Who is Julia Carpenter in Marvel? Sydney Sweeney’s Sony Spider-Man role, explained

Don’t look now, but Sony might actually have an interesting live-action Spider-Man spin-off movie coming up. While the jury is still out on whether Kraven the Hunter will turn out to be another Venom (mostly yay) or Morbius (all the nay), Madame Web is over here, quietly holding a lot of promise. Starring Dakota Johnson as the clairvoyant heroine with ties to the multiversal Web of Life and Destiny, the film could tap into that Spider-Verse magic if the studio does it right.

Madame Web certainly has a supremely stacked cast behind it, with Johnson ably supported by the likes of Isabela Merced, Adam Scott, Emma Roberts, and — most notably — Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney. The 25-year-old actress has been attached to the project since March 2022, but it wasn’t until August 2023 that Sweeney officially confirmed she was playing the role of comic book character, Julia Carpenter.

But even seasoned Spider-Man fans would be forgiven for not having heard of Carpenter before, so what do we know about Sweeney’s exciting Sony role?

Julia Carpenter is both the second Spider-Woman and the second Madame Web in Marvel Comics

Julia’s claim to fame in the Marvel Comics universe is being both the second incarnation of Spider-Woman and Madame Web.

As created in 1984 by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck, Julia had an unusual backstory for a comic book superhero in that she started as a single mother. However, her life changed when she was convinced to take part in an experimental study that saw her injected with a serum combining spider venom with exotic plant extracts, which just happen to give her powers similar to Spider-Man. Along with the added bonus of spinning “psi-webs,” a psionic counterpart to Spidey’s webbing. Peter Parker could never.

Taking over from Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman, Julia went on to take part in a variety of Marvel’s biggest events across the years, including the original Secret Wars — now, I’m not saying there’s a window for Sydney Sweeney to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars, but I’m not not saying that, either. After briefly losing and then regaining her powers, Julia rechristened herself Arachne, just in time to fight in Civil War.

During the Grim Hunt arc, which saw Kraven’s grieving wife trying to perform a ritual to resurrect him, Cassandra Webb lost her life, and Julia had to step up to take her place as the guardian of the Web of Life and Destiny. This cost Julia her sight, but she gained the abilities of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and a greater command of her psionic sensibilities.

While Madame Web is the character’s first live-action appearance, it’s not Julia’s first rodeo on screen as she has made various animated appearances, including the 1990s Iron Man series and Disney’s Ultimate Spider-Man. She can also be glimpsed among the many members of the Spider Society in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Not to mention parts in video games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Spider-Man Unlimited.

There’s a lot of source material for Sony to mine when bringing Julia Carpenter to life, then, and Sydney Sweeney herself clearly couldn’t be more excited to honor this character with nearly 40 years of comics history. “I was freaking out, of course,” Sweeney told Variety when reflecting on the moment she was cast in the role. “I went straight to the comic store, and I bought every comic that mentioned my character.”

Madame Web is currently scheduled to swing into theaters on Feb. 16, 2024.