Ned’s Lola Brings Unexpected Filipino Representation to Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home ahead.
Back in December, Marvel released the final installment of the current Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The film was met with both critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time.
No Way Home follows high school seniors Peter Parker, Michelle “MJ” Jones, and Ned Leeds as they navigate a world complicated by Spider-Man’s secret identity being leaked to the public. Peter tries to use magic to undo this reveal, resulting in characters from the previous Spider-Man film trilogies crossing over into this Peter’s world—including Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Men.
While the film was a significant moment in cinematic history for Spider-Man fans, many Filipino viewers came away from the film with a new hero: Ned’s Lola, played by Mary Rivera.
The two Spider-Men are first introduced when Ned and MJ, sitting in Ned’s Lola’s (Tagalog for “Grandma”) apartment in Queens, discover that Ned can magically open portals. While Ned tries to open a portal to “find Peter Parker,” he finds both Garfield and Maguire’s characters instead, leading to a comedic encounter between them and Ned’s Lola.
Though the main focus of the scene was the reveal of Garfield and Maguire, the scene included a significant amount of Filipino representation. MJ throws yema rolls, a Filipino food, at Garfield’s Spider-Man when he first appears. While she is on screen, Ned’s Lola mostly speaks in unsubtitled Tagalog, leaving Ned to translate for the others. MJ and the two Spider-Men simply address Ned’s Lola as “Lola” and never ask Ned to explain what it means; they also never ask or expect her to speak in English, and instead “patiently” wait for her to finish speaking and for Ned to translate.
This memorable scene in No Way Home came off the heels of two incredibly diverse projects previously released by Marvel Studios before it: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals. Both films featured prominent Asian characters, such as Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Sersi (Gemma Chan), and Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), as well as Asian creatives working both in front of and behind the camera.
Before all three of those films released in 2021, Asian representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was mostly limited to the TV shows (Daisy Johnson in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nico Minoru in Marvel’s Runaways, etc.), which hardly crossed over with the films. The few notable Asian characters to appear in the films were always in the supporting cast: Dr. Helen Cho in Avengers: Age of Ultron (and we never saw her again!), Wong in Doctor Strange, and, of course, Ned Leeds in the Spider-Man films.
Both Shang-Chi and Eternals were met with excitement and praise from audiences around the world, proving to Hollywood that stories featuring Asian characters are long overdue. Though Ned’s Lola’s scene was a smaller moment, her character was met with just as much excitement as the leading characters of the other films, as Filipinos around the world excitedly embraced her.
Filipino artist Benjamin Lee DeGuzman’s fan art of Ned’s Lola quickly went viral on Instagram in early January. Styled like comic book covers and titled “The Further Adventures of Ned’s Lola,” each piece featured Ned’s Lola going up against iconic Spider-Man villains, such as Venom and Green Goblin.
Talking to The Philippine Star about his fan art, DeGuzman said:
“Knowing Jacob Batalon is a Filipino was already inspiring me to create art. I just assumed the movies would never even address Ned's nationality, or introduce anybody in his family…Immediately when I saw Ned's Lola, I thought I absolutely have to draw her…My Lola was a huge part of my upbringing, like Ned. I've been in so many houses that look like Ned's. I no longer had to question if I could even exist in this fantastic universe, because I already did!"
In addition to visibly representing Asians, this moment in No Way Home continues a meaningful trend of representing non-English languages in recent Marvel movies. Shang-Chi featured many scenes and lines spoken in Mandarin, and Eternals included dialogue in Spanish, ancient Babylonian, and American Sign Language. Ned’s Lola’s dialogue stands out among these examples for its lack of subtitles, which makes it especially meaningful for Filipino viewers fluent in Tagalog, as they could connect even more deeply with the character and film.
“Only those who understand Tagalog would catch some of Mary Rivera’s comedic delivery,” Collider writer Patrick Caoile said. “In both of my screenings, I laughed alongside other Filipinos who were audibly amused by Ned’s Lola while everyone else in the theater was left to wonder what was going on.”
It’s not uncommon for films to “other” non-English speaking characters by treating their native languages or inability to understand English as a joke. (Current Hollywood favorite Licorice Pizza, which includes multiple scenes belittling Japanese women for not speaking English, comes to mind.) No Way Home manages to avoid this, however, as the humor of the scene doesn’t come from Ned’s Lola speaking Tagalog or misunderstanding other characters, but rather her commentary (translated by Ned) on the situation, such as asking two infamous superheroes to clean up the mess they made in her kitchen.
While Ned’s Lola isn’t “othered,” some audience members may feel “othered” by the scene themselves because they can’t understand Tagalog; however, when it comes to hearing non-English languages, is feeling like the confused “other” necessarily a bad thing? I would argue that No Way Home assumes the majority of viewers may feel this way and firmly shows that it’s okay, because Peter, Peter, and MJ are also just as in the dark. Ned, by translating, acts as a bridge between these characters and his Lola—as well as a bridge between his Lola and the audience.
Though I’m not fluent in Tagalog myself, the scene still resonated deeply with me, both as a Filipino American and as a longtime Marvel fan. I’d grown used to Marvel overlooking the Asian community in their films a long time ago, so I’d cling to small things like Peter Parker’s best friend being Filipino. Shang-Chi and Eternals featuring prominent East and South Asian characters blew me away, but seeing Ned’s Lola represent my own community and family on the big screen was an especially impactful, personal moment for me.
Despite Filipinos being the second largest Asian American group in the U.S., there is a huge lack of representation in the media, not only of Filipino characters, but also in spoken Tagalog. Years ago, I remember seeing a friend share an Instagram clip of Nico Santos’ character on Superstore speaking in Tagalog in one scene—it was the first time they’d ever heard Tagalog in an American TV show.
Ever since then, I’ve kept an ear out for any spoken Tagalog in the media I consume. When Olivia Rodrigo’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series character called her grandma “lola” in an episode back in 2019, I felt so excited.
Entertainment media isn’t the only place lacking Tagalog representation. Even the popular language learning app Duolingo doesn’t offer Tagalog (or any other Filipino dialect/language) lessons, but features fictional languages like Klingon and High Valyrian. People have requested Tagalog courses for years. As of 2010, Tagalog is the fourth most spoken non-English language in the U.S., with over 1.5 million speakers.
In my family, Tagalog fluency stalled in my grandparents’ generation, after they immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s. My mom is able to understand Tagalog, but is unable to speak it, nor can she read or write it. As a result, there is no Tagalog fluency in my entire generation of the family, because none of our parents could pass it down to us.
Despite this, my mom and I still shared a heartfelt moment when my uncle brought up the Tagalog scene to my mom, who hadn't watched it. I quickly found a low quality video of it on YouTube to show her, and like Ned, she started translating his Lola’s dialogue out loud for me as the scene played out.
While the future of this iteration of Spider-Man and its characters is currently unclear, I hope Marvel (and the rest of Hollywood) will pay attention to the widely positive responses to Ned’s Lola. The message from viewers is clear: we want more Lola! And more importantly, we want more Filipino characters on screen who represent our families, and us.
I think it’s safe to say that Ned’s Lola stole the show for a lot of us in No Way Home; would you agree? What kinds of Asian representation do you hope to see in the future from Marvel? We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!
To learn more about the prevalence of Asian and Filipino Americans in the U.S. and why creating more representation matters:
Pew Research Center | The Rise of Asian Americans
Inquirer | Filipino population in U.S. now nearly 4.1 million — new Census data
UCLA | 2021 Hollywood Diversity Report: Audiences showed up for diverse films in theaters, online
NBC Asian America | Almost half of all Asian roles serve as a punchline, study finds
Screen Rant | PTA Responds To Criticisms Of Anti-Asian Character In Licorice Pizza
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