Spider-Man Spin-Off Recruits American Horror Story Star
An upcoming Spider-Man spin-off has add another big name to the cast and this one is shaping up to be one of Sony's better offerings.
As Sony’s Spider-Man Universe continues to take shape with more and more productions coming over the next couple of years in and around the world of the wallcrawler, we are starting to see how some of these stories are going to round out. It’s an interesting gambit by the studio especially considering we don’t know exactly how Tom Holland as Peter Parker will end up working into this whole thing. But we did get news about one of the more anticipated productions with Deadline reporting that the Spider-Man spin-off Madame Web had signed on Emma Roberts to join the ever-growing cast of (mostly) female stars for the movie. It’s another exciting addition that could end up being a strong standalone movie in this universe if that’s the way they take things.
As of this writing, it wasn’t totally clear who Emma Roberts was going to play in the Spider-Man spin-off Madame Web movie and even details for the overall plot are being kept relatively under wraps. Considering the nature of this character, she is different than some other superheroes we have seen either in Sony’s group of films or even the Marvel Cinematic Universe which, of course, crossed over with Spider-Man in the Homecoming trilogy. But Roberts does join a cast that has already added some big names. Dakota Johnson will play Madame Web, though we aren’t sure exactly which version of the character we are going to get with her. That’s because in the comic books, Madame Web is actually an elderly woman who has a neuromuscular disease that limits her movements. But she is also a clairvoyant and gets the spider reference because of the web she is connected to that aids her in her powers.
Along with Dakota Johnson and now Emma Roberts, Sydney Sweeney has also been confirmed for the cast of the Spider-Man spin-off as well. Tahir Rahim has signed as well well. SJ Clarkson is on as director for Madame Web with previous superhero credits coming in the television arena where she directed episodes of Jessica Jones as well as The Defenders for the Netflix group of Marvel characters before they ultimately made their collective way into the MCU.
As for this new Spider-Man spin-off, Madame Web joins some other installments for Sony that have been somewhat hit or miss so far as they build out a stable of stories around the web-slinger. The first foray into this was with Tom Hardy’s Venom which was a massive hit for the studio. It ended up earning more than $856 million dollars at the box office before it was all said and done and prompted a sequel Venom: Let the Be Carnage last year. Though it faced numerous, pandemic-related delays, it still managed half a billion at the box office in its own right.
But then the Spider-Man spin-off Morbius hit screens with Jared Leto in the lead and undid a fair amount of the goodwill built up for Sony. It was a massive bomb both with critics and ticket sales. It’s unclear the future of that character. There is also Kraven the Hunter which is due out in the next couple of years. Of these, Madame Web might have the best chance to be something truly unique though we are still waiting on more specific plot points here.
