Madame Web Is More Like An Infamous DC Show Than A Marvel Movie

Every studio wants its own massive cinematic universe. Though many have tried (never forget the Dark Universe), none have managed to be nearly as successful as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony's equivalent, the universe formerly known as Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (or SPUMC), is now four movies deep (with at least two more coming this year). All the movies so far ("Venom," "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," and "Morbius") have revolved around supporting characters in the "Spider-Man" comics, mostly villains, but that's about to change this weekend. 

The latest entry in Sony's Marvel universe is "Madame Web," the first movie that doesn't center on a villain, but instead, focuses on a hero and ally of Spider-Man. A sign of the downfall of civilization, or just the latest proof of superhero fatigue, "Madame Web" follows Cassandra Webb (yes, really), a paramedic who discovers she has the spider-like ability to see the future. She takes it upon herself to protect three young girls (Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, and Isabela Merced) from a spider-powered villain intent on murdering them.

Indeed, "Madame Web" is packed with Spider-People, spider-powers, and folkloric spider-societies — but no actual Spider-Man. The movie, and Sony's approach at large, brings to mind an infamous (yet excellent) DC TV show that also told an origin story, not of a hero, but of every other character surrounding them. That's right, it's time to look back at "Gotham."

When Fox first announced "Gotham," it sounded like a very stupid idea. A Batman show with no Batman? Who would care about a prequel centered on Gordon when he was just a detective? Why would anyone watch a show about a young Penguin and Riddler? And yet, the show quickly embraced the silliness of its premise and turned it into a winning formula. What started as just another police procedural, albeit one with comic book references, quickly turned into a predecessor to the everything-goes attitude that made "Riverdale" a fan favorite.

"Gotham" not only featured compelling origins for villains like Penguin, but it gave the spotlight to other villains like Professor Pyg, Mat Hatter, and Solomon Grundy — fully embracing the sillier and more cartoony elements of those characters, like Grundy being a literal zombie. Sure, Bruce Wayne was a part of the show, but he's just a rich teenager years removed from putting on the cowl and cape. In the meantime, Gotham City is already crawling with supervillains and even adapting big comic book events like "The Court of Owls," "Hush" and "No Man's Land" even without Batman around. This is not unlike the way the Sony Spider-Man movies already have both Venom and Morbius (with Kraven joining soon) as established characters despite there seemingly being no Spider-Man in their universe.

Of course, one of the boldest things "Gotham" ever did was introduce Joker — again, before Batman arrives. Not only that, but it gave us two Jokers. You read that right. Two Jokers. In this economy? Somehow, it all worked. By having a city filled with supervillains, "Gotham" turned the arrival of Batman into the city's salvation rather than the start of its comic book journey. Perhaps "Madame Web" has a chance to do the same.

"Madame Web" is not subtle with its Spider-Man references. Not only does the villain, Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), wear a black and red Spider-Man-style outfit in the film, but we meet a younger Ben Parker (Adam Scott) and his pregnant sister-in-law Mary (Emma Roberts), who gives birth at the end of the film. Though the child is unnamed in the movie, there are more than a few teases at his future, as he is clearly the once and future Spider-Man, Peter Parker. 

This is very clearly a nod and also a potential avenue for the Sony Spider-Man Universe to reboot the character in the future without relying on any big screen version we've seen so far.  After all, this is a vastly different universe for Peter to start his superhero career in than we've previously seen. For one, there's all the established characters like Venom, Vulture, Madame Web and her group of teenage spider-girls. Then there's the little problem of both Venom and Morbius technically being heroes in Sony's comic book universe. 

In the case of "Gotham," it makes sense that the city has been a living comic book hel,l and the arrival of Batman is the coming of hope to Gotham. But when it comes to Spider-Man, things are different. How exactly is Peter Parker special if he's not the only hero in his universe, let alone the only spider-themed hero? That's a problem the cinematic universe formerly known as SPUMC may need to figure out sooner rather than later. But if "Madame Web" fails spectacularly, maybe it won't be all that hard to sort out. After all, as the end of "Madame Web" says, the greatest thing about the future is that it doesn't exist yet. 

"Madame Web" is in theaters everywhere now.