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You've probably heard of Peter Parker, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and with the success of the animated Spider-Verse movies, you might be familiar with Miles Morales too. But this year, neither of those Spider-Men is taking the spotlight in a new movie. Instead, Madame Web will swing into theaters this February in a film of the same name starring Dakota Johnson. Madame Web is akin to Venom, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter (the latter also slated for release this year) in that it draws from the Spider-Man comics universe but doesn't feature Spider-Man himself. So, it's understandable if you're not familiar with Madame Web and her supporting characters—especially since it seems like the character in the new film might diverge significantly from her comic book origins.
Before you catch Madame Web in theaters, let's delve into her comics backstory, along with the origins of Julia Cornwall, Mattie Franklin, and Anya Corazon (portrayed by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, and Isabela Merced, respectively)—three Spider-Women who also feature in the new film. And of course, we'll explore the tale's antagonist, Ezekiel Sims, portrayed by Tahar Rahim.
In the upcoming movie, Dakota Johnson takes on the role of Cassandra "Cassie" Webb, a vibrant paramedic residing in New York City. Following an accident, Cassie discovers she has clairvoyant abilities. However, apart from her name and possessing clairvoyance, nearly everything about her character differs significantly from the original comic-book version of Madame Web.
Madame Web was introduced by writer Denny O'Neil and artist John Romita Jr. in The Amazing Spider-Man No. 210, released in November 1980. In the comics, Cassandra Webb also possesses precognitive powers, but they stem from her mutant gene, similar to the X-Men, rather than from an accident. She is depicted as an elderly woman who is blind and paralyzed due to myasthenia gravis, a neurological condition. Cassandra relies on a life-support system built by her husband, which resembles a spider’s web with her at the center.
In her debut appearance, Spider-Man seeks Madame Web's assistance in rescuing a kidnapping victim, and she learns Spidey’s secret identity through her powers. Madame Web's storyline in the comics becomes intricate over the years. She gains youth and immortality during conflicts with her granddaughter Charlotte Witter, a supervillain Spider-Woman, but later loses these abilities. In a 2009 storyline, she is murdered but manages to pass on her precognitive powers to Julia Carpenter, the Spider-Woman portrayed by Sydney Sweeney in the Madame Web movie. Madame Web is resurrected as a clone in a 2016 storyline but eventually perishes when her clone body deteriorates.
Madame Web has made appearances in the 1990s animated Spider-Man TV show, voiced by Joan Lee, the wife of Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee.
Unless Dakota Johnson, who is 34 years old, is concealed under extensive old-age makeup not yet revealed in trailers, it seems that familiarity with Madame Web’s comic-book backstory may not be necessary to enjoy the film, which presents itself as a standalone. Director SJ Clarkson described the movie as an "origin story" for the title character in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Notably, the film is set in 2003, so any scenes or post-credit teasers set in the present day would place Johnson’s character in her 50s, not quite elderly grandmother age, but closer.
In addition to Dakota’s Madame Web, the movie features three friends who are also heroes affiliated with Spider-Man in the comics. However, none of them share Peter Parker's origin story of being bitten by a radioactive spider. Their backgrounds are more complex, and it remains to be seen how they will gain powers, let alone the nature of those powers, in the upcoming film.