Throughout Sony’s first two attempts at a Spider-Man franchise, the web-slinging superhero was very much contained to his native New York City, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s spin on the character has already ventured far outside the standard comfort zone. Taking the action to Washington D.C. in Homecoming was hardly groundbreaking stuff, but sequel Far From Home followed Peter Parker all across Europe as a school trip coincided with Spidey being recruited by Nick Fury for a top secret assignment.
The upcoming third installment is going to travel even further afield by venturing into the multiverse, but tipster Mikey Sutton claims that star Tom Holland will be adding another string to his increasingly impressive bow as well by speaking Tagalog in Spider-Man 3. The dialect is one of the Philippines’ many local languages, and will reportedly be tied directly to Jacob Batalon’s Ned Leeds.
Batalon was born in Hawaii to Filipino parents, and the movie is said to be introducing Ned’s clan into the mix, which might not be good news in the long run if it means what we think it does. Of course, the franchise is massively popular in the aforementioned country, with six of the ten highest-grossing movies ever released in the Philippines hailing from the MCU, and the final scene of Avengers: Infinity War where Thanos reflects on his victory was shot at the Banaue Rice Terraces, while Batalon and Dave Bautista are both actors of Filipino descent with major roles in the shared universe.
The MCU has pledged to put diversity and representation at the forefront of Phase Four and beyond, and using the Tagalog language in a project on the sheer size and scale of Spider-Man 3 is definitely one way to give a shout out to a nation that’s always been a staunch supporter of the studio’s expansive mythology.
