Madame Web Ending Explained: Peter Parker’s Birth and the Future of Sony’s Spider-Man

Sony’s Madame Web offers a fresh perspective on the superhero genre, delving into the mystical side of the Spider-Man universe. Centered around Cassandra Webb, a woman gifted with precognitive abilities, the film weaves a complex narrative filled with suspense and character-driven drama. As Cassie unravels the mysteries of her past, she becomes entangled in a high-stakes game involving the destinies of several young women. While Madame Web didn’t quite capture the box office magic, its unique blend of superhero action and character-focused storytelling has found a dedicated audience on streaming platforms. The film’s exploration of psychic powers and its potential connections to other Spider-Man characters leaves room for exciting possibilities in future installments. With its intriguing plot and visually striking sequences, Madame Web is a worthy addition to Sony’s expanding Spider-Man universe.

Spoilers Ahead

Madame Web (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

TV director veteran S.J. Clarkson remixes the traditional Spider-Man concept of “with great power comes great responsibility” with a journey of self-realization of Madame Web. After a strange series of visions from the future begin to haunt her, Cassie must confront how she isn’t meant to live an ordinary life. This eventually helps her evolve from being an ordinary New York paramedic to someone who has a much greater destiny at play.

Along with that, the film also introduces four Spider-Man-based heroes to the studio’s wide catalog while setting up the stage for another superhero outing. “Madame Web” ends with Cassandra having completed her mission of saving the three teenage girls she comes across – Julia Cornwall, Mattie Franklin, and Anya Corazon. But that doesn’t come without the reconciliation of our titular lead with her late mother. Things get all complicated when she realizes that the man after the three girls, Ezekiel Sims, is the same person who had killed her mother. But how does Cassie come to terms with that truth? What led Ezekiel to kill her mother for a spider in the Peruvian Amazon?

How Do the Girls Get Their Powers?

Perhaps the biggest surprise (and also one of the disappointments) of “Madame Web” is that the movie doesn’t show the origin stories of either of its three supporting leads: Julia Cornwall, Mattie Franklin, and Anya Corazon. Although much of the movie deals with Ezekiel trying to prevent the three from harnessing their superhero powers, their time and experience as web-slinger heroes isn’t shown beyond a few awkwardly placed glimpses. It’s almost like the movie solely relies on bits of future exposition through Ezekiel and Cassie’s visions to flesh out their stories.

Now, that begs the question of when Julia, Mattie, and Anya get their powers? It can be deduced from the timeline of the film that they get their powers sometime between 2003, when “Madame Web” supposedly takes place, and 2013, based on an earlier scene in the film. It’s only when Ezekiel enlists the help of Amaria, the tech-expert character played by Zosia Mamet, that he’s able to de-age the girls by 5–10 years based on the sketches from his dreams. This presumably means that Ezekiel’s vision of death took place much later, as the three girls would’ve needed to have acquired their powers by then.

Why does Ezekiel Kill Cassie’s Mother?

In the movie’s opening act, we watch Ezekiel steal a mystical spider back in South America. The year is 1973, and it’s here where we meet Cassie’s researcher mother, Constance, as she adamantly researches a rare spider. Turns out, Ezekiel had been nefariously looking for the same spider. He kills Constance in a heated confrontation, but she eventually gets saved by the local Araña tribe. It’s only after she gets imbued with power from another arachnid that leads to the birth of Cassie – oblivious yet to the traditions that had once saved her mother.

Later, in 2003, Cassie finally visits the place where her mother was born after deciphering clues about Ezekiel’s past. There, she learns from mystical visions from a shaman, Santiago, that she was always meant to transcend her normal form. Santiago, thus, persuades Cassie into an understanding where she finally understands why she’s been getting eerie visions of the future.

They’re all part of a supernatural web with Cassie at the center, her past and future intertwined into an inescapable web. Santiago ultimately reveals that Cassie would have to embrace her talents so that she could be content with being in two places at once.

Madame Web Ending Explained:

Spider-Women Unlock Their Superpowers

Cassie learns about Ezekiel’s true motivations once he becomes the evil Spider-Man. After learning about her mother, she sends Ben Parker and his sister-in-law, Mary, off to have her baby at the hospital. She no longer needs Ben risking his life looking after the three girls, as Cassie finally takes over to protect them. This culminates in an epic fight, where they lay a (not-so-elaborate) trap to try to kill Ezekiel.

They set up a massive warehouse on fire, but Ezekiel still manages to cause major damage to everyone, including Cassie. Luckily, though, the latter uses her astral projection to save everyone from falling to their deaths. It’s here where we also see the payoff of the precognitive powers that had been haunting Cassie all through the film as she tricks Ezekiel into attacking her. Ezekiel finally falls down and gets crushed by the debris.

But as Cassie falls into the water pool below, she gets blinded by the fire. Julia, Mattie, and Anya all rescue her and apply CPR just as she taught them earlier. Her getting back to life then plays on the theme of family that all the estranged characters in the film had struggled with for so long. By the end, all are seen together at Cassie’s apartment building.

Burning Questions about ‘Madame Web’ Answered

In a way, the fight at the end leads to everything falling into place. Cassie arrives at peace despite being indefinitely blinded in a wheelchair from the fight. She indeed becomes Madame Web from the Marvel cartoons and comics. Like Professor X from the “X-Men” series, she sees a future where all these future Spider-Women fight and protect their neighborhood.

Thus, Cassie has embraced the new challenges in her life while being confident in the team of girls she met along her way. But on a larger note, these visions also tease Sony’s long-term prospects of churning out more films out of the franchise by teasing more—something that the audience and critical discourse of “Madame Web” put a big question mark to.

Is Madame Web Related to Other Sony Spider-Man Films? What does it set up About Peter Parker’s Spider-Man?

In addition to introducing the three young Spider-women, Mattie Franklin, Anya Corazon, and Julia Cornwall, “Madame Web” concurrently lays the groundwork for Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. Early on in the film, Adam Scott is confirmed to be playing Ben Parker, while Emma Roberts is later introduced as a pregnant Mary Parker. One scene in “Madame Web” even sees Cassie play a game at Mary’s baby shower where the guests guess the name of the baby. Though the name of the unborn child is never revealed to be Peter, it is established to be a boy.

Since Peter Parker was the only son of Mary and Richard Parker, according to the comics, it’s a fair assumption that the film signals his birth. What’s more interesting is that since “Madame Web” happens to be set in 2003, it can’t take place in either Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield’s version of “Spider-Man” universes. Ditto with the MCU’s portrayal of the web-slinger. Because of the titular character’s past associations with the multiverse in the Spider-Man animated series, it was thought that the movie might deal with the prospects of the multiverse as well.

However, “Madame Web” as of yet doesn’t establish any multiversal powers for its lead. Instead, the character may affect future SSU movies since Sony has hinted at plans to venture into more projects in the canon. If the movie is set in the same universe as that of “Venom” and “Morbius” (and “Kraven the Hunter” that’s dated to release later this year), there could already be multiple Spider-People operating close to those timings.

Read More: Where to Watch & Stream the New Marvel Movie ‘Madame Web’ Starring Dakota Johnson?

Trailer:

Madame Web (2024) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott
Genre: Action/Adventure, Runtime: 1h 57m

Where to watch Madame Web