Will Spider-Man Be in ‘Madame Web’?

By Lindsay Traves | Film | November 16, 2023 |

By Lindsay Traves | Film | November 16, 2023 |

Prophesying based on easter eggs is one of the more fun requirements of being a member of the geek culture. Obsessing over close-ups of Spock’s hands in trailers, episode titles, and background graffiti all make for some of the more fun elements of fandom culture, ones that often feel like a nod to superfans while still making new media accessible to all audiences.

With the new Madame Web web trailer, we have more hints to obsess over as a means of trying to decipher what will be covered in Sony’s next Spidey-adjacent tale. The Madame Web we know in comics canon is usually much older, is considered a mutant with precognition, and relies on a life support machine reminiscent of a spider web. Not much is known about her past, and the upcoming movie purports to be tackling and formulating her back story.

The younger Madame Web, played by Dakota Johnson, appears in the trailer to be a paramedic who discovers she has psychic abilities and sees the future of other young women around her as Spider-heroes. One of the young women she meets is Julia Carpenter, played by Sydney Sweeney, who was said to have been cast as Spider-Woman.

But there’s something else to the cast’s names that suggests there’s a bit more going on than a simple tale of Madame Web and her future proteges. Firstly, Madame Web is young; secondly, comics canon Julia Carpenter is her successor. In prime canon, Madame Web is killed by Kraven (of the upcoming Kraven the Hunter perhaps?) and passes her powers onto Carpenter. While Carpenter briefly holds the mantle of Spider-Woman after Jessica Drew, she is the current Madame Web, and Sweeney’s look in the trailer seems to match more closely to that costume. Further, her casual look with glasses and a center part also seems to more clearly match that comics look. (In fact, Martha Franklin, played in this film by Celeste O’Connor, takes the Spider-Woman mantle shortly after Carpenter).

So what does any of this have to do with Spider-Man appearing in the Sony universe? It comes down to the timeline and the appearance of Adam Scott in the trailer. Spider-Man is acquainted with an aged Madame Webb already attached to her life support system and had lived with his uncle, a senior Ben Parker. In the film, Johnson and Scott play younger versions of Madame Web and Ben Parker. From the trailer and early posted set photos, the movie seems to take place in 2000s New York City, as evidenced by references to 3G phone technology and Beyoncé’s debut album. All things that might have happened before Peter Parker was born or was sent to live with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

The Spider-Man and Spidey-related films across animation, the MCU, and the Sony universe have all played with multi-verses and different versions of characters existing across them. Specifically, the MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness paired with Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius imply the existence of multiple versions of Spider-Man and Venom (since the Toby McGuire Spider-Man would have known a different Venom played by Topher Grace, and not the one played by Tom Hardy). Hardy’s Venom, however, a being able to experience different times and universes, is confirmed to be aware of Spider-Man as played by Tom Holland. With the ability to pass through the multiverse, Venom took a trip to MCU canon (leaving a shred of his symbiote behind), and Vulture (Michael Keaton) passed from the MCU and into Sony’s canon where he meets Morbius (Jared Leto) and mentions Spider-Man (who, in his mind, is the one played by Tom Holland).

So what does this all mean? That with Sony and the MCU playing ping pong with its greatest villains, letting many of them settle back into the Sony universe with varying memories of a Spider-Man, it’s possible the current iteration of the Sony films exists in a world before Peter Parker has taken on the mantle but not before he exists. There have been breadcrumbs leading to the webslinger spread across the Sony universe, but the existence of Ben Parker in the upcoming Sony film, and it taking place in the past, could suggest this will set up the existence of either a Sony Spidey (especially since his latest MCU film seemed to wrap up his version of the story and we don’t know all the details on the Sony/Disney Spider-Man loan deal- Tori breaks down the deal and the implications in Morbius really well here), or another crossover event that has a newly formed Sinister Six (commmmeeeee onnn, baby) seek out a Spider-Man we already know. With a clairvoyant Spider character able to see deep enough into the future to see Carpenter with her later mantle, it stands to reason that the protective Madame Web, acquainted with Ben Parker, can see into a future where her friend dies and his nephew transforms into a web slinging hero who needs her help. I mean, that or she sees the future, saves Peter’s parents, and we end up in a The Flash situation but let’s not root for it.