As part of Sony's effort to weave a connected universe of films for it's friendly neighborhood wall-crawler, Spider-Man, the studio has announced that they're moving ahead with a Madame Web spinoff with MORBIUS writers Matt Sazam and Burk Sharpless set to spin the tale.
Collider were first to the punch when reporting on the pic, which will center around Cassandra Webb, a character traditionally depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that hinders her moment and respiratory functions. As a byproduct of her condition, Madame Web remains connected to a life support system that looks very much like a spider's web. Not without powers of her own, Cassandra is clairvoyant and imbued with precognitive abilities that allow her to see other's paths along the "web of life." The Madame Web character first appeared in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published by Marvel Comics in November of 1980.
For the moment, it remains unclear as to whether Sony will present Madame Web as an elderly character or if she'll be re-imagined as a younger mistress of memories that have yet to manifest themselves. Many (myself included) will see this as a surprise announcement, given that the Madame Web character is relatively unknown outside the pages of Marvel Comics. Personally, I think it's a bold and interesting choice, and I look forward to seeing how Sony will welcome the character into their respective Spider-verse.
Sony also has a number of Spidey-related projects on the way, including multiple SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE followups, a sequel to Tom Hardy and Ruben Fleischer's VENOM, and the aforementioned MORBIUS starring Jared Leto as Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire. With Sony now having sole custody of the Spider-Man character, fans of the wise-cracking web-head can expect plenty of projects to be announced as the studio weaves their Spider-Verse into a web of action and entertainment.