While fans speculated that Madame Web might break the cycle of Sony’s attempt to build their cinematic universe without Spider-Man, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Even though developing movies revolving around Spider-Man characters without including the webhead itself hasn’t panned out well for Sony so far, it seems Sony is sticking to their guns.
And the Sydney Sweeney-led movie’s producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, opened up about why they decided to not include Spider-Man, stating it was due to superhero fatigue among fans.
Producer Stressed Superhero Fatigue the Reason to Not Include Spider-Man in Madame Web
MCU’s practice of cramping in several storylines to advance the cinematic universe in one single movie has backfired in recent years. While MCU did interweave stories back in the earlier phases too, since Endgame, there has been a notable upsurge in this process, leading to failures such as Quantumania and The Marvels. Following this reason, Bonaventura stressed that they decided to tell one standalone story without delving into too many things, as he commented on the supposed Superhero fatigue fans have been feeling.
He explained that the reason behind the fatigue among fans is because CBMs that having too many characters cramp into one project often take away the focus from the central character. He told ComicBook.com:
“We made a decision early on that the advantage in this story was not to attach it to all these other stories.We tip the hat. But really, we wanted to concentrate on a character journey, and I think some of the superhero fatigue that people talk about is because those movies are often not about the central character.”
But while the idea of escaping the current trend sounds fresh, the early reviews of the movie have had fans less than thrilled, as it seems Sydney Sweeney’s Madame Web isn’t the answer to Sony’s problems.
Even the Lead Wasn’t Sure if the Sydney Sweeney-Led Movie Was Good or Not
During Madame’s web promotion, Dakota Johnson was brutally honest about her experience starring in her first CBM, stressing that it was absolutely “psychotic”. Having no prior experience acting in front of a blue screen, Johnson expressed that she had no idea if the Sydney Sweeney-led movie was even good or not but stated that she trusted director S.J. Clarkson. Johnson told EW:
“I’ve never really done a movie where you are on a blue screen, and there’s fake explosions going off, and someone’s going, ‘Explosion!’ and you act like there’s an explosion. That to me was absolutely psychotic.I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to be good at all! I hope that I did an okay job!’ But I trusted [Clarkson]. She works so hard, and she has not taken her eyes off this movie since we started.”
And to everyone’s fear, it seems the movie isn’t what the fans and crew hoped for, as early reviews toward the Sydney Sweeny-led movie have been pretty harsh. Furthermore, some critics have also deemed it the worst since Morbius, which isn’t a positive sign prior to the movie’s release.
Madame Web will hit theatres on 16 February 2024.
