Seven Ways Madame Web Connects To Spider-Man

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Sony’s latest addition to its Spider-Man-focused cinematic universe is now in theatres, and you might want to avoid watching it after looking at the reviews. Yes, Madame Web is not a good movie, but it also contains more connections to the wall-crawler than prior Sony entries. How does Madame Web connect to Spider-Man, you ask? Buckle in because the film spins some pretty wild threads that will make you question Sony and yourself for watching it.

Note: This list contains spoilers for Madame Web.

Young Ben and Mary Parker

The first big connection to Spider-Man in the film is his relatives. The film stars Adam Scott as Ben Parker with Emma Roberts playing a pregnant Mary Parker. Yes, Uncle Ben is in the movie and for once, he’s not shot to death. While these roles have been rumored for a long time it’s not exactly a spoiler to reveal it given that we meet both of them early on. Ben also mentions meeting a woman off-screen who is heavily implied to be Aunt May.

Richard Parker’s Mysterious Past

Peter’s father, Richard, has always been shrouded in mystery in the comics. The character has been some kind of special agent with ties to nefarious villains in various iterations, most recently being an Oscorpe employee in The Amazing Spider-Man movies. In Madame Web, Richard is said to be away on a “business trip”, which certainly alludes to Sony dipping back into the pool of him being some sort of secret spy agent. It’s not an important connection, but it could very well tease a storyline for a future Spiderverse movie. After all, Sony did consider making a spy Aunt May movie a few years ago.

A New Take on “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”

Unfortunately, that simple line just can’t be rephrased well. Like Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man, Madame Web also includes a somewhat butchered version of Uncle Ben’s wise words. Only here it’s: “when you take on the responsibility, great power will come.” It’s still better than the jumbled mess that Uncle Ben said in The Amazing Spider-Man: “...if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things! That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility.” That just doesn’t roll off the tongue well, does it? At least Madame Web’s version makes sense within the context of the movie.

Ezekiel Sims and the Las Arañas’ Powers

Throughout the film, we see various people exhibit Spider-like powers. We get introduced to the Las Arañas’ in Peru, who are a group of indigenous people with mythical powers gained from, well, mythical Peruvian spiders. Among those powers are super-strength, an ability to stick to walls (or trees, or any surface really), poison touch, and sometimes clairvoyance. Ezekiel Sims, the film’s primary antagonist, also has the same abilities, but none of them have Spider-Man’s signature web-shooters. It’s surprising how the Las Arañas are both more powerful than Spidey while being less competent.

Spider-Women

The entire premise of Madame Web relies on her trying to save three young women from Ezekiel. These women - Julia Cornwall, Anya Corazon, and Mattie are destined to get spider powers in the future, and we see glimpses of the three wrapped in Spider-Woman costumes in Ezekiel’s visions of the future. We don’t see any of them shoot webs, but they all take on different aspects of Spider-Man’s abilities. Mattie has spider arms reminiscent of the Iron Spider costume, Anya can stick to walls and has enhanced agility, and Julia can create webs out of psychokinetic energy, just like her comic book counterpart.

Comic-Accurate Madame Web

Most of the film shows Dakota Johnson's Cassandra Webb walking and driving around New York, which is something her comic-book counterpart wouldn’t be able to do because of her blindness and paralysis. That changes in the film’s climax, when Cassie gets blinded and paralysed from the waist down, putting her in a wheelchair with Spider-Man-themed glasses. It brings her closer to the Madame Web that Spider-Man meets in the comics, with teases of the future through her premonitions. By the end of the film, Cassie is fully aware of the legacy that Ben will leave behind for Peter.

Baby Peter Parker

At long last, a live-action Sony Spider-verse film actually features an appearance from Spide-Man himself. Okay, he doesn’t have powers yet. Yes, he’s just a baby in the film’s closing moments, but we know that boy is going to grow up to become New York’s favourite wall-crawler. This universe’s Peter Parker is not explicitly tied to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, even if the timeline seems to match up to an extent. Given that the film has no direct MCU references, and we don’t see Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May, it gives Sony an opening to connect to Tom Holland’s Spidey should the opportunity arise in the future. It looks like fans will have to keep waiting to see a live-action Miles Morales shine on the big screen.

Madame Web is now in theaters.