Many famous characters started Spider-Man from Miles Morales and Venom. However, not all of Spider-Man's secondary characters managed to succeed. Try as Marvel might, they just can't figure out what to do with Madame Web, and after one disastrous move, some fans are starting to question whether Madame Web is a character worth trying to save.
Appearing for the first time way back Amazing Spider-Man #210 by Dennis O'Neil and John Romita Jr, Madame Web was a psychic who worked in New York City and who Spider-Man really took for granted. left him clueless, he figured there was no harm in at least asking for her help. To her genuine surprise, Madame Web's powers revealed themselves very real, and she easily helped him locate the criminals he was looking for.
While her name might make some comic book fans believe that she herself came with spider powers, surprisingly that wasn't the case. Cassandra Web was born with a neurological disease called myasthenia gravis. This essentially robbed him of the use of his limbs. Cassandra was essentially confined to an elaborate chair, which simply allowed her to use her powers more easily. She also lost her vision due to the same disorder. This condition has proven to be a problem for Marvel writers as they have attempted to undo it numerous times over the years.
Madame Web is a character with a lot of unexplored potential
Amazing Spider-Man #210 by Dennis O'Neil, John Romita Jr, Joe Sinnott, Bob Sharen and Jim Novak.
Since their first meeting, Spider-Man has continually come to Madame Web for help with the crimes he is trying to solve. As Madame Web is a powerful psychic, she is able to help Peter solve crimes before they even happen. The most notable example is in Amazing Spider-Man #216 by Dennis O'Neil and John Romita Jr. Spider-Man spends most of this issue trying to stop a murder from taking place, and Madame Web can make this incredibly easy for the web-slinger, as she simply tells him exactly where the killers are. He then turns around and defeats them.
DC's own Barbara Gordon was an absolutely powerful character while still in a wheelchair.
With all of these abilities in mind, one would think that Madame Web would be an absurdly powerful character for Spider-Man. With then There are so many spider characters in the Marvel Universe, there's no real reason why Madame Web couldn't get her own spin-off. It's not like disabled characters don't work. In the 90s and early 200s, DC's own Barbara Gordon was an absolutely powerful character while still in a wheelchair. Babs has featured heavily in several comics, including leading her own team in Birds of Preyand yet, Marvel just couldn't find anything to do with Madame Web.
Madame Web was barely used in comics
Marvel missed a huge opportunity
Despite her incredible powers and ability to be a perfect Team leader, Madame Web never got the chance. Instead, Marvel continually pushed her from plot point to plot point. This included having the Juggernaut completely destroy her house in an attempt to kidnap her. However, after removing her from her specialized chair, Madame Teia began to die due to lack of life support. Seeing this, Juggernaut simply dropped her and walked away. While Spider-Man managed to get her to the hospital, she began to suffer from amnesia, which seemed like an easy way to write her out of the comics.
His next appearance would be in the storyline Meeting of Five, which started in Amazing Spider-Man #440 by John Byrne and Rafael Kayanan. It was here that Madame Web was one of the five namesakes, a group that gathered ancient artifacts to try and obtain a powerful gift. Madame Web was granted immortality and her body was rejuvenated. It looked like Marvel was finally going in the right direction with her when she tapped Jessica Drew and Julia Carpenter, the two Spider-Women. It seemed like she was finally putting together a team, just like Barbara Gordon before her.
By making her younger, it's possible that Marvel was also trying to find more uses for her, as the writers may have struggled to find anything to do with a woman in her late seventies. This change did not last long, as Madame Web grew older, regained her youth, and suddenly became elderly again, and has remained so ever since. After that, she simply returned to being Spider-Man's sidekick before being killed by Sasha Kraven during the events of Dark Hunt (Amazing Spider-Man #637)
That was in 2017, and Cassandra Webb hasn't appeared in the comics since. A moment before she died, Cassandra passed her powers to Julia Carpenter, who became the second Madame Web, because apparently that's something she can do. Cassandra soon comes back to life as a clone created by the Jackal, only to quickly die again. Since then, Julia has appeared here and there, but Cassandra has been completely sidelined. That was until Marvel tried to create a movie based on Madame Web, which absolutely had disastrous results.
Madame Web did not increase viewer interest in the character
No one cares about Spider-Man's secondary character
The greatest attempt to explore Madame Web for modern audiences is undoubtedly the film released this year. It was a huge flop and really had nothing like the comics. If Marvel was trying to get people interested in the character, this wasn't the way to do it. Other interpretations tried to give more importance to Madame Web, such as the one from the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, which elevated Madame Web to a cosmic being on the level of the Beyonder. This was possibly the most powerful and interesting version of Cassandra yet, but it's a version that the comics didn't bother to address.
Marvel continually revisits the idea of ​​the character, as this year they revealed an evil version of Aunt May who was a variant of Madame Web.
Although Marvel seems love the idea from Madame Web, they never managed to commit to the character. Cassandra Web was hastily thrown from one plot point to another before being killed off and completely replaced. Marvel continually revisits the idea of ​​the character, as this year they revealed an evil version of Aunt May who was a variant of Madame Webt. Even stories that seem like Madame Web would make more sense, like the animation Spider-Verse films, which are stories about the multiverse, Madame Web is nowhere to be found. Even though its animated series version would fit perfectly.
Even Aunt May was a more interesting Madame Web
Peter Parker's aunt also had a cooler design
Ultimately, while Madame Web is a character who certainly has potential, it's potential that Marvel simply isn't interested in exploring. She was old, young, a cosmic being, and a fragile, disabled woman. She was killed, revived, and killed again. She was given a horrible live-action film and was excluded from animated films where her character could have really thrived. It seems that, for whatever reason, Lady Teia is simply one of Spider-Man characters who will never get their time to shine, because ultimately, Marvel just doesn't think they're worth redeeming.