Madame Web doesn’t explain how exactly its three Spider-Women develop their superpowers, but their Marvel Comics counterparts prove they’re at least faithful to the source material. Madame Web introduces four Marvel heroes in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe: Cassandra Webb, Julia Cornwall, Anya Corazón, and Mattie Franklin — four heroes with ties to Spider-Man. Throughout the movie, Dakota Johnson’s Cassie Webb a.k.a. Madame Web develops the ability to predict the future, which she uses to protect Julia, Anya, and Mattie from the similarly precognizant Ezekiel Sims. However, Madame Web‘s three Spider-Women are only shown using their powers in visions of the future.

Cassandra, Julia, Anya, and Mattie are linked together in the comics by Mattie’s death during a failed attempt to resurrect Kraven the Hunter. Following Mattie’s sacrifice, Madame Web also dies, which prompts Julia to take her place, and Anya in turn receives the mantle of Spider-Girl from Julia. These four Marvel heroes meet in different circumstances in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, meaning that their first adventure together is probably what eventually Cassie Webb’s allies their own powers and superhero identities. Since Madame Web doesn’t have a post-credits scene, their future is open to interpretation.

How Each Spider-Man Hero Gains Their Powers

According to Madame Web‘s flashbacks, Cassie Webb and Ezekiel Sims get the power to predict the future from a rare kind of spider found in the Amazon. In Marvel Comics, Madame Web develops her abilities as a side effect of myasthenia gravis, a neurological condition. This change may suggest that Madame Web‘s three Spider-Women also have different origin stories in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. But until a Madame Web sequel or spinoff confirms otherwise, it’s safe to say that Julia, Anya, and Mattie have similar origins and abilities to their Marvel Comics counterparts.

Julia Carpenter AKA Spider-Woman / Arachne (Sydney Sweeney)

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Spider-Woman/ ArachneSuperpowers Explained

Like most Spider-People, Julia Carpenter possesses Spider-Man’s powers and abilities, including super strength, agility, endurance, speed, and reflexes. However, she doesn’t use Spider-Man’s artificial webbing and doesn’t generate the material organically. Instead, she creates her own webbing, made out of pure psionic energy. Julia also has ultra-developed senses, perhaps rivaling Spider-Man’s iconic Spider-Sense. As Madame Web, Julia inherits all of Cassandra Webb’s abilities in exchange for her sight, though she doesn’t fully inherit Cassandra’s neurological condition.

How Julia Carpenter Got Her Powers In Marvel Comics

Julia Carpenter (neé Cornwall) receives her Spider-Woman powers from an experimental serum designed by the government to create superhumans. Julia volunteers in order to earn some money, but the scientists don’t explain to her the full risks of the procedure. Rushing the experiment, the research team injects Julia with lethal doses of the substance. Fortunately, instead of killing her, the serum provides Julia with enhanced senses and skills, as well as with all of Spider-Man’s powers and an extra connection to psionic energy.

Julia Carpenter made her Marvel Comics debut in 1984, the same year as Spider-Man’s symbiote suit. However, Julia’s black costume has no connection to Venom.

When Kraven the Hunter’s wife Aleksandra Kravinoff kills Cassandra Webb, the latter uses her last breath to transfer her mystical power onto Julia Carpenter, who becomes the new Madame Web. Like Cassandra, Julia loses her sight, but develops the ability to predict the future, which she uses to deal with Spider-People-related events. Unlike Madame Web‘s titular hero, Marvel Comics’ Julia Carpenter is also linked to the Web of Life and Destiny — the source of Madame Web’s abilities in the source material.

Anya Corazon AKA Araña (Isabela Merced)

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Araña Superpowers Explained

Anya Corazón’s base abilities are similar to Spider-People like Spider-Man and the other Spider-Women, with enhanced senses, wall-crawling abilities, and super strength, speed, agility, and endurance. However, Anya differs from the typical Spider-Person due to her link to the ancient Spider Society. She possesses the ability to manifest a tough exoskeleton she can use both to defend herself and to increase the power of her attacks, as well as a tattoo that serves as Anya’s Spider-Sense equivalent. Unlike Peter Parker, Anya can generate spider-webs from her wrists.

How Anya Corazon Got Her Powers In Marvel Comics

Anya Corazón gets her Spider-Woman powers seemingly out of sheer luck when she crosses paths with Miguel Legar, a member of the ancient cult of the Spider Society. As Miguel desperately seeks a new Hunter for the Spider Society, a member of its enemy faction, the Sisterhood of the Wasp, kills Anya. Miguel uses his power to revive her and awaken her innate abilities, providing her with superpowers. Miguel trains her by abandoning her in a desert, where she develops her full powers and the unprecedented ability to grow an exoskeleton. Now an official superhero, Anya calls herself “Araña”.

Anya Corazón is a member of multiple Marvel teams, including the Avengers Academy.

Mattie Franklin AKA Spider-Girl (Celeste O’Connor)

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Spider-GirlSuperpowers Explained

Mattie Franklin’s powers come from a mystical source, but they still resemble the typical abilities of most Spider-People like Spider-Man, including enhanced senses, super strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reflexes. However, her ability to absorb other Spider-People’s powers make her an especially powerful hero. These new skills

How Mattie Franklin Got Her Powers In Marvel Comics

Mattie Franklin replaces her father Jerry in an occult ceremony called the “Gathering of Five”, where five individuals use ancient relics to receive one of five gifts: power, immortality, knowledge, madness, or death. Mattie is lucky enough to receive the gift of power, which grants her all the powers of a Spider-Person plus the ability to fly and absorb other Spider-People’s powers. Meanwhile, the other participants of the Gathering of Five, like Morris Maxwell and Norman Osborn, received powerful yet less convenient abilities like an incapacitating amount of knowledge and intensified madness, respectively.

Mattie Franklin’s uncle is Peter Parker’s boss at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson.

Why Madame Web Doesn’t Show Spider-Women & Spider-Girl’s Superhero

Madame Web focuses on Cassandra Webb’s origin story and only hints at Julia, Anya, and Mattie’s eventual transformation into Spider-Women. Usually, Marvel movies usually hint at a character’s future superhero or supervillain role through subtle nods, like in the case of Aaron Davis’ Prowler tease in Spider-Man: Homecoming. However, these subtle references are often reserved for cameos, and not full-blown supporting characters. This is one of Madame Web‘s many flaws, as the movie waits until the very end to turn its protagonists into actual superheroes. Hence, Julia, Anya, and Mattie’s Spider-Women identities are left for a hypothetical sequel or spinoff.

Madame Web’s Director On Why The Spider-Woman & Spider-Girl Didn’t Get Their Origin Stories In The Movie

In a February 2024 interview with ComicBook, Madame Web director S.J. Clarkson discussed why only the titular hero gets her origin story detailed in the film, and the supporting cast’s own origins are left more or less entiely unexplored. Clarkson stated, “I thought it would be a bit greedy to do four origin stories… I mean, first and foremost, it’s Madame Web, right? But I hope the exciting thing about it is, this is a tease. And I think the origin story of the girls, we’re given, hopefully, a hint of the spirit of who they are.“

Given the movie is focused primarily on Madame Web and her discovery of her powers as she begins to take on her hero role, avoiding focusing too intensely on other characters does make sense on a narrative level. However, it also hampers how effectively the story can deal with its ensemble to some degree, as the audience’s understanding of the rest of the roster is limited as a result of the decision to avoid going into their own plotlines much, limiting how connected viewers can realistically feel to some figures as a result.

Interestingly, the interview also carried the implication that this decision was done with in part because of the prospect of expanding more about the others’ stories in later installments down the line, as Clarkson mentioned “I think it’s Madame Web’s, and here’s kind of the development of something else underneath it.” Had Madame Web proved successful, this could have made sense, as it would have left the opportunity open for a potential three further spin-offs looking into the lives and arcs of each of the other heroes.

Madame Web’s Other Origin Stories Are Unlikely To Ever Be Explained

Madame Web‘s release was a decidedly controversial one, with audiences criticizing many aspects of the release and its plot and characters. These divisive results were reflected in its box office as well, which drew in a lackluster $100.3 million worldwide on a budget of $80 million – a number no doubt influenced by its reviews, which dissuaded audiences from going to see the Marvel movie during its cinematic release, especially with the knowledge they would likely be able to watch it on streaming not too long later.

As such, it seems decidedly unlikely that Madame Web will ever be followed up on, which means the other heroes’ origin stories will remain a consistent mystery for audiences. It’s also unlikely any other Sony movie will continue the lore to expand upon it, especially since Madame Web‘s lore reimagines the history of people with spider powers by linking it to Las Arañas. As such, anyone interested in the character is perhaps best off exploring their lore within Marvel comics, since the cast of Madame Web is unlikely to see any future appearances in these specific Marvel roles as a result.