Madame Web: What You Need to Know
Get to know the Spider-Verse clairvoyant through her Marvel Comics history!
Not much is known about the "Creepy Clairvoyant," but let us get you caught up with everything you need to know about Cassandra Webb AKA Madame Web.
Though Cassandra Webb suffered from a lifetime of blindness and many years of neurological deterioration due to myasthenia gravis, she compensated with her profound psychic abilities, establishing herself as a medium.
DEBUT
Cassandra Webb made her first appearance in Denny O'Neil and John Romita Jr.'s THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #210 (1980) when Peter Parker chides Debbie Whitman for seeing a teacher of paranormal phenomena, Madame Web, in Chinatown. However, Spidey sees the truth with her powers of precognition!
SPIDER-ALLY
Madame Web appears when Parker needs the most guidance. Being a powerful psychic, Webb helps warn Parker of possible outcomes to his decisions and the lasting ramifications that might result. Thanks to her clairvoyance, Webb knows Spider-Man’s secret identity, but thanks to all of her guidance, he considers her a most trusted ally.
PARTING GIFT
Madame Web's chair, designed by her late husband as a final gift, is Webb's elaborate life support system that keeps her blood moving, lungs breathing, and electricity coursing through her brain.
When Black Tom sent the Juggernaut to kidnap Webb so he could use her powers for his criminal activities, she foresaw the attack and called Spidey for help. He was unable to stop the Juggernaut, who left Madame Web in a state of severe shock after he unknowingly removed her from her chair.
Gathering of the Five
Participating in an arcane ritual called the Gathering of the Five, Webb seeks Parker's help to prevent her impending death by retrieving one of the five required artifact fragments. Each of the five participants would receive either knowledge, power, immortality, insanity, or death. Instead of death, Madame Web received immortality, restoring her to youth and curing her myasthenia gravis.
SPIDER-WOMEN
Doc Ock created a Spider-Woman using Webb's granddaughter, Charlotte Witter, who had the abilities to siphon and absorb the abilities of each of the other female web-slingers (Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, and Mattie Franklin). To stop her granddaughter, Madame Web gathered the spider-women into a team. While they defeated Charlotte, she was still able to siphon Madam Web's telepathy, re-aging her in the process, but still retaining her immortality.