Mary Rivera, who appeared in Marvel's blockbuster "Spider-Man: No Way Home," has died at 82. Rivera played the grandmother of Jacob Batalon's character Ned Leeds in the 2021 film, which grossed over $1.9 billion worldwide and became one of the highest-grossing films ever made.
According to her obituary, Rivera was born June 2, 1943, in Iloilo, Philippines, and passed away April 15 in Honolulu, Hawaii. A family member confirmed to TMZ that she suffered a stroke.
Rivera's role in "No Way Home" placed her in one of the most commercially successful superhero films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe era. The film reunited Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield as three iterations of Spider-Man, becoming a cultural phenomenon upon its December 2021 release. While Rivera's part was relatively modest within the ensemble cast, the film's unprecedented box office success and critical acclaim brought visibility to every performer involved in the project.
Her appearance in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" represented a notable credit in a career that spanned decades. The MCU film drew audiences globally and broke pandemic-era theatrical records, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the Spider-Man franchise and Marvel's multiverse storytelling strategy.
Rivera's passing comes as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues expanding across theatrical releases and Disney Plus series, with the studio actively developing future Spider-Man projects and related properties. Her contribution to one of the most watched films of recent years ensures her place in cinema history, even as her role reflected the broad casting nets that major studio productions cast when assembling their ensembles.