin Daniel Cretton will direct it.

The script hasn’t been finished yet, according to Holland’s latest updates, but nothing is stopping us from bringing you the rumors, and in the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of rumors.

The first long-standing rumor is that ‘Spider-Man 4’ will be a street-level story with Kingpin as its villain, and this is something that fans have been looking forward to.

Then the rumors shifted direction completely and now it’s a Multiversal story with Knull as its villain, which was something that became a thing after the release of ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ trailer.

But in a sea of possible villains, we are forgetting one long-running theory that MCU’s Ned Leeds will probably turn into Hobgoblin. The MCU often adapts comic book characters in unique ways. In the comics, Ned Leeds was framed and brainwashed into becoming the Hobgoblin, although he was not the original villain behind the identity.

The MCU could build on this by having someone manipulate Ned into becoming the Hobgoblin—perhaps through magic, technology, or mind control—while keeping his core personality intact. This would allow Ned to be both a tragic figure and a threat to Spider-Man. And don’t forget, that he has a certain affinity to magic, so this could serve as the entryway as well.

In any case, the theory of Leeds becoming Hobgoblin is not only rooted in comics, Jacob Batalon confirmed that this path was discussed:

Honestly, I’m not sure. Again, we may have talked about things, for sure, but I don’t know if it would’ve really led to anything serious about being a villain, or anything like that.

Jacob also stressed once again that he had no idea whether he would appear in the upcoming movie.

I’m open to anything, and I think we all are open to anything. Unless you’re like a superhero, like big time, one of the main ones they’re trying to make movies about, you don’t really know what’s going to happen. In the industry, people don’t want to hope to wish. So, I would hopefully [return].

What do you think? Would Hobgoblin be a better villain than Knull and Kingpin? Let us know in the comments below!

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