No./20 Madame Web is about to spin Here’s what you need to know about Dakota Johnson’s superhero
WHO IS MADAME WEB?
Introduced in The Amazing Spider-man #210 back in 1980, Cassandra Webb — better known as Madame Web — is a mutant whose gifts include precognition, clairvoyance and astral projection. Various Spider-man storylines have seen her aid Peter Parker and other wallcrawlers as a blind, elderly, stern woman hooked up to a life-support system resembling a web.
In the comics, Cassandra is killed off, but manages to transfer all her precognitive powers to Julia Carpenter — a version of Spider-woman — who becomes Madame Web 2.0. Given Johnson’s age, it’s likely that she’ll play Carpenter rather than opting for the old-age make-up. A passing-of-thetorch story could work nicely here.
WHAT DOES HER FILM MEAN FOR SONY’S UNIVERSE OF MARVEL CHARACTERS?
That their Spider-numbers are about to drastically increase. Madame Web’s connection to the Web Of Life And Destiny — a mysterious force which holds the multiverse together, believed to be the root power source of every hero with Spidey senses — gives her the ability to transport any version of Spider-man across the multiverse.
Through Madame Web, we could see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, or the return of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s versions of the character, or new heroes like Miles Morales enter the fray. Our own powers of clairvoyance predict me might even see Doctor Strange and Madame Web share the screen: both characters are able to tap into the multiverse, a useful skill given the universehopping shenanigans that are sure to continue. If a multiversal coalition of heroes is on the cards, having Web and Strange for teammates
is no bad thing.
WHAT ELSE DO WE WANT TO SEE?
This would be the first femaleled superhero movie in Sony’s Marvel Universe. But there are many Marvel women who deserve their bigscreen due: not least Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat. Felicity Jones played the character in The Amazing Spider-man 2, but it was a tiny role with little impact. A solo film for the sometime antihero, sometime ally of Spider-man could get into everything from her burglary skills and ability to bring bad luck, to the fact that she has a crush on our favourite Spidey. Would watch!