A couple of days ago, Sony brought us Madame Web, their latest installment in their very own Sony-Verse of Spider-Man movies that don’t actually contain Spider-Man.
There have been successes; the Venom and Spider-Verse movies have been well received. There have been failures; Morbius was not well received. And there are movies yet to arrive; the third Venom film and Kraven the Hunter film both arrive later this year.
In many ways, Madame Web stands apart from the other Sony-Verse non-Spider-Man movies. The live action films have contained and will contain anti-hero male characters with violent tendencies. Venom, Morbius and Kraven have all featured heavily in either their own stories or as a significant protagonist.
Madame Web is certainly an interesting character with a good deal of cinematic possibilities. She first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210 in 1980. In a supporting role, Cassandra Web helped Spider-Man track down a group of kidnappers and save the lives of two women.
While Dakota Johnson’s character is called Cassandra Web in the new film, the inspiration draws more on the comic book successor to Cassandra Webb, Julia Carpenter. In the comic books, Cassandra Web passes her powers to Julia who becomes the new Madame Web (although Cassandra Web is temporarily brought back as a clone in the Clone Conspiracy comic book storyline).
The interesting decision to made Madame Webb less Cassandra and more Julia in the film focuses our attention of the idea of a web of spider-heroes.
When Spider-Man first sees Cassandra Web as Madame Web, she is attached to a web of machines that consist of her life support system. Madame Web tells Spider-Man she has the power to see hidden secrets and helps him find a group of kidnappers. Her initially supportive role is expanded in different directions in later stories.
In the 1998 Gathering of the Five crossover, Madame Web is convinced by Norman Osborne to participate in a ritual will bestow the gifts of power, immortality, knowledge, but also the possibility of death and madness.
Osborne plays on Madame Web’s fragility and gets her to participate on the basis that it would give her immortality. At first, the ritual appears to inflict death on Madame Web. It is only later that the gift of immortality (and renewed youth) if given to Madame Web. She is also brought into contact with the young Martha (Mattie) Franklin who also participates in the ritual and at first appears to be given the gift of knowledge. It turns out Mattie is given the gift of power and takes the mantle of Spider-Woman.
As a consequence of the ritual, Madame Web and Mattie team up and form a growing web of Spider focused superheroes. The adventures of Mattie with Madame Web as her mentor give the web of life and web of Spider-heroes a boost.
In the development of the web of life and the changing identity of Madame Web, the next significant story anticipates another Sony movie set to appear later in the year, Kraven the Hunter.
In the Grim Hunt comic book storyline, Madame Web is kidnapped by Kraven the Hunter’s wife, Sasha to bring about the resurrection of Kraven the Hunter. Sasha uses Madame Web’s ability to see the future to hunt and capture spider powered heroes, including Mattie and Julia Carpenter, another Spider-Woman.
By sacrificing spider-heroes, Sasha is able to resurrect her fallen son and husband. In the course of the story, Cassandra Web passes over the mantel of Madame Web to Julia Carpenter who appears to be the inspiration for Dakota Johnson’s character in the movie.
In addition to Cassandra Web’s clairvoyant abilities, Julia Carpenter has a mysterious collection of abilities. At the end of the Grim Hunt storyline, Julia appears to teleport. Julia is also known for her distinctive red hair and trench coat as opposed to Cassadra’s life support web and blindfold.
Julia Carpenter provides Sony with a number of cinematic opportunities. She is a distinctive young woman with a selection of unusual abilities. She also has limited comic books stories allowing Sony to manage the story of the film and give them an opportunity to tie into the Marvel multiverse.
The current format for a superhero movie is focused on a usually male character who achieves powers, overcomes setbacks and tragedy to be triumphant by the end of the story.
Julia Carpenter as Madame Web is a refocusing of the format. There is a great deal of opportunity for exactly the kinds of action we want to see in a superhero movies, but there is also the opportunity for a different format. Rather than a team working together, it is a network of connected individuals. Not to be mistaken for the rag-tag team (which is usually every superhero team-up until they overcome their differences to defeat the villains), the connected individuals presents a more mentor and willing or unwilling mentee format. Not dissimilar from the Iron Man and Spider-Man relationship that was used very sparingly in a couple of Marvel movies.
We have seen elements of the supportive team approach in the Spider-Verse and Marvels movies to varying levels of success. To mitigate possible drawbacks with this approach, Sony also has the opportunity to use the movie as a connection to the Marvel superhero approach.
Marvel featured Tom Hardy’s Venom in the post-credit scene of Spider-Man No Way Home. It is possible that an agreement with Marvel has Madame Web offering a bridge between the two cinematic universes. Or at least a doorway that will allow the movies to support one another.
The introduction of Madame Web offers some interesting possibilities in the widen sphere of Spider powered characters both as heroes and villains.
Pick up your copy of Spider-Man: Grim Hunt for the Julia Carpenter as Madame Web origin (this is a paid affiliate link and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more).
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