Madame Web has been torn apart by critics for a long list of reasons, but the lack of screentime for the movie's superhero costumes has become a real sticking point.
Those were put front and centre in trailers and posters, and fans who did decide to pay for a ticket this week feel misled. When all is said and done, the suits worn by the title character and those three Spider-Women get perhaps a minute or two of screentime in mostly blurry flashforwards.
Asked by The Wrap about the way the costumes get sidelined, Anya Corazon actress Isabela Merced defended the creative decision.
"When you’re invested enough in the story, it’s like those things don’t really matter," the Superman: Legacy star tells the trade. "You’re just kind of like, what’s best for the story? And I think they did it for a reason, you know?"
"This is supposed to be an origin story. It wouldn’t be an origin story if we saw us in like, half the movie with our suits on," Merced continued. "I like that it’s a little tease, and I like that it leaves people wanting more."
It's a fair point, but Madame Web promised fans they'd see superheroes in this movie, only for the movie to ultimately make it clear that won't happen until a possible sequel (which we don't ever expect to be made).
For Celeste O'Connor, they just enjoyed Madame Web's human moments. "I think something I love about Mattie is that she’s so honest. She’ll just say whatever is on her mind, and I feel like sometimes she can be the moral compass, or what the audience is thinking," the actress said. "And I think that’s so much fun, to play with that honesty in a world that is so supernatural and fantastical."
Sydney Sweeney adds, "[Madame Web] needed to have those people into her life to help her inform and draw out who she’s going to be. They bring out the strong, better side of her."
When we spoke to director SJ Clarkson earlier this month, she told us this about dreaming up the movie's eye-catching superhero costumes.
"[Ngila Dixon] is the most extraordinary costume designer. She comes from a place of character and she really thinks about who they are, who they want to be, and how they’d like to be portrayed. I think that’s a balance of what we got out of those looks. They wanted to be confident but there’s something pulling them back, and that’s where Ngila is absolutely brilliant. Obviously, with how that translated to them as regular teenagers and into their potential selves in the future."
Madame Web is now playing in theaters.