I would have bet my mortgage on the fact that Madame Web wouldn’t make it to the big screen. Thankfully, I’m not a gambling man; otherwise, I would be homeless right now. But hey, at least I’d have Madame Web… that would make everything better, I’m sure.
Let’s be honest: Sony’s Spider-Man universe is a little weird. Between the utter failure of Morbius, the bizarre approach to Venom, and the swift cancellation of the El Muerto film, I don’t think anyone would’ve been surprised to see the Madame Web release date end up on the cinematic scrap heap.
But here we are with a trailer to sate our appetite. It looks like a superhero movie that very much exists, and with just three months to go until the release date, there’s no going back now. Although, I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
Let’s start on a positive note: Madame Web is giving us plenty of deep lore characters to get excited about. Obviously, there is Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a Spider-Woman who can see into the future and who has a strong connection to the web-slinger world.
This leads her into the path of Julia Carpenter in the new movie, who is played by Sydney Sweeney. Fresh off the back of her success in Euphoria, it’s no surprise that Sweeney gets plenty of screen time in the trailer, and we even get a really good glimpse of her in her Spidey suit, too, which is fun.
There’s also Mattie Franklin, who is the niece of J Jonah Jameson, which gives her very obvious links to one Peter Parker. Rounding out the team is Anya Corazon, who has strong ties to the Spider Society in the comic books — a concept you’ll be very familiar with if you caught the latest Spider-Man movie, Across the Spider-Verse (and if you didn’t, you really should, as it’s the best movie of the year).
The trailer itself doesn’t quite fill me with confidence as to the quality of this flick, sadly. Not only is it edited really frantically, giving it a messy feel, but the actors don’t really seem to be giving it their all when it comes to their line delivery. But, just remember this is directed by S.J. Clarkson, who was responsible for one of the best Marvel series, Jessica Jones, so the fight scenes should at least be fun to watch.
I do hope I’m wrong and that Madame Web surprises me, but you have to know I was forced to watch and review Morbius, so I’m very wary of anything that comes from that corner of the superhero world. But hey, at least we get Adam Scott as Ben Parker! And maybe, just maybe, we’ll see a Spider-Man actor pop up somewhere (wishful thinking, I know).
Until we know more, let’s look ahead to the Venom 3 release date, Kraven the Hunter release date, and Spider-Man 4 release date. Or, learn more about the Spider-Man villains roaming the streets, like Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Ezekiel Sims.