Fans of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe know Ned Leeds as a teenager who is best friends with Peter Parker, the first person to learn that he was Spider-Man. However, people who only know Ned from the movies don't really know anything about Ned Leeds, the comic book character.
Ned Leeds in the movies was Spider-Man's man in a chair, his best buddy, and someone who has stuck with Peter Parker through thick and thin. The Ned in the comics was also a friend of Peter's, but he was a very different character and one that also played the role of a Spider-Man villain at one point, making comic fans wonder if movie-Ned will share the same fate.
Ned Leeds Was A Reporter At Daily Bugle
One difference between Spider-Man movies and comics is that Ned Leeds wasn't a high school friend of Peter Parker. Instead, Ned was a reporter for The Daily Bugle and got to know Peter because he was a freelance photographer for the newspaper at the time. Ned was an investigative reporter and was one of the best that worked for the paper.
He would often leave the country for major stories, including one where he and Peter Parker went to Europe together. He was also responsible for investigating the villain known as Hobgoblin, which didn't work out well for Ned.
Ned Married Spider-Man's First Girlfriend
While Ned Leeds worked for The Daily Bugle, he met Betty Brant, the receptionist for J. Jonah Jameson. While Peter Parker was a bookworm who had no friends at school, Betty became one of his first love interests when he started freelancing for The Daily Bugle.
The problem is that Peter was always rushing off when he needed to fight crime as Spider-Man. This made him break a lot of dates with Betty. After her brother Bennett died, it was Ned who was there to comfort her. Betty gave up on Peter and ended up dating and getting married to Ned.
Peter Parker Was The Best Man At Ned's Wedding
While Ned Leeds in the comics was not best friends with Peter Parker like he was in the movies, the two were still close. Ned married Betty, but Peter knew that their breakup was more his fault than anything and he realized that she was better off with Leeds.
The two became close friends and worked together on various assignments for The Daily Bugle. As a result, even though Peter and Betty were formerly dating, they remained close enough for Ned to ask Peter to be his best man, to which he agreed happily.
Ned Leeds Became The Hobgoblin (Sort Of)
Ned Leeds received a new assignment from J. Jonah Jameson to investigate the new supervillain that had arrived and who had begun to take over the city's mafia organizations - The Hobgoblin. This was an interesting storyline because Marvel kept Hobgoblin's identity a secret from the readers.
Eventually, Leeds found Hobgoblin. Sadly, the villain brainwashed him and made Ned believe he was the Hobgoblin. Ned operated as Hobgoblin when told, mostly used as a decoy. Sadly, this also led to Ned eventually deteriorating and losing everything important in his life.
He Helped Wilson Fisk's Son Rise To Power
While Ned worked as Hobgoblin, the real Hobgoblin used Ned Leeds' connections to bring in Richard Fisk, the son of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime. Thinking that Ned was the real Hobgoblin as well as a personal friend, Richard came back to New York City and took on the role of The Rose.
The Rose set up his own criminal organization, and with Ned Leeds, set out to bring down Wilson Fisk. While the two men had a big plan to bring down Fisk, it was all a diabolical idea masterminded by the real Hobgoblin to take over.
Ned Died While On An Assignment With Peter Parker
Eventually, Ned Leeds stopped his operations as Hobgoblin and tried to get his life back under control. However, it was too late. J. Jonah Jameson sent Ned and Peter on an assignment to Berlin to investigate the new supervillain known as The Foreigner.
While they were there, Spider-Man ended up involved in an adventure with Wolverine, and this all started when Peter Parker walked in and found Ned Leeds dead, tied up to a chair, murdered by Foreigner's men.
Spider-Man Learned Hobgoblin's Secret After Ned's Death
Spider-Man had no idea that Ned Leeds was working as Hobgoblin until after his death. Betty was traumatized by Ned's death and it was Peter who had to return to tell her that he died in Berlin. Hobgoblin kept working, with Jack O'Lantern taking the role. It turned out the villain is who hired Foreigner to kill Ned.
However, when Jack O'Lantern was arrested and went to prison, he told the world that Ned Leeds was the original Hobgoblin, ruining the man's reputation posthumously. However, this brought back the original Hobgoblin, who didn't want anyone else getting credit for his past glories, and Ned's name was cleared.
Ned Leeds Returned As A Clone
Ned Leeds returned from the dead, but it didn't take long for Spider-Man to know that it wasn't the real Ned. This was a clone Jackal created, as the villain brought back several of Spider-Man's allies to try to convince the hero to his side.
The problem is that these clones were unstable and many of them began to disintegrate after a short time. Ned's clone was one of the few that didn't, and he left to start a new life, although he returned as a homeless man and died during an attack on May Parker's shelter.
Ned Leeds Never Really Died
During Kindred's all-out attack on Spider-Man, Peter Parker received a phone call from Betty Brant, who wanted to meet with him about something. It was during this meeting that Peter learned that Ned Leeds was back. This time, it wasn't a clone, but was the real Ned.
He explained that he didn't stay dead in Berlin. Ned told Peter he knew he was in danger and took a substantial amount of the Goblin serum, and that allowed him to resurrect after his death. He dug out of his grave and told Peter he ed forces with a mysterious benefactor to get revenge.
Ned Leeds Is About To Be A Father
The reason that Betty Brant called Peter Parker to begin with was because she was pregnant and appeared to be almost due. She then revealed that Ned was the father, which took Peter by surprise. However, after he met Ned and learned the story of his survival, he relented and congratulated the couple.
Nothing has been said of Ned and Betty, or of her baby, since that time. It is almost certain that Ned, Betty, and their child will return to Spider-Man's life in the future stories.