If you’ve ever wondered what a Spider-Man crossover with Wicked would look like, a peek at that very cross-pollination has found its way online. Shared on Instagram by digital creator Donovan Rose, the clip uses a scene from Sam Raimi’s 2002 movie Spider-Man, in which the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) tries to persuade Spidey (Tobey Maguire) to join forces with him. However, this version of the scene dubs over their dialogue with the Wicked song “Defying Gravity,” as sung by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in 2024’s Wicked. The soundtrack change to the Web-Head’s rooftop conversation (linked below) with the Green Goblin actually works shockingly well as both a spoof of Spider-Man and a re-imagining of Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship in Wicked.
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Simply by transplanting “Defying Gravity” into the scene’s soundtrack, the Spider-Man rooftop scene goes from a Faustian offer from Dafoe’s Green Goblin to a friendly proposal to Spidey that the two of them should unite on an adventure. The fact that the Green Goblin and Elphaba are also both emerald characters only makes the song’s inclusion in the Spider-Man scene that much more fitting.
Directed by John M. Chu, Wicked is an adaptation of the popular stage musical, which tells the origin story of two of The Wizard of Oz‘s most iconic characters, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North. In Wicked, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) become friends while they are students at the sorcery school of Oz. However, Elphaba has lived a difficult life of being mocked for her green skin, and after learning the truth about the mysterious Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), she begins down her path to becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.
[RELATED: Wicked Is Getting a Graphic Novel (And We Have a First Look)]
Wicked succeeded in bringing the popularity of its namesake to the big-screen, earning $728.1 million worldwide with Erivo and Grande earning widespread praise for their performances, alongside the movie’s visually spectacular creation of the merry old land of Oz. Additionally, as its full title of Wicked: Part I makes clear, it also only tells the first half of the story, with the follow-up Wicked: For Good set to debut in theaters on November 21, 2025 (both parts of Wicked having been filmed back-to-back.)
As fans of both Spider-Man and Wicked are well aware, the Green Goblin’s offer of a truce with Spider-Man doesn’t go as he plans, while Glinda and Elphaba’s respective paths put them at odds despite their apparent unity in the lyrics of “Defying Gravity.” However, both Spider-Man and Wicked portray Norman Osborn and Elphaba as not inherently evil characters, but more victims of circumstance and bad choices. Norman’s drive to save OsCorp leads to his downfall as the Green Goblin, while Elphaba learning the unflattering truth about the Wizard of Oz leads to her disillusionment and eventual transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West.
Outside of the ambitious Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, the Web-Slinger hasn’t often been associated with musical theater. However, the Internet has a way of creating the most unexpected of combinations. The Spider-Man x Wicked crossover is one such example, and one that does a shockingly great job of paying homage to both source materials that it’s derived from.
Spider-Man is available to stream on Disney+, and Wicked: Part I will be available to stream on Peacock on March 21st.
What do you think of the mashup? Let us know in the comments below!
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Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
