Madame Web will soon be joining Sony’s Spider-Man universe in her own solo movie, which means there’s no time like the present (or the past or the future) to get acquainted with the Spider-Verse’s resident oracle with some of her best storylines pulled straight from the comics.
Who is Madame Web? Children of the 1990s will know the name from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the show where Spider-Man wasn’t allowed to punch anyone or scare birds. The blind, elderly psychic at the center of the Spider-Verse, Madame Web used her powers to guide Peter Parker as he kept the fabric of reality from splintering. No pressure.
As she doesn’t have the cultural cache as certain other Spider-People, you might think there’s not much to say about Madame Web, but there’s actually a lot lurking beneath the surface. Did you know that she’s died twice? Or that there have been two different characters to use the Madame Web moniker? Well, you will soon enough, thanks to Sony’s film being stuffed with Spider-Women.
Let’s take a look at 10 comic stories that delve deeper into one of Marvel’s most under-appreciated figures.
1. Amazing Spider-Man #210 (1980)
Debuting in 1980, the psychic centerpiece of the Spider-Verse was first seen in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #210. When readers first meet Cassandra Webb, she’s working as a psychic “teacher” in New York City under the name Madame Web. Peter Parker scoffs at the idea, dismissing her as a fraud. Later, a series of events leads Spider-Man to her apartment. There, he sees Madame Web connected to the vast network of machinery that keeps her alive. She explains that she is clairvoyant and that she can nurture the ability in those who share her gift. Madame Web then uses her psychic powers to help Spider-Man find a woman in danger, thus proving her claims. Just to show off, she calls Peter at his home and predicts his future.
2. Amazing Spider-Man #216 (1981)
The next time readers came across Madame Web was in Amazing Spider-Man #216. After discovering that a murder plot is afoot, Spider-Man contacts Web for help. The problem is that her psychic aura is fuzzy that day, so she can’t see what’s going to happen or who the players will be. As Spider-Man continues to uncover the plot, a random payphone starts to ring. Coming in with the last-minute save, it’s Madame Web, who suddenly knows exactly where the hero needs to be in order to thwart the assassination attempt.
3. Amazing Spider-Man #229-230 (1982)
Here we have a classic Spider-Man battle with Juggernaut, and Madame Web is at the center of it all. Amazing Spider-Man #229 pitted Spidey against the X-Men villain. (Go ahead and hum the Juggernaut song from Deadpool 2. “You can’t sto-op him. You can’t sto-op this…”) To bring the two together, Black Tom Cassidy wants Madame Web to help him defeat the X-Men, so he sends Juggernaut to retrieve her.
Just like the song says, Spider-Man is unable to stop Cain Marko as he lumbers across NYC. He arrives at Madame Web’s apartment and takes her from the chair that sustains her life. Seeing a helpless, elderly woman dying hits a soft spot in Juggernaut and he abandons his kidnapping mission. Spider-Man wants revenge and chases Cain Marko across the city, eventually trapping him in freshly-poured cement.
4. Spider-Man #96 (1998)
Madame Web took a dark turn in Spider-Man #96. The story focuses on the pain of her existence. Without her life-support chair, she would have died long ago. Instead, her feeble body is forced to live on, forever bound to the machinery and her precognitive abilities. She then has a vision of Norman Osborn, who promises to restore her youth if she joins his newest villainous team, the Five.
Madame Web contacts Spider-Man for help, though we get the feeling that something sinister is in the works. Web predicts that J. Jonah Jameson is going to kill Osborn, and Spider-Man rushes to save the day. Indeed, Jameson does pull a gun on Osborn, but Norman disarms him. When it looks like J.J. is about to meet his maker, Spider-Man saves the day, and that appears to be exactly what Osborn wanted. By the end of the issue, Madame Web agrees to join the Five and has a vision of horrible things to come.
5. Amazing Spider-Man #5 (1999)
Perhaps to counteract Madame Web’s lack of iconic status, Sony has decided to pair her with three other female heroes who deserve some more love for her own movie — Sydney Sweeney’s Julia Carpenter, Isabela Merced’s Anya Corazon, and Celeste O’Connor’s Mattie Franklin. In that way, then, the film seems most inspired by the Spider-Women storyline that spread through the Spider-Man titles in 1999. Things kicked off in ASM #5, which introduced a human/spider hybrid out to get Cassandra and her allies…
6. Spider-Woman #1 (1999)
The Spider-Women arc then continued in the Spider-Woman solo series. Following on from the Amazing Spider-Man preview issue, Cassandra has teamed up with Julia Carpenter and Jessica Drew (a character yet to make her live-action debut, but who was played by Issa Rae in Across the Spider-Verse).
In this issue, we find out the shocking truth behind their mysterious enemy: it’s Charlotte Witters, Cassandra’s own granddaughter, who has been genetically altered by Doctor Octopus. It doesn’t look like Charlotte will appear in Madame Web, on account of Dakota Johnson being 34, but switch her out for Ezekiel Sims and this storyline could be a solid template for the movie.
7. Alias #17 (2002)
Netflix’s Jessica Jones was very standalone, but the brilliant thing about her comic book debut in the Alias series was how it saw Jess cross over with familiar characters from the wider Marvel universe, allowing them to be depicted in a darker, grittier way than was typical. Case in point, in Alias #17, Jessica has a memorable encounter with Cassandra Webb. While turning to her for information on the missing Mattie Franklin, Web uses her psychic powers to tap into Jess’ traumatic past, shaking our super-sleuth heroine. Don’t count on Dakota’s version using her abilities to trigger anyone’s PTSD on the big screen.
8. Amazing Spider-Man #637 (2010)
The next Sony Marvel movie to come after Madame Web is Kraven the Hunter. Given Sony is threatening to build up its own cinematic universe (after that awkward Morbius post-credits scene), it’s possible there could be some correlation between the two. If so, this issue may foreshadow what’s to come on screen.
Following on from the iconic Kraven’s Last Hunt arc, which has got to be adapted one of these days, the Grim Hunt arc that culminates in ASM #637 sees the family of Sergei Kravinoff seeking revenge on Spider-Man and his amazing friends. In a full-blown horror story, the Kravens kidnap Madame Web and make human sacrifices out of lower-ranking Spider-Verse characters to resurrect Sergei. By the end of the issue, Madame Web is murdered and passes the title to the former Spider-Girl, Julia Carpenter.
9. Amazing Spider-Man #678 (2012)
In one of the more forgotten tales of Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker steps through a portal and discovers an apocalyptic wasteland; a future version of New York City. The twist is it’s only 24 hours in the future. When Peter opened the door, it transported him one day forward, which means Spider-Man went missing from NYC for an entire day, and the world collapsed. It puts a whole new spin on “with great power comes great responsibility.”
Where things get interesting is Julia Carpenter, aka the second Madame Web. We learn that, despite being able to see the future, she doesn’t have the power to change it, even if it means leaving innocent people in harm’s way. “Everyone has their part to play,” she tells Spider-Man, and that includes her own daughter, despite the threat of total annihilation. The story puts a spotlight on the curse of Madame Web’s clairvoyance.
10. Prowler #4 (2017)
Does anyone really die in a comic? Sort of. In this case, Cassandra Webb makes a brief but poignant return as a clone, a plot device Spider-Man comics are famous for overusing. Still, Cassandra’s last appearance is surprisingly profound and heartbreaking. For context, the previously deceased villain, the Prowler, has been resurrected as a clone and is now fighting on the side of good. Only he discovers the mysterious corporation that brought him back to life, New U, are mistreating the clones, who must take a pill each day to survive.
Julia Carpenter breaks into the nefarious laboratory, and discovers Cassandra Webb, who is once again bound to her life-sustaining chair. Only it’s not actually Cassandra, but — you guessed it — a clone, and she is dying. Julia offers to give her the pills, but Cassandra chooses to end her pitiful existence. “I have seen the future, and it is one I would prefer not to live through,” she says before passing a second time.
Needless to say, Sony has no shortage of material to mine if it wishes to keep the Madame Web brand going.
