Dakota Johnson has finally been spotted on set of Madame Web, and fans have immediately deduced that she’s not playing who we thought she was. The Persuasion star is set to lead Sony’s latest Spider-Man spinoff movie, although this one won’t focus on one of the wallcrawler’s villains but one of his lesser-known allies. Other than that, not much has been revealed about the film so far.
But, thanks to fan detectives, it looks like we can confirm which incarnation of Madame Web Johnson is portraying. We had assumed that the actress had been cast as some reimagined version of Cassandra Webb, the original Madame Web from the comics, an elderly blind lady connected to a web-shaped life-support system. However, our first look at Johnson on set depicts her in a red leather jacket. This matches the look of Julia Carpenter, the second Madame Web.
Debuting in 1984’s iconic Secret Wars event, Julia Carpenter has a storied history on the page, also going by the aliases Spider-Woman and Arachne before she took over from Cassandra as the new Madame Web. On top of her spider-powers, which she received after being experimented on by shady organization The Commission, Julia inherited Cassandra’s psychic abilities, which left her blind. It’s unclear if Johnson’s character will be similarly visually impaired.
Sydney Sweeney had previously been thought to be playing Julia due to her comic-accurate blonde hair, but these set pics of Johnson seemingly throw doubt on that. Co-star Isabela Merced, meanwhile, is believed to be on board as Anya Corazon aka Arana/Spider-Girl. The rest of the star-studded cast includes Emma Roberts, Celeste O’Connor, Tahar Rahim, and Adam Scott. S.J. Clarkson directs.
Sony no doubt has big hopes for this one as it’s been reported that Johnson’s heroine is being pitched as the Spider-Verse’s answer to Doctor Strange, as her clairvoyant powers connect her to the multiverse. Madame Web swings into theaters on Oct. 6, 2023.