With every week that passes before the end of 2021, anticipation builds for arguably the biggest movie of the year in Spider-Man: No Way Home. With more than a year’s worth of teases hinting at unexpected players from all over the Marvel movie-verse joining this adventure, fans simply can’t get enough information about the threequel before its debut.
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange are in for literally a Multiverse’s worth of trouble due to villains like Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin finding their way into the MCU. Although the film will of course feature some of the biggest action and storytelling the MCU has ever seen, especially in a solo film, Peter Parker’s personal life will once again see plenty of the spotlight as well, especially with his secret identity no longer being a secret.
Spider-Man: No Way Home’s first trailer gave fans a look into some of the tension Peter’s having to deal with while also confirming returns for important supporting players like Zendaya’s MJ and Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May, along with Peter’s other classmates. In the most recent news surrounding this Phase 4 blockbuster, another of those classmates has confirmed that he’ll be back for his third MCU installment.
Jason Ionello Back For More Midtown News
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with actor Jorge Lendeborg Jr., who confirmed that he will return to the role of Jason Ionello in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. He previously played the Midtown High School student in both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
When asked if Jason has any specific plans for this sequel, Lendeberg revealed that while he’s going to be in play again, he won’t be in the thick of things with “the core Spider-Man group:”
“Man, he does, bro. And very much like in the last one, he has very little to do with the core Spider-Man group. (Laughs.) He’s probably going to be home playing some video games.”
The actor also looked back at his time doing Jason’s news segments with Angourie Rice’s Betty Brant, where she said he became excellent at improvisation. He went into how he developed those skills, which mostly came from trying stand-up comedy and writing many of his own jokes during his off-time:
“Well, when I first got to L.A., where I no longer reside, I took a couple of UCB classes, which kind of set me up with the basics of improv. But before that, I feel like I got the majority of my improvisational style when I would just write a bunch of jokes at home. Kids would be out playing football, basketball or writing raps, but I would be home, just writing jokes. I tried stand-up comedy just so that I kept my funny sensibilities up. So yeah, I had a stand-up thing.”
Lendeberg Doing His Own Thing in No Way Home
Jorge Lendeborg hasn’t seen a ton of screen time through the years as Jason Ionello, although his scenes have always been quite memorable. From asking Betty Brandt to the Homecoming dance on live TV to giving some NSFW thoughts on the post-Avengers: Endgame world, his brand of comedy fit brilliantly into the Spider-Man movie lore during his limited number of scenes.
Now that the world knows Spider-Man is a student at Midtown High, Jason should have the opportunity for the biggest news segments of his life; fans already saw a tease of the Midtown mayhem in the first trailer as Peter’s classmates surrounded him in the hallway. Whether his role expands beyond that is a mystery, but considering how big this movie already is, Lendeberg should have plenty of chances to utilize those comedy skills he’s been building over the years.
Now, Lendeborg and the rest of the Spidey cast and fandom continue to wait for the No Way Home's second trailer, for which the hype has built to levels never seen for any other MCU outing. With just about a month and a half until No Way Home finds its way to theaters, it seems that this hype train will only continue chugging at hyper-speed until more information comes to light.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will swing into theaters worldwide on December 17, 2021.
