What might Sony’s MADAME WEB film be about – and who might Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney be playing? | JUST A THEORY

Let’s baselessly, but intelligently, speculate about MADAME WEB. The MADAME WEB character is the definition of a comic book deep cut. Hers is a great story that connects to so many different characters in Spider-Man lore – but it does so precariously and tangentially. So I was a bit confused when Sony announced that they were making a feature devoted to the character. But then Sony did a one-two-three punch of casting Sydney Sweeney, Dakota Johnson and Ariana DeBose (albeit in a different film, KRAVEN) in their live-action Spiderverse over the course of a few weeks. And I my interest was piqued. You see, with the totality of casting all three, suddenly a bigger picture emerged. I am not even a big “Euphoria” fan – but Sydney Sweeney is one of the most talked about and memed actresses around – and was also great in “The Voyeurs” on Amazon and “The White Lotus” on HBO. Ariana DeBose is about to win an Oscar this Sunday. And like it or not Dakota Johnson was the star of one of the biggest trilogies at the box office of the last decade and has proved her acting chops in movies like “The Lost Daughter,” “Suspiria,” and “Bad Times At The El Royale” – all must sees.

So casting these three titans means, to me, that Sony is planning for something big for their live-action Spiderverse (aka “the SLAS”). These are actresses who could easily be in MCU proper. And this is no disrespect to Sony. I LOVE VENOM, but at this point in time, in terms of gen-pop zeitgeist status, the SLAS just isn’t on the same level as the MCU (and it’s going to be even worse after MORBIUS if the early reactions are any indication). So to get them to sign on to the SLAS, one would think the roles would HAVE to be pretty great and the stories the filmmakers are telling would have to be equally great (also the paychecks are probably pretty great). But suffice it to say – I am now VERY interested. Sony, you’ve gotten my attention not through story but casting – a shaky proposition at best, but you have it. And I’ll save the KRAVEN movie speculation for a future blog months down the line. Today let’s talk about MADAME WEB. I find this story more interesting because in a weird way it feels closer to Spider-Man stories (yeah I know Kraven is a big Spidey villain but Madame Web in some interactions works WITH him and even shares some of his powers).

Who Is Madame Web?

The Madame Web (or MW – apologies for all the acronyms but this is going to be a LONG blog) story is actually a very jumbled one – even for a Spider-Man character –  with the “MW” name being used by multiple heroes – and even those heroes sometimes appear younger or older and with powers that increase and decrease depending on the story. It all gets very confusing but let’s take a spin at it. You like that?

Anyway, back in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #210, John Romita and Denis O’Neal intro’d the world to a woman named Cassandra Webb who was blind and paralyzed from the neck down due to a condition called myasthenia gravis – an auto-immune disease that causes her nerves to degenerate and for her to lose her vision. To keep her alive, her husband Jonathan created a life support system: a throne with multiple tubes connected to life support systems that helped her body to continue its normal functions despite her condition. But as Cassandra’s corporeal abilities withered away her psychic abilities increased. And the tubes connected to the throne looked a lot like Iron Spider legs – specifically the iron spider legs of Spider-Man. Over time Cassandra’s powers continued to grow including telepathy, clairvoyance, and even precognition. So when her husband died, Cassandra began to use the name “Madame Web” (dropping the second “b”) for her local business as a fortune teller. When a friend of Peter Parker’s sung Web’s praises to Peter, Peter reached out to her to help solve a kidnapping she assisted, eventually figuring out that Spider-Man was in fact Peter Parker. This was also a fact that she confided in Peter – though she promised to keep his secret.

In fact, some online scoopers have speculated that is the reason a certain image in SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME was Madame Web. See below:

You see Madame Web could psychically reach out to not only predict the future and contact multiple people and places but eventually multiple universes. This has lead Sony to describe her as their version of Doctor Strange in trade articles for the castings of Sydney Sweeney and Dakota Johnson. But I think that’s inaccurate. At times MW has been written as someone extraordinarily powerful –  and at the height of her powers, one could say she is more like a Professor X or Jean Grey than Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange is powerful but – as you are about to see in Multiverse of Madness – even in the MCU there are people better than Doctor Strange at navigating the multiverse (aka America Chavez but that is a speculation blog for another day).

Will Madame Web ultimately be a person that can connect MCU characters to SLAS past, present and future characters? PROBABLY. Now this is not alway dramatically interesting in terms of telling a “superhero story”, which is why Spider-Man or a handful of Spider-Women often handle MW’s “dirty work” in the comics after she gives them the ino that they need.

And in the comics this set-up is actually kind of cool as plenty of times Peter will be stumped on a mystery and come to Madame Web or Madame Web will reach out to Peter when she has a vision of an impending calamity – seeking his help to change the future. One of the best is in (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #216) where we see Madame Web and Peter Parker working together to stop an assassination – due to Peter Parker’s tips (the assasination will occur during “a race”) Peter believes it will occur during the NYC marathon – but Madame Web figures out that it is actually a political assination during an election.

But Madame Web has the potential to be much more than a “psychic zoom call”. Eventually MW actually becomes a pretty big badass in her own right. And I think this is where the movie’s plot might be heading. I think we might get a combination of Madame Web in the iconic throne, helping out a version of Spider-Woman (played by Sydney Sweeney) and then later on will gain the ability to leave that thone and solve crimes on her own. But how is that accomplished in the comics?

Madame Web transforms in “The Gathering of Five”

In John Byrne’s convoluted and controversial “Gathering of Five” (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #229) story, Madame Web is abducted by Juggernaut. When Juggernaut realizes that she cannot function without her throne, he abandons her. MW is eventually rescued by Spider-Man and is put into a medically induced coma (before the rescue, Madame Web tries to contact the Fantastic Four and the Avengers for help after Peter does not answer her initial calls but is unable to. This, at least in my head-canon, proves that MW really has the strongest psychic connection with Spider-people, either because of her bond with Peter or for other less clear reason – anyway…)

After regaining consciousness, MW suffers extreme memory loss – including forgetting that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are the same person. Still hobbled from the abduction, in SPIDER-MAN #96, MW is contacted by Norman Osborn who sends her a vision and invites her to join a ritual called “The Gathering of Five” where she is promised a way to potentially heal – IF she is able to find a piece of machinery for the ceremony. MW enlists Spider-Man who, out of guilt and duty, helps her and finds the piece that Norman is looking for, though not actually realizing that MW is working with Norman. After the ceremony, MW is not only healed but 1.) gains immortality, 2.) her sight is restored, and 3.) she appears years younger (see below)…

Now the rest of the Spider-Man/Norman story is actually the convoluted part. But Madame Web emerges from the story with a new identity, one that allows her a new look, and a new way to investigate – without the help of Spider-Man while retaining all of her previous psychic powers.

Enter Mattie Franklin/Spider-Woman – Madame Web’s Sometime Partner

I think in Sony’s MADAME WEB film we will get some version of this “Gathering of Five” story which will launch this more mobile and physical version MW, who now works alongside Spider-Man and then later Spider-Woman Mattie Franklin, who was ALSO part of the Gathering of Five. Mattie was the niece of J. Jonah Jameson and when she hears her father and Norman Osborne discuss the potential of the ceremony she shows up on her own with the final missing piece for Norman, granting her a spot at the gathering. Due to being a participant in the ceremony, Mattie is granted extreme power and integrates this into her new role as the latest iteration of the city’s “Spider-Woman” – now working alongside the younger, immortal, and mobile Madame Web – while the two fight crime.

I can definitely see Sydney Sweeney stepping into the role of Mattie Franklin. More on that in one second. But I think Sony could also stage Mattie as a Spider-Man proxy prior to the gathering and have her help Madame Web when MW is resigned to her throne and relies on others to help fight crime. Having that relationship of a psychic reliant on some else, and then seeing Madame Web transformed through the eyes of Mattie Franklin and become someone with more agency could make for a very powerful story.

The Julia Carpenter version of Madame Web

Now a lot of scoopers and speculation has said that Dakota Johnson will be playing the Julia Carpenter version of the character. Who’s that?

Julia Carpenter is another version of Spider-Woman (stay with me here) who is gifted the powers of Madame Web (during the “Grim Hunt” storyline in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #634-637) after the original MW is killed at the hands of the Kavinoff family (who ALSO need MW for her psychic abilities – much like Juggernaut way back when). Mattie Franklin is abducted and killed by the Kravinoffs to summon MW – and when MW tries to confront the Kavinoffs, she is also captured and eventually killed. But not before MW escapes and gives the her psychic abilities to Julia Carpenter (who is actually a different Spider-Woman – though she technically exists in continuity with Mattie’s run as Spider-Woman – just go with it). Julia Carpenter then takes the powers along with her Spider-Woman skills and eventually helps Peter Parker stop the Kravinoffs.

And I do think that it is not crazy to think that Julia will eventually be A version of Madame Web going forward in the SLAS – maybe in a sequel or who knows, a third film. We could see Julia Carpenter launched as “Madame Web” in a post-credits scene and played by a new actress. Crazy? Sure. But SLAS universe has played risky before with their choices for the post credits. Remember VENOM setting up VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE in its post credits??? So I think that scene could absolutely be a possibility here.

But the Cassandra Webb version is so fundamental to the story and history of the character that I do not think you can tell the story without the iconic version of Madame Web, a psychic of nearly limitless ability in the spider-verse but also consigned to her throne on life-support. If Dakota will instead be playing Julia Carpenter, one can presume the story would focus on Julia taking those powers and using them to avenge Cassandra’s death over the course of the film. But I’m not sure that is as powerful of a story as seeing MW transform into a hero like in the “Gathering of Five Story”. Anyway, if Dakota is playing the Julia Carpenter version, it would unfortunately mean that he Cassandra Webb version might just be a supporting character – or even a cameo, featured in the first act or even the first 5-10 minutes, which would be a bummer and IMO would not make a ton of sense.

Moreover I do thin Dakota will be playing Cassandra Webb because:

1. Cassandra Webb is the prime version of the character.
2. If she’s Julia Carpenter, the Sydney Sweeney casting does not make a ton of sense as the Julia Carpenter stories are not duos working together. The Cassandra Webb stories are CLASSIC duo or “two-hander” stories.
3. And also – one thing I have not mentioned – lot of Julia Carpenter’s stories as Madame Web AFTER getting the powers were with the X-Men – and I’m not sure if those stories could port over into the SLAS that easily. She rarely works with a partner also – making who Sydney Sweeney might be playing even more doubtful.

With Sweeney in the film I don’t think Dakota as Julia Carpenter fits in as easily. I think we will be seeing the Madame Web at least for a time working with a Spider-lore character played by Sweeney. Who will that be?

Sydney Sweeney is probably playing either Mattie Franklin or Charlotte Witter – WAIT WHAT?

OK – we already mentioned Mattie Franklin. But you are probably saying, “Who the heck is Charlotte Witter?

There are two prominent Spider-Woman characters in the “Gang of Five” story that Sweeney would be perfect for. And neither is named Julia Carpenter (remember when I told you this was a confusing and convoluted story?). That’s right as Obi-Wan Kenobi once said, “there is ANOTHER.” The third Spider-Woman is Charlotte Witter. Witter is an evil version of the character who battles both Madame Web and Mattie Franklin.

Charlotte Witter’s story however, starts as a promising fashion student – and granddaughter of Madame Web – who is transformed into a Spider-powered creature through DNA testing, thanks to the nefarious Doctor Octopus who dupes her into participating. Witter is then used by Doc Ock as an assassin to attack other Spider-Women (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL 2 #5) and rob them of their powers, using almost vampiric abilities (she even drinks blood). Witter eventually takes the name “Spider-Woman” as well, complete with mechanical spider legs supplied by Doc Ock. After successfully attacking Jessica Drew and Julia Carpenter (before she gained the Madame Web powers) she tries to take down Mattie Franklin who escapes. Franklin tells Madame Web of the nefarious Witter. Web schemes up a plan and teams up Mattie and the recovering Jessica Drew and Julia Carpenter to finally rescue and subdue her granddaughter Witter. EVENTUALLY Witter was de-programmed by Madame Web.

I do think this somewhat tragic and very weird story of Charlotte Witter is a natural for the live action SLAS. I do think that her going from a fashion designer to this arch-villain could be cool, especially if you take out the potentially problematic Doc Ock subplot and maybe make the reason why she becomes this evil version of Spider-Woman less abusive and maybe something even that might have more to do with Madame Web. It could be interesting. Maybe she could even try and get powers to help Madame Web solve crimes – and is successful at it at first – but it then drives her to do evil things. I really do like parts of the Charlotte Witter character and she has a knockout costume – and her familial relationship with Web are all things that I think would make her an excellent pairing with MW.

Could Sydney Sweeney be playing Black Cat?

I don’t think it’s crazy but it would be without any real precedent in the comics. You see, Black Cat has no real canon interaction with Madam Web in the comics. This would be the equivalent of introducing Wolverine in a movie and teaming him up with Green Lantern in his very first film (and yes I am using Marvel and DC to prove a point). But honestly, they do not have history. Still Green Lantern and Wolverine would both be huge box office draws and high profile comic characters – much higher than Mattie Franklin or Charlotte Witter. 

Black Cat is arguably the MOST important character that Sony has yet to cast in the SLAS and to intro and use her in Madame Web feels a little weird – when she could easily support and deserves her own film. Then again, maybe the GP would not care about a Black Cat movie and intro’ing her in MW and making it a “more bang for your buck situation” so both brands help out leading eventually to a Black Cat film might actually be plausible and work really well. But it also could overshadow MW in her own film. Would Sony care? IDK. I guess I’ve talked myself into it. But NEVERTHELESS THERE IS NO REAL PRECEDENT TO TEAM UP MADAM WEB AND BLACK CAT – besides trying to maintain and grow a successful franchise. Which could be a big reason. 

One other note here, Black Cat could also become a sympathetic villain in this film. Sony could make a version of the MW “Gathering of Five” story where Black Cat essentially plays both the Spider-Man role (helping her solve crimes BEFORE while she is stuck in her throne) and the Mattie Franklin role (teaming up with MW after MW gets her powers as Black Cat also becomes superpowered) and eventually finds herself at a heads with MW in a Charlotte Witter type role. Might would – would be tricky – but I could see her playing this partner turned enemy to MW.

What about Sydney Sweeney as Spider-Gwen/Ghost-Spider?

Spider-Gwen or Ghost Spider (aka Earth 65’s Gwen Stacey – I’m not going to go into deep background here because let’s just say she’s playing something close to the animated Spiderverse version and go with it – I am tired), like Julia Carpenter, could happen but honestly I think they would do some variation for her on the Mattie Franklin/Charlotte Witter if they go the Spider-person route. I DO like this idea better than Black Cat OR Julia Carpenter because (1.) I think it would allow MW to showcase the non-action but important parts of her powers and stretch into the multiverse and pull Ghost Spider into SLAS (allowing for more fun multiverse lore) and (2.) Sydney Sweeney would be a PERFECT Ghost Spider. But Spider-Gwen is already a HUGE part of Sony’s animated Spider-verse so IDK – would they do that?

My final analysis and probability rankings of who Sydney Sweeney is playing (all have their pluses and minuses):

1. Black Cat: From a box office perspective, she could be playing Black Cat but it would make no sense for any Madame Web Story and it might overshadow MAdame Web in her own movie.
2. Mattie Franklin/Charlotte Witter as Spider-Woman: Canonically it would make the most sense for her to be playing Mattie Franklin or Charlotte Witter/Spider-Woman though with Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman movie, could present an issue unless this version goes on to star in Wilde’s film.
3. Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider: Has about the same box office potential as Black Cat but they already have this character in the animated Spiderverse so IDK seems less likely with Black Cat just sitting there if you are just going to shoehorn a character in for box-office
4. Julia Carpenter/Spider-Woman: Again would make less sense than the previous two as you would not just have to make up a story but would have to rewrite pre-existing canon.

Anyway, I sure am eager to see who is playing what exactly in Madam Web and to learn more about the film. Until then I will continue googling Sydney Sweeney/Ghost Spider fan art. Have a great day!