Madame Web and the State of Superhero Movies

Madame Web star Dakota Johnson at a movie premiere in 2015. Photo by Melisa David via Flickr

“Morbius.” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” “Madame Web.” What do all four of these movies have in common? For one, they’re all superhero movies. But more importantly, they’re all pretty terrible.

Superhero movies have always been massive spectacles, especially during the 2010s. However, as much money these movies would make at the box office – be it “Avengers: Endgame,” the “Thor” movies, the “Iron Man” movies, etc. – they were always critical successes as well. It was never one way or the other.

Once Avengers wrapped up in 2019 with “Endgame,” it seemed as though Marvel and DC ran out of ideas. Ever since, we have gotten the likes of the boring “Ant-Man" movies, one-off snooze fests like “Black Adam” and “Eternals,” and forgettable installments in previously beloved franchises, à la “Thor: Love and Thunder.”

The only thing keeping the superhero landscape afloat is the Spider-Man IP, both the live-action movies starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker and, more significantly, the animated “Spider-Verse” franchise with Miles Morales.

This February, the newest superhero movie dropped with “Madame Web.” It stars Dakota Johnson as Cassie Webb, a New York City paramedic who begins to experience symptoms of clairvoyance, or in other words, psychic abilities. She uses these powers to protect three young women from Ezekiel, who believes that the women Cassie is protecting want to kill him. 

Without knowing anything about the movie, this sounds like a somewhat interesting premise. However, “Madame Web” has a variety of major flaws. The plot itself is pretty boring and forgettable, and that’s due to the flat characters. It’s hard to connect to any of these characters because most are pretty one-note.

I believe Tahar Rahim is a good actor, but he was abysmal in this movie, and it felt as if he was completely phoning it in. All of the actors in this movie, Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney and Isabella Merced, seemed as though they were only there for a paycheck.

The fatal flaw with this movie, though, is the writing. There are so many head-scratching writing choices in this movie; the dialogue sounds cliché and unrealistic. 

It seems as though S.J. Clarkson, the writer and director of “Madame Web,” in her feature directorial debut, was in way over her head. Clarkson has a solid resume, directing episodes of many lauded TV shows, including “Succession,” “Bates Motel,” and “Dexter,” but she couldn’t save this movie.

Movies like these, ones that are simply just a cash grab, make you wonder what the direction of the superhero genre is. 

We had a period of not only massive box office smashes but critically acclaimed superhero movies. But as of late, it seems as though when it comes to these movies, both the companies making them and the people watching them have stopped caring. 

Many recent examples of superhero movies just aren’t making enough money at the box office to justify their massive budgets, which loses the companies releasing them huge amounts of money.

From an outside perspective, it seems as though Marvel and DC have no plan for the future. They don't have that “universe,” Marvel’s now being all but over, and DC’s never being taken seriously. But this shouldn’t be the case; there is massive untapped potential in a lot of the comics; it’s just about choosing the right stories and making these movies with passion.

Mass audiences have little to no investment in these new characters Marvel and DC are debuting on the big screen. If these production companies want people to care, they have to take the time to establish these characters and be patient, because it takes time to establish a major audience for recycled characters in new movies.

Sony should start to treat the animated “Spider-Verse” movies as their main priority. Stop focusing your attention on “Madame Web,” a movie with characters no one has an attachment to. Especially when the movie is half-assed, of course, people aren’t going to want to see it.

Guillermo Del Toro has a famous line that he always says, “Animation is cinema.” And in the case of the “Spider-Verse” movies, they’re the best superhero movies being made right now, animated or live-action. 

2018’s first installment, “Into the Spider-Verse,” made almost 400 million dollars. Last year's “Across the Spider-Verse” made close to 700 million dollars, being the sixth highest-grossing movie of last year. The third and final installment, “Beyond the Spider-Verse,” is slated to come out either late this year or next year, and it could genuinely gross close to a billion dollars.

Not only do these movies make bank for Sony, but they are critically adored. “Into the Spider-Verse” won Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019, and last year’s “Across the Spider-Verse” is the current favorite to win in the same category at the awards on March 10.

It’s not that superhero movies are dying, per se. Or even that audiences don’t care about them anymore. The “Spider-Verse” movies disprove that notion entirely. What’s dying is the studios' passion for making them. They’re arguably more sick of them than we are, making bad, bland superhero movies to try and make money. 

Audiences aren’t dumb. We can see when a studio isn’t trying when making these movies, and in turn, when one of these superhero movies gets a negative reception, the goalposts are moved, and the argument becomes “people don’t care about superhero movies anymore.”

The “Spider-Verse” movies are made with so much passion and care, and we can see that. That makes us enjoy movies more, and want to go back to see them. “Madame Web” isn’t what’s going to change the current perception of superhero movies. It’s the movies that make audiences feel something when they leave the theater, the movies that make people say, “Wow, that was incredibly made.” These are what people want to see, and once these major companies start to believe in what they’re selling us, maybe there'll be a new renaissance in the superhero movie genre.