Emma Roberts has jumped on board Madame Web, the Sony spinoff centered on the Spider-Man character, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
S.J. Clarkson is set to direct the feature, which is part of Sony’s growing stable of films based on Marvel characters. Roberts, a regular on FX’s American Horror Story anthology, also appeared in The Hunt and Netflix’s feature Holidate. Her credits also include Fox’s Scream Queens and UglyDolls.
Introduced in the 1980 comic The Amazing Spider-Man No. 210, Madame Web is a clairvoyant mutant who specializes in predicting the future of Spider-themed superheroes, having mentored not only Peter Parker’s alter ego, but also multiple generations of heroes calling themselves Spider-Woman.
Traditionally depicted as a blind, paralyzed old woman, she is surrounded by a web-like machine necessary to keep her alive, meaning that she stays away from direct conflict, and rather sends others on missions.
Madame Web is one of a number of projects in development as the studio builds out its Sony Universe of Marvel Characters. Sony, which controls the film rights to Spider-Man and other related characters, has already released Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2020), and the Jared Leto starrer Morbius this past April.
Sony also has Kraven the Hunter in the works with star Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The studio is riding high following the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which has grossed $1.9 billion globally, the highest in Sony history.
Deadline was the first to report on Roberts joining Madame Web.