In the face of the great separation that saw Sony and Marvel Studios parting ways over how to handle the Spider-Man franchise, the studio’s Spider-Verse is only looking to expand its reach. Now untethered from the MCU’s restrictions, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has the potential to meet new and exciting faces in the library of Marvel characters Sony still holds, and it looks like Madame Web is the latest to head into development.
Writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, fresh off of working on another Spider-Man adjacent property, Morbius, have been hired to script out the initial adventure of this deep cut Spidey character, with no producers or director mentioned. And boy, does Madame Web have a story to tell in its part of Peter Parker’s Spider-Verse.
Introduced in 1980, Cassandra Webb is a character that’s kind of like Barbara Gordon’s Oracle in the universe of DC’s Batman. Afflicted with a chronic neuromuscular disease, Webb has powers of clairvoyance that allow her to help Spider-Man from time to time when he needs it. Confined to a life support system that, surprise surprise, looks like a spider’s web, Cassandra is also depicted in some instances as elderly and blind; but still very much a valuable asset to have. After all, seeing the future is much more precise than just heeding the “Peter Tingle.”
This news was reported by Collider, and it makes for an interesting direction for the newly single Spider-Verse franchise to take. On top of Venom 2 and Morbius having their day in the sun, Madame Web will now help bring Spider-Man a slew of new adventures that, at least for the time being, keep him busy while he’s separated from The Avengers.
Cassandra Webb has typically been associated with multi-dimensional stories that have connected her to other Marvel characters such as Doctor Strange, and seen her interact with multiple Spider-Persons. This means that there’s a potential for Sony to double their efforts in jumpstarting their cinematic universe, as Madame Web could be the key to bringing not only the Spider-Man adjacent characters together, but also bridging the gap between Peter Parker and Miles Morales in live-action.
Or, at the very least, we could be treated to Cassandra’s origins, or even the origins of a new version of Madame Web conjured up just for the movies; all leading up to the hypothetical post-credits sequence where Tom Holland appears as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man seeking her council. Cue the first mention of the Morales Spider-Verse, and cut to black.
Plenty of opportunities exist for Cassandra Webb and her alter ego to appear in the Sony Pictures Spider-Verse. But at this time, not too many details are known about how Madame Web will specifically shake out at this point. So stay tuned to CinemaBlend to get up-to-the-minute details as they break.
In the meantime, the 2020 release schedule has the immediate future of Spider-Man nailed down to two movies: Morbius, set for release on July 31st, 2020, and Venom 2, which looks to be debuting on October 2nd, 2020.
