Is Madame Web a Spider-Man Villain?

Is Madame Web a Spider-Man villain or a hero? The Madame Web trailer has left fans with a lot of questions, most of them related to the enigmatic villain of the movie, Ezekiel Sims. But one of the secondary questions revolves around whether Madame Web is a bad guy.

Despite the fact that the question continues to be asked, the answer is pretty straightforward.

Madame Web Is No Villain

It’s hard to blame fans for being confused, considering how many Spider-Man villains there are and how many Sony has adapted or is in the process of adapting. But Madame Web is not one of them. In fact, the character has always been depicted as more of a heroine than a villain, though she also has always been somewhat of an obscure heroine and not exactly the Peter Parker or Miles Morales kind of superhero, anyway.

But that’s not exactly what you would expect from a clairvoyant who can see the future. The character, who was first introduced in November of 1980 in Amazing Spider-Man #210, written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by John Romita Jr., has always been more of a backseat superhero.

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In the comics, she’s been tremendously helpful to Spider-Man, though she first had to win him over. It is, after all, the rule of comics that superpowers are easy to believe in, but seeing the future is a step too far or something. She was, at one point, thought to be immortal, and then, because no one actually is in the comics, she was killed, bestowing her powers on then-Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter.

Madame Web Appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Most fans familiar with Madame Web will recognize her not from the comics, where this iteration of the character has been dead for over a decade, but from her other appearances – most notably in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

In the show, Madame Web is shown as much more of a controlling and antagonistic figure, using her powers to manipulate and shape the multiverse – and Spider-Man’s life. She is voiced by Joan Lee, the wife of Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.

The character also appeared in the video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, which sees her recruit Spider-Man, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Man 2099 and Ultimate Spider-Man and task them with bringing balance to the multiverse, which at this point feels like basically every Spider-Man adventure.