‘Madame Web’ and ‘A Goofy Movie’ have way more in common than you’d think

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Madame Web… Oh come on, like you care.

Madame Web is A Goofy Movie. Yes, those italics are deliberate. Every single person who has seen Sony’s Spidey-less Spider-Man spin-off in theaters (which, going by its abysmal box office, isn’t that many) can agree that it’s a goofy movie. Whether that’s why it’s one of the worst films of all time or destined to become a camp cult classic is up to you. What we didn’t realize until now, however, is that it is practically copyright infringement on the actual Goofy Movie.

Prepare to have your minds blown because here is the truth Sony doesn’t want you to know, because otherwise it might have to pay Disney some kind of fee: Madame Web and A Goofy Movie are basically the exact same film. It all started with this viral tweet from X user @TomZohar that noticed the eerie similarity between the final look Dakota Johnson’s Cassandra Webb sports in the flick and none other than Max Goof from the 1995 Mouse House classic.

Before I saw this tweet, I had thought the mysteries of Madame Web would remain unfathomed for the rest of time. So impenetrable are the creative and storytelling decisions the movie makes, from virtually all of Ezekiel Sims’ dialogue being badly redubbed to the fact that it’s an origins story for a much more interesting origins story, that I figured we’d never be able to comprehend where the filmmakers were coming from. But now, as if I’ve received one of Cassie’s poorly edited psychic visions, I think I understand. All of it was done to make Madame Web a hidden homage to A Goofy Movie.

Don’t believe me that they’re the same film? Try these uncanny similarities on for size.

Cassie and Max are missing their mothers

The main characters in both movies have some serious hang-ups over their dead mothers that they manage to work through over the course of the story. Max through forming a strengthened bond with his dad and Cassie through becoming a mother herself, by randomly adopting three teens she previously kidnapped. A happy ending worthy of Disney right there.

Max and Sims need to stop obsessing over women

Max’s main drive in A Goofy Movie is obviously to reach the Powerline concert so he can hang out with the girl of his dreams, Roxanne… which is great and all, but he should probably start thinking of her as more of her person and not so much as a plot objective. Meanwhile, Ezekiel Sims spends all his time trying to track down three teenage girls and… Well, I don’t need to explain why that’s not a good look.

Cassie and Max can both seriously rock some shades

Max is the king of 90s eyewear when he dons his red-rimmed sunglasses, a look that is almost replicated to the tee — minus the backwards baseball cap, for shame — in Madame Web‘s final scene. Presumably, A Goofy Movie is Cassie Webb’s favorite film, otherwise it’s unclear why cosplaying Max was literally the first thing she did upon becoming blind.

Trapped in a car with an uncool parental figure

OK, now this is the real deal. The cast-iron proof that Madame Web and A Goofy Movie are long-lost twins. The central premise of both films? They’re about a teen/some teenagers getting trapped in a car against their will with a really uncool parental figure. Just as Max is forced to go on a road trip with his embarrassing old man, Julia, Anya, and Mattie (you know I had to look up their names) do not appreciate having to hang out with a 30-year-old lady who seems oddly detached throughout this life-or-death scenario. Almost as if she’s signed up for a job she is regretting in real-time….

Cassie and the Spider-Teens don’t see… I2I

‘Nuff said.

In conclusion, I take back everything I’ve said about this film, Sony. Please give us Madame Web 2, but preferably with added Pauly Shore next time for the really authentic Goofy Movie experience.