Sure, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is all the rage. But there's another big inter-connected world that is on the rise: Sony's Spider-Man Universe. It all started with Venom. Sony's attempt at maintaining its own Marvel franchises after the failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 somehow succeeded, and despite not so great critical reception, Tom Hardy's take on the alien symbiote did well enough to warrant the start of an entire franchise.
Since then, Sony has been working hard to build out that world even more. After Let There Be Carnage, the next step to this process is Morbius. The Jard Leto-led project hits theaters on April 1 and follows a doctor attempting to cure himself of a blood disease only to turn himself into a vampire.
Thanks to the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony has become confident in where it hopes to go next. One of those projects is set to be a Madame Web film starring Dakota Johnson. The project recently started announcing incoming cast members, but a recent report revealed something truly intriguing: a new Doctor Strange-type figure may be on the way.
Sony's Madame Web Similar to Doctor Strange
Deadline's report announcing the casting of Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney in Sony's upcoming Madame Web included another intriguing tidbit: Sony is holding Madame Web herself in the same regard as Marvel's Doctor Strange due to Web's reported psychic sensory powers and astral abilities.
"Insiders say due to her psychic sensory powers, she is essentially Sony’s version of Doctor Strange."
Every Franchise Gets a Doctor Strange
It's important to note how the report's wording doesn't indicate that this film will literally have its own Stephen Strange Variant, but rather that Madame Web herself will have powers and a job similar to the Doctor Strange seen in the MCU. This means her abilities could more than likely see the heroine traverse across the Multiverse in some fashion; likely not in a physical fashion, given her medical ailment.
While Deadline seems to indicate the version of Web audiences are getting is the older, classic version, Dakota Johnson's former casting might indicate otherwise. In the Ultimate Spider-Man animated show, there is a younger version of the character by the name of Julia Carpenter, who basically acts as Spider-Woman. It's possible the studio wants a younger and spry leading character, but it's too early to tell just yet.
Maybe audiences will be thrown a curveball when Benedict Cumberbatch's upcoming MCU adventure, Multiverse of Madness, releases in theaters on May 6 and includes a scene with Dakota Johnson's first onscreen appearance as Madame Web.
The next Sony Spider-Man Universe project is Morbius, which releases on April 1.
