The first trailer for Madame Web was released earlier today (if you missed it, click here to check it out) and it's fair to say the movie looks vastly different to what we know many of you expected. For starters, it boasts some surprisingly comic-accurate costumes!
However, upon closer inspection, it might be best not to get too excited about those.
We'll be bringing you a full breakdown a little later today, but a closer look at the trailer reveals the three Spider-Women - Julia Carpenter, Mattie Franklin, and Aña Corazón - suit up to battle Ezekiel Sims years into the future.
That's evident from the fact Tahar Rahim is decked out in a questionable grey wig meant to make him look like the Ezekiel who crosses paths with Peter Parker in the comics. Like Madame Web, he also somehow gains the ability to see the future and, because he's killed by the three heroes, the villain sets out to kill them before they one day do the same to him.
Ezekiel even says to Cassandra Webb at one stage that she has "no idea" what the girls become, so it's clear he believes they need to be stopped. His targeting Julia, Mattie, and Aña may even be enough to stop them from ever gaining their powers as the title character tells the trio at one stage, "Your future was almost so different."
The timeline of this story is a tad murky because that scene on the subway is set in the late 2000s (you'll notice a guy is playing a PSP), suggesting Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, and Araña won't take on those mantles until the present day...if ever.
If there's one thing this weird sneak peek makes clear, it's that they're all powerless when they meet Cassandra, something which continues right up to what looks to be Madame Web's final battle. With that in mind, we don't expect to see them gain their spectacular abilities until the very end of the movie, with those costumes likely saved for a final scene or perhaps even a future movie.
That sounds both like something Avi Arad would do and what we'd expect to see in a mid-2000s-style comic book movie (which also describes Venom, Morbius and, based on what we've seen thus far, Kraven the Hunter).
There's always a chance Madame Web will surprise us, but if you're expecting an MCU-style adventure with costumed superheroes, now might be the time to temper expectations.