Madame Web had the potential to explore the multiverse, connecting Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). However, the film failed to deliver on this promise, missing a crucial opportunity to enhance its narrative and franchise integration.
While the MCU delves deeper into its Multiverse Saga, the SSU is still in its formative stages. Madame Web, featuring Dakota Johnson as the clairvoyant Cassandra Webb, offered a unique perspective compared to other SSU characters like Venom and Morbius. Despite this, the film’s poor reception, marked by disappointing box office numbers and negative reviews, highlights a missed opportunity. Its shortcomings in dialogue, acting, and script place it low in the rankings of Spider-Man-related movies. This failure could pose significant challenges for the SSU, particularly in integrating Spider-Man without Marvel Studios’ involvement. Madame Web represented a prime opportunity to learn from Marvel’s success, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.
Madame Web’s Multiversal Potential Before Release
Madame Web is a significant character in Spider-Man lore. In the comics, Cassandra Webb is linked to the Web of Life and Destiny, a multiversal construct created by the spider goddess Neith. This web connects all Spider-Totems and allows multiversal travel. With the MCU focusing on the multiverse, Madame Web was Sony’s chance to tap into this concept and forge a link with the MCU.
However, adapting Madame Web’s comic book lore presented challenges, as Sony’s Spider-Man movies operate independently of the MCU. Trailers suggested Cassandra Webb would travel back to 2003 to protect a young Peter Parker from Ezekiel Sims. This ambitious storyline would have required close collaboration between Sony and Marvel Studios to avoid impacting Spider-Man’s MCU timeline. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t even do the titular character justice.
The Multiverse Could Have Elevated Madame Web (But Risked Overcomplication)
Madame Web had the potential to be the SSU’s equivalent of Doctor Strange, introducing concepts like alternate timelines, dimensions, time travel, and fate. Her premonitions hinted at these concepts, allowing her to alter fate by changing key details. Madame Web could have connected this power to the Web of Life and Destiny, establishing the SSU’s own approach to studying and shaping the multiverse, similar to the MCU’s Time Variance Authority (TVA).
However, introducing multiversal elements risked complicating an already complex concept. Shows and movies like Loki, WandaVision, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Flash, and Arrowverse have presented various interpretations of the multiverse. Therefore, another explanation might not have guaranteed success for Madame Web. A new explanation of alternate realities wouldn’t have guaranteed success for Madame Web, either.
Madame Web Missed the Chance to Connect Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to the MCU
Despite the potential challenges of aligning Madame Web‘s multiverse with the MCU, her connection to multiversal travel offered a way for the SSU to establish itself, even without Spider-Man. Madame Web could have explained why Spider-People frequently travel between universes. She also could have expanded on Venom’s tease of the symbiotes’ multiversal hive mind, setting the stage for a potential meeting between Venom and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and explaining Vulture’s arrival in the SSU after Spider-Man: No Way Home. The alt text for this image is “Tom Holland’s Spider-Man with Tom Hardy’s Venom envisioning a potential MCU crossover, symbolizing missed opportunities from Madame Web’s lack of multiversal connection”.
Alternatively, Madame Web could have addressed the absence of a Spider-Man in her universe or explained how one could appear. If her universe remained without a Spider-Man, she could have sought a replacement from another universe. In essence, Madame Web‘s comic book lore provided numerous avenues for Sony to bring its universe closer to Spider-Man and the MCU. The character’s credibility has now suffered due to the film’s negative reception, leaving few alternatives with similar abilities.
In conclusion, Madame Web failed to capitalize on its inherent multiversal connections, missing an opportunity to enrich its story and integrate the SSU more effectively with the MCU. This failure may hinder future efforts to build a cohesive and engaging cinematic universe.
