Sony’s first female-led Marvel movie, Madame Web, is starting to round out its cast. After Dakota Johnson has already been tapped for the lead role, the second name that Sony has called upon is Euphoria‘s Sydney Sweeney, to play a currently unspecified character – according to Deadline.
Madame Web is portrayed in the comics as an elderly woman connected to a life-support system that looks like a spider’s web. She is unable to move or fight, but has psychic sensory powers. Due to Johnson’s casting, it is likely that Sony are going in a different direction with the character – and she is possibly playing the Julia Carpenter version or a clone of the original Madame Web. This would mean that she is younger, isn’t bed-bound and can fight her nemeses.
Sydney Sweeney has had something of career break-through in recent months, with roles in HBO’s The White Lotus, erotic thriller The Voyeurs for Prime Video, and vampire horror movie Night Teeth for Netflix. Her character Cassie was also given a much more prominent role in the second season of HBO’s Euphoria – the finale of which recently aired.
S.J. Clarkson, who was a director on Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders, is on board to direct Madame Web. Sony has recently started to rapidly expand their wing of Marvel characters, which is adjacent to the main MCU. As well as the Venom movies, they also have Morbius and Kraven the Hunter coming up.
It is currently unclear whether Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is going to pop up in Kraven the Hunter, or Madame Web, or any of Sony’s other Spidey spin-offs. He may just have a post-credits cameo, or something more significant to do. Kraven’s entire raison d’etre is to try to capture Spider-Man, so it feels like Spidey has to be at least referenced.
While we wait to find out more about Sony’s Spidey-Verse, check out our Spider-Man villains ranking and see if you agree with our verdict!