‘Madame Web’ Star Defends Marvel Film’s Spider-Women Bait-And-Switch: “This Is Supposed To Be An Origin Story”
Spencer Baculi
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According to star Isabella Merced, the fact that Madame Web bait-and-switched audiences with the promised appearance of three costumed Spider-Women was not an error, but an intentional creative decision meant to reinforce the idea that the film is “an origin story”.
[SPOILER WARNING: Significant spoilers for Madame Web follow below. If you’d like to avoid them, please refrain from reading any further.]
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As seen across all the film’s marketing materials, including its one and only trailer, much of the marketing focus for the ill-conceived entry in Sony’s ‘Spider-Man-without-a-Spider-Man Universe’ centered on the costumed appearances of its three deuteragonists, Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) – otherwise known in the comics as Araña/Spider-Girl II, Spider-Woman III, and Spider-Woman II.
However, despite this focus heavily suggesting that the three heroines would spend at least some, if not a decent amount of their respective screentimes in-suit, the film’s premiere would reveal that this portrayal of its contents was nothing more than blatant deception.
In the film, Ezekiel dedicates himself to his mission of killing the Spider-Women after learning, courtesy of a vision granted to him by his own pre-cognitive powers, that the trio were destined to not only foil his villainous plans, but also have a hand in his eventual death.
However, as is confirmed by the time the credits roll, the only moments in the entirety of Madame Web that the girls actually appear in costume and using their powers are in Ezekiel’s brief vision and a short ‘teaser montage’ at the film’s conclusion, which both combined occupy less than a full minute of its runtime.
Throughout the rest of the movie, the trio are portrayed as nothing but regular teenagers, their first (and likely only, given the film’s reception) adventure coming to a close without even one of the girls having received their respective abilities in the present day.
And yet, despite the objective bizarre and bait-and-switch nature of this creative decision, the aforementioned Merced thinks it was one that ultimately benefitted Madame Web‘s existence as an origin story.
Speaking to The Wrap‘s Andi Ortiz on February 15th, Merced argued, “When you’re invested enough in the story, it’s like those things don’t really matter. You’re just kind of like, what’s best for the story? And I think they did it for a reason, you know? This is supposed to be an origin story.”
“It wouldn’t be an origin story if we saw us in like, half the movie with our suits on,” she added. ” like that it’s a little tease, and I like that it leaves people wanting more.”
At this point, one would like to say this move is as surprising as it is jaw-droppingly terrible, but given that the film came from the same studio that gave the world Morbius and earnestly tried to make everything from a Silver Sable movie, to a Black Cat movie, to an Aunt May movie not out of creative desire but simply to keep the film licenses and milk audiences money, it’s ultimately anything but.
For the morbidly curious – or those looking for a good laugh – Madame Web is now playing in theaters.
NEXT: ‘Madame Web’ Review – What’s One More Spider-Verse Wannabe Stuck In The Past?
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