Dakota Johnson set to star in Spider-Man spin-off Madame Web for Sony
Sony seems to be aware that a movie about Madame Web doesn't make much sense, though
Aux News Dakota Johnson
Spider-Man has some cool supporting characters in the comics, but, really, only so many of them seem like they should be able to carry a movie without the ol’ web-head swinging by. Venom did it, Morbius is doing it, and movies about Spider-Woman and Kraven The Hunter are apparently in the works, but when B-tier villains are getting solo stories (it’s true, don’t yell at us in the comments), is there really anywhere else for Sony to go with its somewhat MCU-adjacent line of Spider-Man-related movies?
Evidently yes, because the studio is making—of all things—a Madame Web movie, and it has chosen Dakota Johnson to star in it. We don’t know much about this movie, but Deadline says that S.J. Clarkson (a veteran of the Netflix Marvel shows, among other things) is directing and that “sources have stressed” that this movie might “turn into something else.”
But why? Well, traditionally, Madame Web is an old lady with multiversal precognition powers (she’s a mutant, X-Men-style, but we won’t tell Disney if you won’t) who generally spends all of her time in a char, seeing stuff that might happen in the future and warning Spider-Man and other Spider characters about it. She doesn’t really go on adventures or fight bad guys or anything.
Johnson could be playing one of the other characters to carry the Madame Web name, as Madame Web passing down her name and powers is a thing that happens, but on some level then she’s just playing another Spider-Woman and there’s already a Spider-Woman movie happening. That might not be a big deal, since DC has all of these Batmans running around and nobody seems confused by the difference between Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Shameik Moore’s Spider-Man, so maybe we should just stop questioning anything that happens with superhero movies and assume that everyone will like everything that comes out.
17 Comments
She’s probably playing the Julia Carpenter version of Madame Web. She was the second Spider-Woman and, during the terrible Spider-Man storyline Grim Hunt, the original Madame Web transferred her powers when she was mortally wounded by Kraven’s daughter whose name I choose to forget out of spite for how terrible Grim Hunt was.Seriously, the whole point of Grim Hunt was to bring back Kraven the Hunter and the Spider books did nothing with this. They fridged Billy Conners and Mattie Franklin for no reason. The only good thing to come out of Kraven’s resurrection wasn’t even the Spider books but in Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
I just noticed that the article mentions that a Spider Woman became Madame Web but it seems to forget that there were three Spider-Women in the main continuity: Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, and Mattie Franklin
Yes, the Kra-Van!
Something something Helen Mirren or Olivia Coleman passing down the mantle of Madame Web to Dakota Johnson’s younger character over the course of the film. end with sequel bait tease. Maybe putting in Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man as a cameo. Hey, I ain’t minding at all. always want more Spider-Verse content (and consequently more MCU Multiverse canon) and I wouldn’t mind seeing Johnson in something mainstream superhero that’s not those damn 50 Shades flicks.
should be her grandmother’s role to match my 90s animated vision of Madame Web
And since nobody’s seen fit to include an image of the “old lady” version of Madame Web mentioned in the article:
So this is going to be Sony’s excuse to bring in their own Spiderverse without having to cater to Disney in the slightest?
This is a stupid idea.
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They couldn’t afford Helen Mirren?
She had a scheduling conflict with the fact she didn’t want to be anywhere near this disaster when it flopped.
Does Madame Web use weird mind games to save a whiny little pig from his delicious destiny?
some joke
Maybe she runs a spider-themed brothel.
Name two good movies Dakota Johnson has been in. You can’t!
Oh good. We needed more superhero movies and spin offs no one asked for!
Didn’t Julie Traymor and U2 make a broadway musical about this spider lady? Seem to recall it was a huge success that didn’t put anyone in the hospital.