Cassandra (Dakota Johnson) was born in the Peruvian jungle, where scientist Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé) arrived in the seventies, in search of a spider species that could save the world from future diseases. This is how Madame Web begins, the story of the heroine of the Marvel universe in the version directed by SJ Clarkson. “Bypassing the typical genre, she tells the independent origin story of one of publishing's most enigmatic heroines,” the synopsis reads.
The film takes us to the United States in the early 2000s, with the music of The Cranberries, Meredith Brooks and Britney Spears on the soundtrack. We see Cassandra become a paramedic in Manhattan, single and who was adopted as a child. The film will reveal the reason for her origins from a box in which she keeps photographs, her birth certificate, an AeroPerú airline ticket and notes covered with fabric. Her mother had traveled pregnant to a place far from “the hospitals” and where Los Arañas existed.
“I was really interested in this story about a young woman who begins to delve into her status as a superhero and that her superpower is her mind,” the actress from The Dark Daughter (2022), a film that gave her a reputation, responds to La República via Zoom. Oscar nomination for Olivia Colman.
YOU CAN SEE: Is Madame Web Peruvian? Dakota Johnson's character would be Peru's first heroine in Marvel
With the power to see the future, the protagonist will meet and protect the teenagers Julia (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie (Celeste O'Connor) and Anya (the Peruvian-American actress Isabela Merced), who –unknowingly– are wanted by Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim). “She goes on a really surprising emotional arc from being quite isolated from other people to embracing these three young women and taking them under her wing,” he tells us. Although Cassandra returns to Amazonas, the film was filmed in the United States and Mexico.
A universe of our own
With Madame Web it seems that Marvel is looking for more female characters, in this case, heroines. “Definitely. I think people are working on it,” Dakota tells us in relation to the industry. At another time she told Variety that it was “disheartening” to see that she was not pursuing creative projects in Hollywood.
British director SJ Clarkson (of 'Jessica Jones' and 'Succession') shows us three teenagers from different backgrounds, but who have in common how isolated they are from their families. Beyond entering the Marvel universe – a production of approximately 100 million dollars – and starring in scenes in which she drives at high speed, the talented and famous daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson responded to us about that message of the film. “It's really important for women to support each other, protect each other, and really want the best for each other, and I love that this movie has that theme.”
Marvel points out that this film builds its own cinematic world. In fact, any viewer who has not followed the related films could watch the film. For Dakota, it is the first time she has filmed a movie acting in front of the blue screen, with effects and she did not use a double for the chase scenes. “I loved doing all the driving stunts. I love training and the blue screen work ended up being a lot of fun for me,” she adds. Madame Web does not have post-credits scenes, but it closes with Cassandra caring – or vice versa – for the future superheroines: Julia Carpenter, Mattie Franklin and Anya Corazon.
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