As a Marvel movie, Madame Web deviates pretty wildly from the brand’s big-screen norms: It didn’t cost $200 million to make, it was mostly filmed on location rather than on soundstages, it’s got a guy who looks like Spider-Man but he’s evil, and it’s got Marvel Easter eggs but tries to hide them rather than make them obvious. But perhaps the most surprising aspect of Madame Web might be that it focuses on a Marvel Comics superhero team like the Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy or Web Warriors–but this group has never had a real name.
In the comics, Madame Web is a sort of cryptic mentor to various Spider-folks, and she’s specifically known for teaming up with groups of Spider-Women. In the movie, that group is Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin, Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwall, and Isabela Merced as Aña Corazón–with Corazón in the comics being known as Araña. Naturally, I had to ask Sweeney, O’Connor, and Merced if they had any ideas for what to call themselves when I spoke to them together at the Madame Web junket.
“We have our own group name for ourselves. Our group chat name,” Sweeney told me. “We like to go by ‘the Boo Crew.'”
“We like that because it started when Sydney got us matching sweaters,” Merced chimed in, before O’Connor corrected her.
“No, actually my girlfriend got us matching sweaters!” O’Connor interjected.
The trio apparently really liked these Boo Crew sweaters, as they all gushed about them for another moment. “We wore them on our little Halloween movie pajama party theme night,” Merced went on. “It was so cute I wanna throw up.”
A name like Boo Crew has multiple potential interpretations, however, that might make it a little bit of a tough sell.
“Everybody’s just gonna be booing when we come in to fight,” Sweeney joked.
While Boo Crew is fun, it’d probably be a tough sell to the powers-that-be at Sony and Marvel. But I asked if they’d considered pitching that name or any other ideas to Sony or Marvel for their in-universe name. They said no, unsurprisingly, since that’s pretty silly, but they did come up with some new candidates–Sweeney kicked things off with “Spidey Sisters.”
“That’s cool, I like that,” Merced responded. “Something cute, something catchy like Cheetah Girls or Destiny’s Child or, you know, Spice Girls, something…”
“The Spidey Girls!” O’Connor offered, which the others liked
In a separate interview, I asked Dakota Johnson, who plays the title character, if she had any thoughts on this. She said she didn’t have any ideas, but asked what O’Connor, Merced, and Sweeney had said. So I mentioned the Boo Crew group text.
“I’m not in that group chat. Sadly,” Johnson said with a smile and a chuckle.
Madame Web, the latest of Sony’s Marvel movies that take place outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is in theaters now.
