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Sony's next Spider-Man spinoff to reportedly focus on 'Madame Web'
According to a new report from Collider, Sony is really leaning into its Spider-Verse concept with a solo movie centered around the rather obscure character known as "Madame Web." In addition, the outlet purports that the project is being written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the scribes behind the studio's live-action Morbius film starring Jared Leto in the title role.
Created by Denny O'Neil and John Romita Jr. in the early 1980s, Madame Web made her Marvel Comics debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #210. Born as Cassandra Webb, the character suffered from blindness and neuron degeneration, but also discovered that she had psychic abilities. After learning that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, she helped the wall-crawling hero save the day by thwarting assassinations and saving kidnap victims.
When Spidey met her for the first time, she was hooked up to an elaborate, web-inspired life support system designed by her late husband. In Web's own words, she'd die "in a minute" if she were to be disconnected from the machine. While she must stay in the same place all the time, Madame Web is a bit like Barbara Gordon's "Oracle," who helped Batman fight crime even after she was paralyzed by the Joker.
The character of Madame Web has enjoyed a number of appearances across pop culture, such as the animated Spider-Man series on Fox Kids, as well as the Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions video game, which was written by Dan Slott and developed by Beenox. Whether her own movie will be live-action like Venom or animated like Into the Spider-Verse, it's all a part of Sony's plan to flesh out its budding arachnid-powered cinematic universe. In fact, the studio already has said that it's got the next 10 years of Spidey projects already mapped out.
Sazama and Burk are also known for penning genre scripts for Power Rangers, Gods of Egypt, Dracula Untold, and The Last Witch Hunter.
Helmed by Daniel Espinosa (Life, Safe House), Morbius swoops into theaters July 31, 2020. Leto's Michael Morbius will be joined by Jared Harris (it's said he's playing Michael's vampiric mentor), Tyrese Gibson (Simon Stroud), Matt Smith (Loxias Crown), Adria Arjona (Martine Bancroft), and comedian Al Madrigal (Alberto Rodriguez).
