The Ghostbusters: Afterlife star Celeste O’Connor has joined the cast of the upcoming Spider-Man movie spin-off Madame Web. According to Deadline, O’Connor will star alongside Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, although the exact details of her role haven’t been revealed.
Directed by S.J. Clarkson (Anatomy of a Scandal and Succession) and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Morbius), Madame Web is the next chapter in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters – or SPUMC to give it its proper and ridiculous sobriquet. Based on the Spider-Man character of the same name, Madame Web will reportedly be an origin story explaining how the spidery psychic – played by Johnson – got her precognitive abilities.
The action movie’s set for a July 7, 2023 release, just a few months after Kraven the Hunter’s big-screen debut in January. Sony has been building its own haphazard shared universe for several years now – basically since Venom in 2018 – and things show no sign of slowing down. The studio has greenlit Venom 3, a Spider-Woman movie, and El Muerto.
What’s El Muerto? We’re glad you asked. El Muerto is another Spider-Man spin-off based on the super obscure character of the same name. Seriously even comicbook experts would struggle to name this guy, as he’s had precisely two proper comic book appearances.
Sony clearly has some confidence in the project, however. It’s lined up the rapper Bad Bunny who reportedly impressed studio execs so much while making the upcoming thriller movie Bullet Train they let him pick a character to play. A release date of January 2024 has been set for the film.
That’s more than they’ve done for the Spider-Woman movie. Olivia Munn was announced to be working on that back in August 2020, but we’ve heard very little about it since then.
If you’re excited for Madame Web or El Muerto, check out our guide to the best Spider-Man actors. Maybe one of them will make a cameo?