“He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died,” Dakota Johnson says with complete seriousness while discussing her nemesis in the new trailer for Madame Web. Oh, we are so in. Directed by S.J. Clarkson with a screenplay by Morbius’s Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the latest entry in Sony’s universe of Marvel Comics adaptations is the first with a female lead. And they’re doing it with an actress with “locking people in a Blue Bottle Coffee” allegations, thank God. Was that just a Madame Web Method acting exercise? While the answer may be elusive, here’s all the casting, plot, and release information we know so far. Get caught in the web.
Who is Madame Web?
Madame Web is a supporting character in the Spider-Man comics. In 2019, Marvel wrote a handy-dandy article titled “Caught in Spidey’s Web: 5 Things to Know About Madame Web,” in which the company tells the un-indoctrinated about the superperson. According to the site, Madame Web’s government name is Cassandra Webb; she is a blind, clairvoyant elderly woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes moving and breathing tough. She advises Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, whenever the young hero needs guidance, and she even knows Parker’s true identity. Seated in a web-shaped chair that doubles as a life-support machine, she uses her psychic powers to fight crime.
Do we know the plot of the movie?
First — and perhaps, given the overconnected nature of recent MCU properties, most important — we do know there will be no Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins for Madame Web, at least for now, Collider reports. We’ve also got a setting: Boston.com reported that the film crew had turned Boston’s Financial District into an early-aughts NYC for the film. If the movie is set then, we hope the trailer is hiding a scene with Adam Scott in Juicy Couture.
Who’s all in it?
It’s a grab bag of young Hollywood stars, people who may be responsible for ending The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the character from Euphoria voted most likely to get her ass beat by Maddy. Dakota Johnson of The Lost Daughter and Fifty Shades of Grey leads the cast as Madame Web, while Sydney Sweeney and Scream Queens’ Emma Roberts co-star. Tahar Rahim is playing Madame Web’s nemesis, Ezekiel Sims. Adam Scott is also present, along with Selah and the Spades standout Celeste O’Connor and Isabela Merced.
What’s going on in the trailer?
The trailer, released November 15, gives us a lot of details. First, we know Madame Web’s power in this version is seeing into the future. Second, we know her nemesis has the same power. Third, we know That’s So Raven is not crossing over into this universe despite Raven having ESP as well, but it should. The trailer shows Madame Web on a mission to save a group of girls that Ezekiel Sims (the man who was studying spiders in the Amazon with her mother before her mother died) seems desperate to kill. It also features Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend,” likely because “Bad Guy” was already used in 80 to 100 trailers the year it came out.
When does it come out?
After several delays, the film is set for release on February 16, 2024.
Is this a Scream Queens–The Lost Daughter crossover episode?
It had better be.
