Sony Pictures’ spin-off of Spider-Man, Madame Web, got its first-look trailer yesterday, starring Dakota Johnson in the lead role. The trailer also revealed the antagonist in the movie, Tahar Rahim, as Ezekiel Sims, who was seen wreaking havoc. Amidst all this, however, the setting for the plot was somewhat hinted at by a bystander who was seen twice in the movie, playing with what looked like a PSP.
The PlayStation Portable, or PSP, was a handheld console that was released all the way back in December 2004 in Japan and then made its American debut in March 2005. The PSP was an incredibly successful console, with record sales and recognition.
Madame Web Features an All-Female Team of Spider-Women and One PSP
A new origin story featuring one of Marvel’s enigmatic superheroes, Madame Web, finally got its first trailer yesterday. Sony Pictures distributes the movie, which is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. The previous movies in the franchise were 2018’s Venom and its sequel, the 2021 movie Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and last year’s Morbius.
Sony has reportedly been working on the movie since 2019, and the movie is now scheduled for a February 2024 release. Dakota Johnson plays Cassandra Webb, and is seen facing her psychic abilities for the first time in the movie, as she saves herself and three other women on a moving train thanks to her ability to see the future.
In one of her visions and again in reality, before she saves the other lead women in the movie, she sees a man sitting opposite her on the train, playing on what looks like a PSP. It could suggest that the movie is set around the year 2005, when the console was quite popular, not just in the US but globally. Not much is known about the year in which the movie is set to take place, but fans didn’t miss this revival of one of the most successful handheld consoles in the trailer.
Given the movie is by Sony, it shouldn’t come as a surprise either that the console was teased in the trailer. The original PlayStation Portable was released at a time when the PlayStation 2 was already a highly successful console from Sony. The PlayStation Portable gave gamers a new way of playing their favorite titles, making it possible to game on the go.
Several PlayStation 2 titles were ported to the PlayStation Portable, with a few titles made specifically for the PSP. The handheld console was seen everywhere post-launch, just as it was seen being used by a man on a subway.
A few hours after the trailer launch, a screengrab of the guy in the trailer on his PlayStation Portable was shared everywhere, with several fans even considering the tease the best part of the trailer. As for the exact model, most fans believe it could be the PlayStation Portable 3000, which was released back in 2008 since the model had the smallest “ring” with the PSP logo behind the console, as the ring was barely seen in the trailer.
PS Vita Did Not Succeed as Much as the Original
Some of the smashing titles on the PSP include Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Unfortunately, the next version of the PlayStation Portable, the Vita, didn’t enjoy the same success.
Sony released a successor to the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita, which was released in the US in 2012. The Vita wasn’t as successful as the original PlayStation Portable, with the Nintendo 3DS gaining more fans around the same time. The Vita was priced the same as another console that was released at the same time, the Nintendo 3DS, priced at $249.99.
In comparison, the Nintendo 3DS was a lot more successful, thanks to fan-favorite titles such as Pokémon, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart.
At the moment, the newest handheld by Sony, the PlayStation Portal, is companion hardware to the PlayStation 5. It’s useful for those who would like to play games remotely, and the Portal even looks a lot like the Nintendo Switch but lacks the stand-alone gaming feature that the Switch is so famously known for.
Madame Web‘s trailer brought back memories of the PSP, which generated countless Reddit and X posts by gamers. Madame Web will be released in time for Valentine’s Day next year, on the 14th of February.
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