Ned Leeds is a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is the deuteragonist of Spider-Man: Homecoming, a minor protagonist in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the tritagonist of Spider-Man: Far From Home and one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Michelle Jones) of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
He is Peter Parker's confidante, best friend and classmate who was the only one of his friends aware of his secret identity as Spider Man before it was publicly announced to the world. In 2024, he was dating Betty Brant and broke up with her after their class trip to Europe.
Ned is friendly,.nerd,y helpful, enthusiastic, and calm. He is a very intelligent young man, having been accepted in the prestige School Midtown School of Science and Technology and MIT. He is Peter Parker's best friend who is awed and psyched that he is the vigilante he admired. Since then, Ned is very enthusiastic and had been wanting to be Spider-Man's "guy in the chair," as in, act as his attack expert and direct Peter through traffic when chasing bad guys. Ned also takes pride in knowing he was the first person to know Peter was Spider-Man long before MJ, during their class trip and when they were in Damage Control Custody. However, Ned is more or less neutral about the subject and considers MJ to be a good friend. He supports both of his best friends' relationship with each other when they became a couple in Far from Home. Throughout the aforementioned movie, Ned and Betty give public displays of affection towards each other, as well as acting flirty and "lovey dovey" which gets on their friends' nerves, especially Peter and Michelle. Much to his chagrin, Ned broke up with Betty when they returned to America but agreed to keep a close friendship.
He is also easily amazed quickly, as Ned was not angry or upset when he learned Peter kept the secret of him being Spider-Man for a long time. He also is amazed by the concept of the multiverse, and fascinated by the other dimensional visitors.
