In an exclusive (and unconfirmed) report yesterday from Justin Kroll of Variety, it was revealed that director S.J. Clarkson will be helming a new Spider-Man movie for Sony Pictures. As for the character, Kroll’s sources indicated that it will be none other than Madame Web.
In the Spider-Man comics, Madame Web (real name Cassandra Web) was a mutant who can see into the future. Her visions often revolved around Spider-Man and his supporting cast, which inevitably led to her helping them via vague/foreboding proclamations. She was also elderly and suffered from myasthenia gravis, which required her to be hooked into an intricate life support system that (conveniently) looked like a giant spiderweb.
Near the conclusion of 2010’s ‘Grim Hunt‘ storyline in The Amazing Spider-Man, Madame Web was murdered by Sasha Kravinoff, wife of the infamous Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter. In the moments before her death, Web transferred her powers to Julia Carpenter (aka Spider-Woman and/or Arachane).
Cassandra Web and Julia Carpenter as Madame Web (Marvel)
If any (or all) of that confused you, don’t feel bad. I’ve read most of the comics she’s in and still needed to look things up. Just trust me when I say that as odd as it seems to have an elderly, spider-obsessed physic mutant involved in Peter Parker’s web slinging adventures, it somehow works.
Madame Web also made appearances in other Spider-Man media. She was a surprisingly prominent figure in the Spider-Man animated series from back in the ’90s and showed up (in her Julia Carpenter persona) during the final season of the recent Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. Arguably one of her best roles, however, was in the Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions video game, which you can watch a portion of below.
As far as the behind-the-scenes stuff is concerned, S.J. Clarkson is an excellent choice to head up a film like this. She’s got a ton of experience behind the director’s chair on high-end television projects, including Dexter, Bates Motel, and Succession. She’s also directed episodes of Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders.
So yeah…whether this ends up being a Madame Web movie or not, Sony’s new Marvel project is definitely in good hands.
Personally, I’m pretty sure all signs point to Cassandra Web (and/or Julia Carpenter) making her big screen debut. Although Variety’s report stated that no writers have been attached to the project, Jeff Sneider of Collider exclusively revealed back in September that Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (the same writing team behind Sony’s upcoming Morbius film) had been hired to pen a Madame Web script for Sony.
Whatever the case, it would certainly be interesting (and a lot of fun) to see how Sony plans to adapt this odd-yet-beloved character from one of the weirder corners of Spider-Man’s universe.
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