Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney swing into the ‘Spider-Verse’ with ‘Madame Web’

The “Spider-Verse” continues to expand and this time Sony is taking the reins. With Madame Web, audiences get to explore a different timeline and a new group of Spider-Women. 

On Wednesday, Sony dropped the trailer for Madame Web and now we’re all trapped in its plot. A standalone story from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which includes Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Madame Web tells the story of Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson). 

A paramedic in New York City, Cassandra gains clairvoyant abilities after a near death experience. With new powers, her present becomes intertwined with three women, Julia Carpenter (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor), and Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), destined to become powerful Spider-Women and whose powerful futures she can see.

But she’s not the only one with foresight, as she strives to protect her trio of future Spider-Women from a deadly and enigmatic Spidey-esque villain named Ezekial Sims (Tahar Rahim). Also trapped in this film’s web are fellow cast members Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Adam Scott (Severance), Mike Epps (The Upshaws) and Zosia Mamet (The Flight Attendant). 

Madame Web’s trailer comes after Sony revealed their first look at feral Spidey villain Kraven and his self-titled film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. While the MCU and Sony figure out how to navigate their concurrent timelines, the two studios continue to push out Spider-Man content, including Sony’s Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Morbius, while the MCU preps for a new Spider-Man trilogy led by Holland and the upcoming animated film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. 

Unfortunately, the MCU is battling dwindling ticket sales, Sony is dealing with poorly reviewed films, and both are navigating moviegoers’ superhero fatigue. So hype for the Madame Web film is pretty mixed, not to mention fans can’t get this one line from the trailer out of their heads. 

Still, one thing to be excited for is that while there have been a variety of leading ladies within Sony and MCU Spidey films, Madame Web marks the first time one of the films will be led by women characters – with one of them played by O’Connor, who’s nonbinary.

The film doesn’t come out until next year. So only Madame Web, herself, can see how well this new Spider-Verse addition will do when it premieres in theaters on February 14, 2024. 

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After becoming a breakout star in HBO’s Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sweeney has recently branched out into feature films.