Madame Web

Cassie takes on the protector role when she keeps Julia, Anya, and Mattie alive. She uses her future visions and planning to outsmart Sims, who hunts the girls with force and surveillance. The film ends with Cassie living with the girls, while visions show their future as Spider-Women. Their shared path gives female heroism a continuing role in the main story.

The film casts black actor Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin, one of Marvel’s Spider-Women. Comic-book art generally depicts Mattie as white. Her casting changes the race of an established member of the central group.

Breitbart columnist John Nolte called the film a “feminist flop” and a “woke” offering. A pre-release X post called Sweeney’s role a feminist takeover and received about 90,000 views. The complaint appeared in a national political outlet, while later X labels mostly came from small accounts.

Kerem Sanga (54) called marriage equality a human rights issue and said complex female characters are rare. Claire Parker (53) said drama needs different voices so viewers can see their lives. S.J. Clarkson (51) has said she wants complex women and families without a patriarchal hierarchy. Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (40 each) have described gender-balanced writers’ rooms and feminist choices on Lost in Space. The listed creator scores average about 44.