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Madame Web is now out in theaters, and although it’s billed as a standalone story, it sits very much in the middle of Sony’s Marvel universe. The new superhero flick introduces Cassandra Webb (played by Dakota Johnson), a New York City paramedic with a tragic past. After an accident, she starts having visions, including one where she sees the death of three young women. When fate throws them on the same path, she does all she can to save their lives from a mysterious killer named Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim).
The movie is based on a Spider-Man character, and its story lives very much in Peter Parker’s world. Below, we delve into some of the biggest Madame Web Easter eggs nodding to the wider webbed universe, as well as some other neat movie references hidden in its nearly two-hour runtime. Needless to say though, we’ll be getting into big spoiler-territory from here on out, including major third-act reveals. So if you’ve not yet seen Sony’s latest, bookmark this page and head out to your nearest multiplex.
Uncle Jonah
At one point, when the group is fleeing Ezekiel and Cassie has been framed for kidnapping the girls, Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Connor) says she knows someone who may be able to help. She mentions "her uncle Jonah" and while she doesn’t actually speak to him and we don’t see him on screen, it feels like this could be a nod to the memorable Spider-Man character, J. Jonah Jameson. He’s the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle by the time we meet him later in the Spider-Man movies, but at this point, he might just be a journalist with the ability to help save a reputation.
Scrooge
One of the films that Cassie is watching when reeling from O’Neil’s (Mike Epps) death is 1951’s Scrooge. The bit she’s watching is particularly relevant, too, as it’s a moment where he’s reckoning with the nature of what is to come, and if it can even be stopped. "Are these the shadows that must be?" Ebenezer Scrooge asks.
4 Star Diner
Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie, and Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) head to a diner to lay low when Ezekiel is hunting them down. However, it’s not just any diner, it’s the 4 Star Diner, which is a nod to the Marvel comics. During his college years, it was a location that Peter Parker used to frequent with his pals. Let’s hope they rebuild it then…
Final Destination
It feels like there’s a lot of crossover between Final Destination and Madame Web as it sees Cassie foreseeing death and going out of her way to stop them from happening. It feels pretty apt, then, that a log truck causes the clairvoyant superhero some issues in the movie. When she’s trying to make it to the diner to save the girls, she gets stuck behind one. Later on, when she’s in the ambulance trying to trap Ezekiel, she sees another one. Could this be a nod to Final Destination 2, which features that memorable logging disaster scene?
With great power
"With great power comes great responsibility" – it’s a quote every Spidey fan will know well. However, Madame Web bends the proverb in a bit of a different way. Towards the end of the movie, Cassie visits Santiago (José María Yazpik) to find answers about her mother and ideas about how to stop Ezekiel. It’s here she learns about her powers, and he tells her: "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come."
S stands for
In the final battle against Ezekiel, one particular letter on the Pepsi sign becomes very important: the ‘S’. Not only does Cassie use it to kill him, but it even follows her into the river when she falls in. The floating 'S' feels like a big nod to Spider-Man, even if Sony is hitting us on the head with it…
Uncle Ben
Throughout the movie, it’s pretty clear that Ben Parker (Adam Scott) is actually the Uncle Ben we know well from the Spidey universe. Not only is his name the same, but there are countless nods that the baby that Mary Parker (Emma Roberts) is having is actually Peter Parker – at one point she even says he keeps "leaping around" in her stomach. And we get a fun nod to one of Uncle Ben’s most memorable lines in addition. In the hospital, Mattie says that Ben is enjoying being an uncle with "all the fun and none of the responsibility," before Cassie quips, "That’s what he thinks."
Cassie’s final look
The ending of Madame Web looks ripped almost straight out of the comic book as we see Cassie in her chair with her glasses on. In the comics, the character is introduced at a later point in her life when she is already blind and paralyzed. Fans of the character will be pleased this iteration gets a clear call-out in her origin story.
For more, check out our guides to the Madame Web ending explained, when Madame Web will be on streaming, and if there is a Madame Web post-credits scene.
