Madame Web is one of the latest Marvel Comics superhero characters to hit the big screens in 2024. However, Madame Web isn’t a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but will be released under Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). While not a popular character to many film fans, she shares a connection to one of Marvel Comics’ most famous and successful superheroes.
With the approaching release date, there are several unanswered questions in the minds of non-Marvel Comics fans. A good way to make it all make sense before the film’s official release in 2024 is to play catch-up with the character from the comics. Here’s all there is to know about Madame Web in the comics and her portrayal in the upcoming movie.
Who Was Madame Web in the Comics Books
Madame Web, who also goes by the human name Cassandra Webb, was first introduced in Marvel Comics in November 1980. She appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210 issue and was created by Denny O’Neil as the writer and John Romita Jr., as the artist. In the comics, Madame Web is an older woman with myasthenia gravis – a neuromuscular junction disease that results in skeletal muscle weaknesses. As a result of her myasthenia gravis, Madame Web is always portrayed sitting and connected to a spider web-looking life support system.
The character is a human mutant born in Salem, Oregon. Besides her myasthenia gravis, Cassandra Webb is blind, paralyzed, and clairvoyant. She has a naturally gifted intellect with superpowers of telepathy and precognition. All of these allow her to work as a professional medium/psychic as her normal day job. Cassandra Webb leads a normal life and is married to Jonathan Webb. Her husband helped design her life support system to help keep her active and busy and enable her to use her abilities for the greater good.
What’s Her Connection to Spider-Man?
Although Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has yet to introduce Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man, movie viewers would have to make do with Julia Carpenter/Spider-Woman, Mattie Franklin/Spider-Woman, Anya Corazon/Araña, and Ezekiel Sims. However, in the comics, Madame Web and Spider-Man share a lot more connection than the SSU is yet to portray in film. The first time Madame Web was introduced in the comics, she was approached by Spider-Man to use her psychic powers to help find K.J. Clayton, the kidnapped Daily Globe publisher. With her help, Spider-Man was able to locate the real and impersonated K.J. Clayton. However, using her abilities to help Spider-Man allowed her to know his real identity. After successfully freeing Clayton, it started a long relationship between Madame Web and Spider-Man in several comic issues.
Madame Web remained a close ally of Spider-Man, appearing as a supporting character in the comics. In The Gauntlet comic issue, Madame Web is captured, tortured, and drugged by Ana Kravinoff to find information about Spider-Man. Madame Web meets her death in the “Grim Hunt” storyline when she has her throat slashed by Sasha Kravinoff, wife of Kraven the Hunter and mother of Ana Kravinoff. However, before her death, she transfers her psychic powers and blindness to Julia Carpenter.
Who Plays Madame Web in the Upcoming Movie?
With Madame Web making her live-action film debut in 2024, actress Dakota Johnson becomes the first actress to portray the character in film. This excludes Rachel Dratch voicing C. Weber in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). Johnson will portray a much younger Cassandra Webb in the S. J. Clarkson-directed 2024 film. Johnson was eventually chosen to play the character by the end of 2021 after several other A-list actresses were also considered. Dakota Johnson, known for her calm demeanor, will play the character, portraying her as a paramedic living and working in Manhattan with psychic and clairvoyant abilities. Dakota Johnson is a formidable actress by all standards and was prominently known for her role in the Fifty Shades film series before leading the cast of Madame Web (2024)
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