In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland has given us the definitive on-screen portrayal of Peter Parker. And he’s been surrounded by a terrific supporting cast. Marisa Tomei makes a lovable Aunt May, Zendaya is compelling as Peter’s love interest, M.J., and Tony Revolori is hilarious in the role of Flash Thompson, the bully who hates Peter and admires Spider-Man without realizing they’re the same person.
Arguably, Peter’s most entertaining relationship in the MCU is his friendship with his best pal, Ned Leeds, played by Jacob Batalon. So, here are Peter And Ned’s 10 Most Memorable Moments In The MCU.
“Do you lay eggs?”
In Hot Fuzz, when Danny finds out Nicholas lived all the action from his favorite movies while he was a cop in London, he bombards him with questions. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, when Ned finds out Peter is a superhero, he similarly bombards him with questions.
He wants to know if Peter can lay eggs, if he can get bitten by the radioactive spider himself and gain his own superpowers, which Avengers he’s met, and whether he can be his “guy in the chair.” This is much to the chagrin of Peter, who wants to keep his career as a superhero a secret.
Peter and Ned follow the Vulture’s arms-dealing convoy
When a couple of the Vulture’s arms dealers come to Peter and Ned’s school, Peter manages to get a tracking device onto one of them. He and Ned spend the afternoon following them across America to see where they end up. Throughout the montage, Ned can be seen wearing Peter’s Spider-Man mask.
Also, at one point, Peter is hanging upside down from the ceiling and Ned hands him a couple of Doritos. They drive all the way out to Maryland before stopping, which isn’t too far from Washington, where Peter and Ned happen to be traveling for an academic decathlon.
Nick Fury hits Ned with a tranquilizer
Midway through Spider-Man: Far From Home, everything seems to be going well for Peter Parker. He’s traveled to Europe with his friends from school, his flirtations with M.J. have been somewhat successful, and he’s managed to avoid being Spider-Man as much as possible. But then, Nick Fury (or, rather, Talos disguised as Nick Fury) shows up to recruit him for a mission.
As Peter and Ned enter their room at the hotel, Ned is hit in the neck with a dart. He quickly passes out on the couch, allowing Fury to tell Peter about the imminent (and made-up) threat of the Elementals.
Ned becomes Peter’s “guy in the chair”
When Ned finds out that Peter is really Spider-Man, he asks if he can be his “guy in the chair.” This is the character who is in the hero’s ear, doing all their navigation and telling them what to do, a la the Mission: Impossible franchise’s Luther Stickell.
At first, Peter tells Ned that he doesn’t need one. But later on, when Peter heads into the final battle during the homecoming dance, he asks Ned to be his “guy in the chair.” So, Ned heads to the computer lab to help his friend, and tells a suspicious teacher that he’s “watching…porn?”
Reuniting five years after Thanos’ finger-snap
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man turned to dust in Iron Man’s arms in one of the most heartbreaking moments in the movie. Five years later, he was brought back to life along with trillions of others when the Avengers successfully collected all six Infinity Stones from the past.
In the closing montage of Avengers: Endgame, we see the characters reunite with their loved ones as they re-enter society, five years into the future. When Peter sees Ned at school, after Ned was also “dusted” by Thanos, he instantly rushes over to give his best friend a hug.
Aunt May drives Peter and Ned to a party
Director Jon Watts conceived Spider-Man: Homecoming as a John Hughes-style high school comedy, and remained true to that vision. Peter and Ned land themselves invitations to Liz’s party when Ned blurts out that Peter knows Spider-Man. Aunt May drives them to the party, and comments on Ned’s hat.
He says he needs to wear the hat for confidence, and we see him wearing it a couple of times throughout the rest of the movie. While the resounding consensus from the other party guests is that Ned’s hat isn’t as cool as he thinks, Aunt May happens to think it’s very suave.
Ned creates a distraction so Peter can leave the bus
Avengers: Infinity War was incredibly ambitious. Marvel had found tremendous success with all of its movies, but it was a gamble to bring characters like Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy on the big screen together, because they’re all from such wildly different worlds.
Of course, the movie worked out, creating unexpectedly brilliant dynamics between some of the characters. The Black Order first arrives on Earth in a Q-Ship while Peter is on the school bus. He needs to get off the bus to join the fight with his father figure Iron Man, so he gets Ned to create a distraction.
American bachelors in Europe
Spider-Man: Far From Home was the first Spidey movie to take him out of the United States. Peter Parker and his friends go on a school trip across Europe. Ned is excited to be an American bachelor in Europe, telling Peter that Europeans love Americans (which he questions).
Peter has different plans, because he likes M.J. and he has a plan to woo her at her favorite spot in Europe. Ironically, Ned would end up falling madly in love with Betty on the plane, and they were officially each other’s boyfriend and girlfriend by the time the landing gear was deployed.
Ned finds out Peter is Spider-Man
Near the beginning of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ned proposes heading over to Peter and May’s apartment to build his new LEGO Death Star. However, Peter isn’t listening to this and just forgets about it, which turns out to be a huge mistake.
Later, Ned is sitting on Peter’s bed when, after a long afternoon of fighting crime, he sneaks back into his bedroom in his Spider-Man costume, crawls along the ceiling to shut the door, and then drops down to the floor. The shock causes Ned to drop the LEGO Death Star that he and Peter were supposed to build on the floor, smashing it.
Their handshake
The quickest way to show that two characters are the best of friends is to have them do their own secret handshake with a lot of convoluted moves. Peter and Ned’s handshake is one of the most hilarious and iconic moments from Spider-Man’s solo MCU franchise.
It’s such a complicated handshake that some online content creators have come up with a tutorial to teach fans how to do it with their own friends. Reddit’s u/mrtyman has even formulated a theory that the moves in the handshake each represent one of the six O.G. Avengers, although there’s not much merit to it.
