Sydney Sweeney’s Madame Web Failure May Not Be the End of Her Marvel Career

Sydney Sweeney has dominated the first half of 2024. While her romantic comedy, Anyone but You, opened at the end of 2023, it made most of its money at the box office in January and February 2024. She followed that up with Madame Webin February and Immaculate in March. Combined with her various appearances on talk shows and hosting Saturday Night Live, it seemed Sydney Sweeney was everywhere, and she had become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Her star power was so strong that she could bounce off the poorly received critical reaction to Madame Web and come out unscathed by it.

In Sony’s latest attempt at making a spin-off Spider-Man film without Spider-Man, Madame Web might have been centered on the titular character played by Dakota Johnson, but the film’s marketing leaned into the presence of three different incarnations of Spider-Woman: Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) and Julia Cornwell (Sydney Sweeney). Madame Web was a critical and box office flop, regarded as one of the worst superhero movies ever made. Despite the movie’s failure, many were still on board with Sweeney appearing as her version of Spider-Woman, possibly even joining the MCU with the help of some multiverse travel.

A recent rumor suggests that Sydney Sweeney could still appear as a new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given her rising star power, Marvel should consider this. Here is why Sydney Sweeney should be cast in the MCU and where she could appear.

Madame Web’s Epic Box Office Bomb

Madame Web opened in theaters on February 14, 2024, and even before the film was released, it was expected to be a bomb. From a poorly received trailer with widely mocked dialogue to the comments made by the stars of the movie before it opened, it was clear that nobody had any faith in Madame Web. The film opened to a disappointing $26 million over the four-day President’s Day weekend, losing the number one spot to Bob Marley: One Love. As of this writing, it has grossed $43 million domestically and barely $100 million worldwide, against an $80 million budget not factoring in marketing. It was a high-profile box-office disappointment.

The critical response to Madame Web was abysmal, performing even worse than Sony’s mocked Morbius movie two years prior. The film became a punch line in the weeks following, including at the 96th Academy Awards and even by Sweeney herself when she hosted SNL a few weeks later. Yet despite all the poor reactions, fans did seem to gravitate towards Sydney Sweeney and her character.

The brief shots of her in the classic Spider-Woman costume looked good, and many were thinking if Sony continued to move forward with their plans of positioning Sweeney’s Spider-Woman and the other two costumed heroes as the traditional superheroes to battle the anti-heroes like Venom, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter seemed like a fair compromise. Another popular fan suggestion was Sweeny’s character Julia Cornwell, hopping across multiverses, either in the MCU or in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Sweeney has expressed interest in reprising her role in the future.

Marvel Studios Has Cast Actors From Other Critically Trashed Superhero Movies Before

While some might argue that Sweeney’s role in Madame Web, a critically reviled Marvel adaptation, would hurt her chances of being in the MCU, she would actually be in good company. One of the best casting decisions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Chris Evans as Captain America. Evans previously played the role of Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, in 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Both of those movies were seen as a big disappointment by fans, and while Evans was one of the few parts of those movies fans did like, they first were not on board with him playing Captain America. He quickly won them over, and now Captain America is the defining role of Evans’s career.

Michael B. Jordan is another Human Torch actor who got rehabilitation within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jordan played the role of Johnny Storm in 2015’s Fantastic Four, a critical and box-office dud. Marvel Studios did not let that deter them from allowing Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, who previously worked with Jordan on both Fruitvale Station and Creed, from casting Jordan as the villain Erik Killmonger. Jordan’s performance received universal praise, and he is regarded as one of the best villains in the MCU.

Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin are two other examples of actors who got a second chance at a major superhero role. Reynolds not only appeared in the critically panned Blade: Trinity but also as a proto-Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine before suffering one of the biggest bombs of his career with Green Lantern. Reynolds would finally get to prove himself as Deadpool in the 2016 solo film, which became the highest-grossing X-Men film at the time and now has led to Reynold’s Deadpool officially joining the MCU in the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine.

Meanwhile, Brolin was the star of Jonah Hex, the film adaptation of the DC Comics character that bombed at the box office and was hated by critics. Brolin would later be cast as Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, setting him up to appear in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame; he also was cast as Cable in Deadpool 2 alongside Ryan Reynolds. Deadpool 2 opened in theaters just three weeks after Avengers: Infinity War, meaning fans could see Josh Brolin in two different Marvel Comics adaptations.

Clearly, Marvel is not opposed to giving an actor another chance in a superhero movie, even if that actor is in a box office or critical dud. With how famous Sydney Sweeney has become in the past few years, it would be foolish to rule her out for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe just because Madame Web bombed. Her Madame Web co-star Isabela Merced is already moving on to play Hawkgirl in the DCU’s Superman, so Sweeney could move on as well.

Who Sydney Sweeney Could Play in the MCU

Rumors have recently circulated, as noted by Forbes, that Marvel Studios is looking to cast Sweeney in one of their films following Sony Pictures failing to capitalize on her popularity. The immediate speculation many people considered was the role of Felica Hardy, aka Black Cat, in the upcoming MCU Spider-Man 4. Since Black Cat is both a Marvel character and a Sony character, it would be a good compromise between the two studios, allowing Sony to feature Sweeney in a major role.

Black Cat is a character that they have been attempting to get in a film for some time, between originally being planned for Spider-Man 2 to casting Anne Hathaway in Sam Raimi’s canceled Spider-Man 4 to Felicity Jones being cast as the character in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hoping to spin her off into her own film. Before Madame Web, Sony spent years trying to make a Black Cat film in a team-up movie with the character of Silver Sable.

Speaking of Sam Raimi, he is rumored to be the frontrunner to direct Spider-Man 4. It is unclear if this would be the MCU’s Spider-Man 4 that would feature Tom Holland or a revival of Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 project made by Sony but revived as part of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. While fans hoped Raimi could make his Spider-Man 4, given that Tobey Maguire had reprised his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Raimi directed the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Raimi himself ruled it out. So maybe he is being considered for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4, and Sweeney could be eyed for the role of Black Cat. It should be noted that this is all just a rumor and could also be entirely false.

If Marvel did want to distance Sweeney from the Spider-Man property after Madame Web, she could join the cast of The Fantastic Four. The film has already confirmed the casting of the Silver Surfer, and comic recommendations for the film all but point towards Galactus as the main villain. Sweeney could step into the role of Fantastic Four supporting character Frankie Raye, the love interest of Johnny Storm, and also become another Herald of Galactus known as Nova. Adding Sweeney to the Fantastic Four cast, one of Marvel’s most anticipated movies, as another cosmic superhero would be exciting.

Then there are, of course, the X-Men. While the X-Men have not officially been confirmed for an MCU film, following the recent success of X-Men ’97, it is only a matter of time before big plans are made regarding the mutants in the future of the franchise. The X-Men feature plenty of iconic female characters Sweeney could play, from heroes like Jean Grey or Rogue to villains like Mystique or Emma Frost. There are plenty of other Marvel projects, from films like Armor Wars or Blade to streaming series like Wonder Man or Daredevil: Born Again, that Sweeney could join in many roles from across the Marvel Universe.

Sydney Sweeney Has Star Power, Which Marvel Could Use

Much has been written about the “death of the movie star” and how Marvel Studios and the rest of the industry’s push towards IP-driven films are partially to blame. Now, the actor is no longer the star; it is the character. This is how Chris Hemsworth can be in highly successful Thor and Avengers movies, but his more adult-oriented films like Rush, Blackhat, and In the Heart of the Sea failed at the box office. This is obviously a simplification, and many of the biggest names in the MCU are also respected actors who get plenty of work and are either Oscar nominees like Mark Rufallo or Oscar winners like Brie Larson and Robert Downey Jr. Yet, the traditional movie star of the 1990s did seem to be fading in popularity, and Marvel didn’t need them.

It is hard to argue, though, that a new batch of stars is forming, a new young group of talented performers that have balanced IP projects with smaller work and gained a passionate fanbase and global appeal. Stars like Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Anya-Taylor Joy, Florence Pugh, Rachael Zegler, Jenna Ortega, Glen Powell, and, of course, Sydney Sweeney. Marvel helped make Tom Holland and Zendaya into superstars, and now, they are putting Florence Pugh front and center for Thunderbolts*. Getting a star like Sydney Sweeney would be great for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as it gives them a big star with a large following who will turn out to see her latest film.

Sweeney is one of the most in-demand stars of the moment. She is already working on a remake of Barbarella, and fans for DC have fan cast her as the hero Power Girl. She is also now acting as a film producer and will likely become very busy soon. Marvel Studios should start finding a place for her within their cinematic universe soon, be it her Spider-Woman character from Madame Web appearing in a multiverse movie or a new character to the franchise because, at this rate, she will have a very busy schedule. Madame Web is available to rent on AppleTV, Google Play, and Prime Video, while the MCU franchise is streaming on Disney+.