Why Madame Web failed to be a critical or commercial success: A lesson in superhero filmmaking

In some ways, the February 2024 release of Madame Web could not meet the fan expectations.

Garnering a total of $100.3 million at the box office, the movie’s budget of $80-100 million meant that it failed to make a profit. Ranging from the main star’s disenchantment with the project to the overall reduction of interest in Marvel offerings of late, the movie suffered through an abysmal box office and critical reception due to several, all-too-real reasons.

This also included the fact that the movie in itself could not forge a strong enough connection with the overall MCU. While Tom Holland's Spiderman was rumored to be a part of the project in limited capacity, that proved to be untrue, leading to a disappointing reception for Madame Web across the board.

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Tracing why Madame Web made a negative impression on critics and audiences

Ever since the trailer of the movie came out, there had been constant speculation about what it might entail, and mean for the overall Spider-Man story. Tom Holland was rumored to be a part of the movie in itself, while the story revolved around Cassandra Webb, the original Madame Web.

While fans expected resonance with the overall MCU especially due to the rumors, they were left thanking the creators for not including Tom Holland instead. This was because the movie's poor reception meant that Holland's stellar time in the MCU as SpiderMan would have received a considerable blow.

The movie saw the emergence of Madame Webb years before Peter Parker came slinging around. It included his uncle, Ben Parker, and was said to have messed up quite a few details about the universe that fans loved the most. This included the iconic ‘With Great Power comes Great Responsibility’ dialogue, along with a diversion from how Spidermen tend to acquire his powers. However, these were not the only things wrong with the movie.

A poor script, a lackluster story, a lack of relevance with the overall MCU, and a lack of clarity over the character’s future meant that Madame Web was always doomed to fail, as fans clamored that it was an unfitting addition to the overall narrative. Of course, that was something that was also made apparent by the way Dakota Johnson talked about the project.

In an interview with Bustle, dated March 5, 2024, Johnson had claimed that the creators were guilty of treating the audiences as ‘stupid,’ claiming that more effort needs to be put into creating projects. She claimed that instead of being created by filmmakers, the movie in itself was made by using numbers and algorithms:

“Decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee. Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms.”

She added:

“My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f***ing want to see those.”

The actor also claimed that she was not surprised with the way Madame Web was received and that she had not done anything like this before, and probably will not be doing a similar project in the future. That also seems to be exactly what Marvel bosses might have said, with respect to Madame Web.