What type of movie is Madame Web going to be? There’s an incredible air of mystery swirling around the film, partly because it falls into the Sony side of the Marvel/Spider-Man universe – where characters like Venom (Tom Hardy), Kraven the Hunter (Aaron Taylor Johnson), Morbius (Jared Leto) and more are being established. But from what we know about the movie, it will be set in the the past, will feature alternate versions of familiar characters, and will also introduce a number of very key Spider figures into the universe – including Julia Carpenter (Sydney Sweeney), Spider-Woman (Celeste O’Connor), and Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim).
But who will be the Spider-Man of this universe?
Eventually, Sony is going to have to bring a Spider-Man into this world. Right now, Tom Holland is holding down the Spider-Man role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And as we saw in Spider-Man: No Way Home, he brought existing Spider-Men Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire from their worlds into the MCU. But then sent them back. ONE of those guys should be the Spider-Man in the SPUMC (the real acronym for the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters). And a recent rumor claims it was supposed to be Garfield:
🚨 RUMOR: Andrew Garfield was meant to be the Spider-Man of the ‘MADAME WEB’ universe.The film was supposed to be set in the 90s, a prequel to Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man films.The idea was then scrapped, Sony had to reshoot every scene set in the 90s to make Tom Holland the… pic.twitter.com/RbyqSFg1izJanuary 19, 2024
The wording of this rumor makes no sense. It claims that Madame Web is supposed to be set in the 1990s, and be a prequel to Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man movies – which don’t rank very high on our list of the best Spider-Man movies ever made. In the 1990s, Garfield’s Peter Parker would be a teenager who had yet to be bitten by a spider. Theoretically, you could shoot a scene of a de-aged Garfield skateboarding past Dakota Johnson’s Cassie Webb, thereby establishing that her universe is the same universe of the Marc Webb films… so that eventually when the timeline catches up to the present day, it’s Garfield in the Spider-Man suit.
That would be cool, and would go a long way toward answering the question, “Who is the Spider-Man of the SPUMC?!”
But the rumor goes on to say that the idea was scrapped, and Sony reshot all the Garfield scenes to now show Tom Holland is the Spider-Man of the Madame Web universe.
Wait… what?
If the movie’s set in the 1990s, then Holland’s Peter Parker will be an infant. Unless, there’s a scene where Cassie (Dakota Johnson) uses her clairvoyant powers to see the future, and we learn THAT way who the Sony Spider-Man is. That much is possible. Madame Web’s ability to see the future, as explained in this new featurette, allows Sony to finally declare which Spider-Man actor is going to play the part in future Sony movies.
I just don’t think it can be Tom Holland. As much as Sony would want to bring Tom Holland back from the MCU and start putting him opposite all of the Spidey villains they are establishing, he’s still a major part of rumored plans for Marvel Studios. The end of Echo suggested the start of a Mayor Wilson Fisk storyline, of which both Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Spider-Man (Holland) should be involved. Plans seemingly have been underway for a Holland-led Spider-Man 4 for a while now, so bringing him over to play in the Sony sandbox seems unlikely.
But Andrew Garfield is free. And from what we have heard him say, willing to step back into the Spider-Man suit.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was a tremendous redemption for Garfield’s take on Peter Parker. The actor wasn’t blessed with the best material when he signed on to play Spider-Man – for reasons I spell out in my Spider-Man book, With Great Power. It makes too much sense just to let Garfield’s Spider-Man be the one who takes on Morbius (Jared Leto), the Vulture (Michael Keaton), Kraven the Hunter (Aaron Taylor Johnson), Venom (Tom Hardy) and the teased Rhino. And the powers of Madame Web to connect different universes and merge them together makes it very possible – and almost easy – for Sony to explain how all of their characters are ending up on the same timeline.
We have seen so many teases of characters crisscrossing worlds in the live-action Sony Spider-Man movies, from Adrian Toomes meeting Michael Morbius to Eddie Brock phasing into the MCU to leave a drop of the alien symbiote behind. It’s time for Sony to start clarifying its plan, and I think both Madame Web and Andrew Garfield could be, and should be, major factors in the storyline moving forward.
Madame Web opens in theaters on February 14.
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