Do you want to know if there's a post-credits scene in Madame Web? We'll tell you right here: There are no scenes after the credits.
Read on for full spoilers for the film!
You've seen the memes. You've — maybe — watched the trailers. You've likely heard the phrase "He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died" (spoiler alert — that's not a real line in the movie). And now Madame Web (read our review) is out in the world. The supernatural thriller is unlike any superhero movie you've seen before, but definitely feels like a fun throwback to the '00s comic book films that many of us grew up on.
So if you're ready to dig into the depths of Madame Web lore with director S.J. Clarkson answering all your burning questions, then get ready web slingers because here we go!
Madame Web Ending Explained
After an action-packed journey that set Cassie Web (Dakota Johnson), Julia Cromwell (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Conner) on their fateful path, the film comes to its climax when the crew battles Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) in an abandoned warehouse. In a twist of fate, it's revealed that while Ezekiel was drawn to the girls because he thought they would kill him, it is in fact Cassie who is fated to end his life.
Thanks to her newly discovered powers of weaving — which include astral projection — Cassie saves all three of her young charges but ends up almost drowning. Thanks to an earlier impromptu CPR lesson, her life is saved by her newfound family of future Spider-Women. After Ezekiel is killed by a falling giant Pepsi sign (yes, you heard that right) and successfully saving the day, the crew heads to the hospital where Cassie is revealed to have been rendered blind as a result of her near-drowning.
We also learn that Mary Parker (Emma Roberts) has safely given birth to her unnamed son. Mary is the sister-in-law of Adam Scott’s Ben Parker, who forevermore shall be known as… Uncle Ben.
We then get a skip forward that reveals Cassie and the girls now live together in a New York City Spider-lair where they bicker and banter as Cassie, now in a wheelchair, foresees their future as a team of super Spider-Women. It's here that we get to see the girls in their full Spider-suits along with Cassandra in hers, now acting as a spiritual guide to the superteam. But this scene also plays with our expectations, reminding us that "the future hasn't happened yet," implying this could all still change.
Does Madame Web Have a Post-Credits Scene?
Madame Web doesn't have any post-credits scenes, which makes sense not only due to the fact that the status of the Sony-verse is up in the air but also because the entire movie essentially acts as a lead-in to a potential Spider-Woman/Spider-Women movie featuring the three younger cast members. So if you want to stick around to pay homage to all the folks who worked on the movie or you're like me and always want to see which comic creators get thanked, then go for it! But you won't need to wait for any of the infamous superhero stingers this time around.
Is Uncle Ben in Madame Web?
As has long been rumored, everyone's favorite everyman — Adam Scott of Parks and Rec and Severance fame — does play Uncle Ben A.K.A. Ben Parker in Madame Web. He's Cassie's EMT partner and the one friend who keeps her grounded and connected to the rest of the world, despite her more introverted and often cranky tendencies.
Aside from the obvious connection to the wider world of Spider-Man, Ben Parker and his sister-in-law, Mary (more on her in a moment), were added to the film as a way to homage Madame Web's comic book origins and to build out her world. "Madame Web doesn't have her own comics yet," director S.J. Clarkson told IGN. "It would be wonderful if she did, but she doesn't. And I think because she comes from The Amazing Spider-Man, it was really nice to be able to give a nod to the world that she comes from. So it's really nice to have some of those characters in it."
Is Peter Parker in Madame Web?
As the film ends, we see that Mary Parker has safely delivered her baby with the now Uncle Ben by her side. Where was the kid's father? Richard Parker was away traveling, hinting that the film is taking from the comics canon where Richard and sometimes Mary were spies.
As for the infant's identity, Clarkson was quick to point out that "the baby's born, but we never actually name the baby." But the implication is obviously that it's Peter Parker. That holds especially true as in the comics that the film takes inspiration from, Mary's most famous child is obviously the guy who'd become Spider-Man, though she did secretly have a daughter who was revealed in 2014's Spider-Man: Family Business series. And we get even more of a hint at that when Cassie and the girls talk about Ben loving being an uncle because it's all the fun and none of the responsibility, to which Cassie replies "That's what he thinks" with a smile, nodding towards the future when Ben and May will take care of and raise Peter.
How Does Madame Web Connect to the Other Spider-Man Movies?
One of the biggest conversations around Madame Web has been whether the film would work as a prequel to any of the Spider-Man movies. When IGN asked whether the 2003 setting of Madame Web meant we were watching the origins of Tom Holland's Spider-Man universe, Clarkson revealed the choice was more about Cassandra's story than any connection to an existing Spider-Man.
"In terms of the year, that was the year that was in the script originally," she said, adding that it was meant to connect to Cassie’s mom and her adventures in the Amazon. "I think what it relates to is really back in the 1970s when her mom was around, and it goes back to her inception story. So this is very much her story."
It's a choice that gives Sony the freedom to choose what it wants to do with the film once it's out in the world and they've seen the reception. And either way, the film still exists as a standalone origin for Cassie and her young Spider-crew. So if they want to connect the baby that is born to the Tom Holland Spider-Man, they can. And if they decide not to, they have that option as well.
'The baby's born, but we never actually name the baby,' director S.J. Clarkson tells IGN.
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As to whether the movie would ever end up connecting to other Spider-films, she worked in a nice Madame Web power pun: "I wish I had clairvoyance to see where it could or might connect to anything else, but I don't have the luxury of that, unfortunately."
How Could Madame Web Set Up Future Sony Spider-Films?
The film ends with what seems like a setup for future Spider-Women movies, especially as each of the young heroes have storied comic book histories to draw from. But some fans might be surprised that there isn't actually a lot of Spider-Women action in the film as the girls are only seen in their full suits during a couple of very quick flash-forward sequences. As Clarkson told us, that was so that the film could fully focus on Cassie and her story.
"There were definitely conversations," she shared. "But I think that for me it was always an origin story. And I think if you're going to do an origin story justice — unless it's going to be a three, four-hour epic — you concentrate on that character. And each of these other Spider-Women are such extraordinary characters in their own right that I think if you're going to start exploring origins of all of them, I think that's a lot to get into one movie.
"I don't think you can do it justice. We've already got Ezekiel and all these characters, so I think it's a lot to juggle for one picture and it's called Madame Web, so I think that was really front and center of everything. And hopefully, the others might get their own. That would be amazing."
And we agree. Whatever your feelings about Madame Web, the film did a great job casting Cassie and her Spider-Crew, and we'd love to see where those characters go next. Of course, if Sony gets its way and the film is a success, then there could even be movies for each of the Spider-Women before they team up for the future that Madame Web saw.
Of course, the biggest question remains: Could Madame Web and her Spider-Women connect to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and even the bigger MCU eventually? At this point, anything could happen, but it appears there are no definitive answers either.
This story was updated with full spoilers on Feb. 14, 2024. It was originally published without spoilers on Feb. 13.
Rosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more.
