Sony Pictures' upcoming Spider-Man spinoff Madame Web has found its star.
According to THR, Fifty Shades and The Social Network star Dakota Johnson will play the eponymous character.
There has been two prominent Madames Web in the comics. The first -- Cassandra Webb -- was created by Denny O'Neill and John Romita Jr., debuting in 1980's The Amazing Spider-Man #210. The character was an elderly, clairvoyant mutant who suffered from a neuromuscular disease that left her on a life support system, though her abilities allowed her to work as a medium. When Webb died, she passed her powers on to Julia Carpenter, who was the second incarnation of Spider-Woman and similarly became the second version of Madame Web. It's unclear which version the film will center on, but given Johnson's age in relation to both characters, it stands to reason that she'll play Carpenter.
Sony announced a Madame Web movie in 2019 as part of its ever-growing slate of Marvel Cinematic Universe-adjacent projects. The movie is being directed by S.J. Clarkson from a script penned by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama.
"Well, there's the Marvel Universe, which is one container and then there's the Spider-Verse movies, which are different and then there's the other universe where the Sony characters are in," longtime Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal recently explained when asked about Sony's Spider-Man spinoff films such as Moribus, Venom and Madame Web and how they correlate with the MCU. "We all are very respectful of each other and work together and make sure that we're only being additive."
Of course, in the time since these comments from Pascal, the lines have been blurred thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, which opened the multiversal floodgates and saw Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire reprise their roles from past incarnations of the film franchise.
"One of my favorite things to do at the minute is to go online and watch fans' reactions to you guys coming in that one scene in particular," Holland said while discussing No Way Home with Garfield and Holland. "I don't think I could ever have imagined it as being so well received by everyone. I mean, I guess I had an idea that people would love this movie, but in no way, shape or form could I have thought it was going to be as big as it has been. And it's been… only the last couple weeks that I have sort of really come back to reality and come home and started to face real-world problems, and it feels like we’ve been on some sort of really weird dream. It feels really strange."
Madame Web has yet to receive a release date.
Source: THR