Madame Web Debuts With Dismal Rotten Tomatoes Score

Landing in theaters this week is Madame Web, marking the third Spider-Man character to get their own adventures in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, following two Venom films and Morbius. With reviews for Madame Web now online, the movie continues a disappointing trend for the franchise, which is poor reactions from critics. Madame Web currently sits at 22% positive reactions based on 41 reviews. Given that films that earn wide theatrical releases often end up with hundreds of reviews, it's entirely possible that more reviews could shift the score higher, though with how low its score currently is, Madame Web seems like it will fall short of audience expectations. Madame Web hits theaters on February 14th.

In the wake of two underwhelming The Amazing Spider-Man films, Sony Pictures Entertainment made an agreement with Marvel Studios to allow Peter Parker to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though Sony kept the rights to a number of characters from Spider-Man's world to develop their own shared universe. The first entry, Venom, sits at only 30% positive reactions, though its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage leaned into what audiences liked about the debut film and it sits at 57% positive reactions. 

The next entry into the shared universe, Morbius, dropped even lower than its predecessors, as it sits at 15% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Strangely, despite its negative reviews, Morbius earned itself a theatrical re-release in the wake of vocal support from audiences, yet still only came in with $167.5 million worldwide.

As more reviews come in, fans might notice distinct trends in what about the project is failing to resonate with viewers, with ComicBook.com's Jenna Anderson describing of the picture, "While Madame Web might not contain the heart-pumping tension, massive franchise connections, or painfully authentic verisimilitude of many of its modern contemporaries, it makes a convincing argument that an entertaining-enough story can still be found outside of those traits. The charisma of its lead heroines and the specificity of its premise prevent it from being too boring, too goofy, or too irredeemable to ignore. For better or for worse, Madame Web further illustrates that Sony's Spider-Man Universe has potential when not trying to be a modern cinematic universe at all, and instead being a springboard for the most niche genre stories imaginable."

Even with its poor reviews, Madame Web won't kill Sony's Spider-Man Universe quite yet, as we still have Kraven the Hunter and Venom 3 on the way.

Madame Web lands in theaters on February 14th.

Are you surprised by the reviews? Let us know in the comments!