Mary Egida Rivera, the actress who played Ned Leeds' grandmother in Spider-Man: No Way Home, has died at 82. Rivera passed away peacefully on April 15, 2026, in Honolulu following a stroke.
Rivera appeared as Lola, the beloved grandmother character in the 2021 Marvel blockbuster that became a cultural phenomenon. Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon, Spider-Man: No Way Home shattered box office records and brought the multiverse concept to the forefront of mainstream cinema. While Rivera's role as Ned's Lola was brief but memorable, the film's massive success introduced her performance to a global audience of millions.
The actress brought warmth and authenticity to the family dynamics portrayed in Jon Watts' film. Her scenes with Batalon's Ned grounded the superhero spectacle with genuine emotional moments, reminding audiences that Peter Parker's world centered on real relationships and Filipino-American representation in a major blockbuster.
Spider-Man: No Way Home became Sony and Marvel Studios' defining collaboration, grossing over 1.9 billion dollars worldwide and earning critical acclaim for balancing spectacle with character development. The film's success hinged partly on its supporting cast creating believable stakes and emotional stakes for the protagonist. Rivera contributed to that texture, offering representation that reflected the film's diverse casting approach.
Her death marks the loss of another working actress who participated in one of cinema's most commercially successful franchises. The MCU community continues to expand, with newer Spider-Man projects in development, but the legacy of the original trilogy remains defined by performances like Rivera's that humanized the superhero genre. Her work in No Way Home connects her permanently to a watershed moment in franchise filmmaking.