Madame Web's Canceled Popcorn Buckets Reveal Major Cut Marvel Connections

Second only to "Morbius" in the dreaded "horrible movies about characters that are only relevant because they have connections to Spider-Man" category, "Madame Web" seemed like one of the final films of the superhero era when it arrived in 2024. Deeply disliked by critics and only barely tolerated by viewers, the origin story of Dakota Johnson's titular seer figure (plus a couple of spider-heroes played by Sydney Sweeney and Isabela Merced), "Madame Web" initially seemed to struggle with passing the $100 million box office milestone. While it did ultimately end up barely clearing that hurdle, its production budget of $80 million means that it was a solid flop — both commercially and critically.

All of this almost certainly contributed to the apparent death of Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), which has been eerily silent since "Kraven the Hunter" dropped (and flopped) in 2024. With Sony's superhero franchise taking hit after hit, it's no wonder that the assorted teases of it being connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe have never really amounted to much ... and a new revelation about a scrapped "Madame Web" popcorn bucket with numerous MCU jokes strongly suggests that the powers that be decided to pump the breaks on excess MCU/SSU connection teases well before that movie even premiered.

The news of the canceled "Madame Web" popcorn bucket and a similarly themed cup comes from Reddit, where the images of these products are also available for viewing. According to redditor u/Chemistry11, they used to work for a company that made these tie-in products. However, the buckets and cups were nixed at the last minute and eventually destroyed.

At the end of the day, it's not terribly hard to understand why the powers that be opted against using the tie-in popcorn buckets and cups. Their designs revolve around the iconic Marvel newspaper Daily Bugle, with headlines that reference numerous characters with deep MCU connections. In one headline, Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) Stark Industries is called out for providing inadequate financial compensation to its workers. In another, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is embarking on a new career as a Las Vegas magician. Elsewhere, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is accused of steroid use, while "Spider-Man 2" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" villain Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) opens a new clinic. On the cosmic side of things, the headlines mention Groot's (Vin Diesel) new talk show, explore cults and theories around Thanos (Josh Brolin), hype up an interview with a snappily-dressed Drax (Dave Bautista), and name-drop Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers (Brie Larson) as a potential future U.S. president. There's even a story about Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) alleged illegitimate child.

The designs, if legitimate, are actually pretty awesome ... but, as u/Chemistry11 themself noted later in the thread, the most likely reason for them getting scrapped is also the most obvious one. Sony only owns the movie rights to the Marvel characters who are connected to Spider-Man, so there's absolutely no way Disney wouldn't bristle at the merest thought of Sony poking fun at several established MCU characters who are well outside the company's purview. Because of this, the joking Daily Bugle headlines likely spelled doom for the buckets and cups the second someone who was familiar with the character rights situation saw their designs.