Get ready to spend Valentine’s Day with another promising female superhero team-up. On the heels of the MCU’s The Marvels, Sony has released a trailer for their upcoming Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson. Limes, Ellen DeGeneres, and now supervillains—she’s coming for them all.
The newly dropped footage has its moments, revealing the origin story of Cassandra Webb, a.k.a. Madame Web, before she is paralyzed and ends up in a wheelchair. A paramedic-turned-clairvoyant, she gains abilities that allow her to sense the Spider-World. She can also see the future, which helps her fight Ezekiel “Zeke” Sims (Tahar Rahim), who seems slightly different from his comic book counterpart. Cassandra battles him with the help of her new gal pals, played by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, and Isabela Merced.
Their goal is to defeat Zeke, who can also see the future—gosh, this movie is going to have a lot of time travel, huh? He wants to stop them before they all grow up to be a version of Spider-Woman (minus Madame Web, obviously).
First of all, the trailer does have a line about “researching spiders,” so rest easy. It looks like a fascinating mix of The CW’s superhero fare (RIP), the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films, and some amount of Morbius. The latter makes sense, as Madame Webb hails from Morbius’ Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, with Jessica Jones director S.J. Clarkson also joining behind the camera. While the clip appears to be a bunch of different things blended into one, hopefully, the movie finds its unique voice.
It is the fourth installment of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe after Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and, of course, Morbius. It will be followed up with Venom 3 and Kraven The Hunter. And lest we forget, all of this officially ties into the MCU now. Tom Hardy’s Venom literally transported to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, among other connections.
Madame Web also stars Adam Scott, Emma Roberts, Zosia Mamet, and Mike Epps. It releases on February 16, 2024.