The unstoppable success of Spider-Man: No Way Home has emboldened Sony Pictures to build (or spin, if you will) its own tangential shared universe of Spider-Man-connected spinoff films. Moreover, as the threequel approaches a worldwide $2 billion mark that defies the conventional perception of anemic pandemic era business, the studio is also likely pleased over the idea that the movie’s main draw, the return of past Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, was firmly rooted in their Marvel-licensee purview. Consequently, Dakota Johnson is reportedly being eyed to star in Madame Web, one of the riskier, more out-there spinoffs on the studio docket.
Besides the obvious fact that Madame Web will manifest as the first female-centric piece of Spidey-spun cinema, the developing movie project will also earn the distinction of being a live-action showcase for a somewhat minor character who, despite the spectacle of her appearance, existed in the pages of Marvel Comics primarily as an expository device. Yet, the apparent inconceivability of sustaining a solo movie for such a character contrasts with the casting of Dakota Johnson, as reported by Deadline, signaling a stylistic divergence that might just motivate Sony with this project. After all, said divergence would arguably muddle an already-muddled multi-medium milieu.
As Tom Holland’s current big-screen Spider-Man run basks in the ongoing glory of No Way Home’s success and prepares to lead into another trilogy of Marvel Cinematic Universe-adjacent action, business continues to boom on the spinoff side of things. Indeed, we’ve already seen Sony conjure cold-intro, Spider-Man-less spinoffs for alien-symbiote-adorned doppelganger villain Venom, which achieved sequel-spawning success (and even a Spider-Man-less No Way Home post-credits scene) with star Tom Hardy despite the films’ avoidance of the character’s intrinsic connection to the Wall-Crawler. It was merely the tip of the web-covered iceberg for the studio, which is preparing to release the Jared Leto-headlined, pandemic-delayed Morbius with another project in Kraven the Hunter currently gestating on the periphery—all seemingly building toward a long-mooted megamovie for villainous coterie The Sinister Six. However, it’s difficult to discern where the Madame Web movie would fit in this dynamic.
For fans who were already familiar with Madame Web before the character blipped the movie news cycle, the name was more likely to evoke a vintage image from Spider-Man’s comic book annals; specifically, an elderly woman with her blind eyes wrapped, dressed in red, sitting on a golden throne with elaborate mechanical webbing in the back and menacing-looking spider limbs jutting out the sides, all supported by a base resembling an arachnid’s abdomen. It would be an understandable reflex since the character, whose full name is Cassandra Webb (with two “b”s), has been a mainstay in the comic book mythos of Spider-Man going back to her debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #210 (1980). She was initially depicted as an advertised psychic who, contrary to Spidey’s initial skepticism, possessed genuine clairvoyance that would aid him in the apprehension of criminals. This ability would also make the madame into a mentor of sorts who utilizes a unique understanding that even transcends universes. It also offsets her blindness and infirmity, which are a result of the neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis.
The reported casting of Dakota Johnson has led to online accusations of ableism over the seeing, ambulatory actress landing the handicapped character’s role; an idea compounded by the fact that Johnson, at 32, is hardly a comic-accurate candidate for Cassandra Webb. However, it has also bolstered the speculated idea that the film won’t be focused on Cassandra, and will instead follow a more recent comic book avenue spun back in 2010. In this storyline, Julia Carpenter, a younger woman who readers had long-known as the second Spider-Woman, inherited the mantle of Madame Web from a dying Cassandra, who endowed her with all the evocative psychic powers to boot. Thus, Julia became a newer, more-formidable version of Madame Webb—one who is not tethered to a chair and complements psychic powers with her still-present physical Spider-Woman abilities, which she gained in a government experiment.
Consequently, there is a growing theory that Johnson is playing Julia Carpenter, set for an arc in which she inherits the Madame Web title, presumably from Cassandra, who, in her traditional expository role, could provide enough ties to Spider-Man by way of dialogue. Moreover, this movie might just be Sony’s surreptitious stab at adapting Spider-Woman. While that character will likely always be more widely associated with the original version, Jessica Drew, the idea of something cynically perceived by laypeople as “Female Spider-Man” might be seen by Sony suits as a tough sell to mainstream audiences, making this method a kind of compromise. However, it will likely prove to be a potential stress test, revealing just how far the webbing of the Spider-franchise can be feasibly stretched.
Madame Web was placed in the genre-experienced hands of S.J. Clarkson, who will direct the film off a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Clarkson, who is versed in making Marvel projects from having directed episodes of Jessica Jones and The Defenders, will hopefully bring something interesting to the table. However, the report’s sources imply a certain malleability, claiming that the project could still “turn into something else.” Whatever it ultimately becomes, the story will not only need to stand on its own, but further flesh out Sony’s Spider-Man segment of the MCU, whose post-No Way Out future is kind of an open book at the moment.
