Isabela Merced’s Anya Corazón Rewrites the Superhero Script in Madame Web

We all have an inner voice. The whisper that offers a moral compass, drive, and advice. It can point us to healthier choices that keep us alive or thriving. It can even stop us from making questionable decisions. For Peruvian American multi-skilled performer and artist Isabela Merced, that voice pushed her to become the artist she was meant to be — the multi-hyphenate who is starring as Anya Corazón in Sony Marvel's suspense-driven Spider-verse movie Madame Web, out February 15.

But she’s been following that voice throughout her life. At 10 years old, Merced made her Broadway debut in the revival of Evita and went on to star in Nickelodeon's 100 Things to Do Before High School. In 2017, she was seen on the big screen in Transformers: The Last Knight and then as the titular character in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. That voice also prompted her, at 18 years old, to honour her late maternal grandmother, Yolanda Merced Salazar, by adopting Isabela Merced as her stage name. 

Now, at 22, she says it’s that same whisper that pushed her to release control for Madame Web — a project that may change her career and life for the better. 

"It was all a mystery to me. Although I'd never heard of Madame Web, I was fascinated. I was like, 'Oh, she's in a wheelchair, and she's blind.' We hardly get to see superheroes like that. That's amazing," Merced tells Refinery29 about how this opportunity came to be. 

Madame Web, which stars Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Celeste O'Connor, tells the origin story of paramedic turned clairvoyant Cassandra Webb (Johnson). Merced’s Anya (derived from araña, Spanish for spider), is one of the New York City teens whose fate intersects with Cassandra's and eventually becomes one of the Spider-Girls.  

We first see Anya inside her family's apartment with the door ajar, speaking with a landlord about missed rent payments as Cassandra climbs the stairs to her apartment. They don't know each other. We later learn that Anya's father was recently deported to Peru, a critical location that forwards the plot, and she's alone in New York City and has learned not to trust anyone.

Anya is a person whose intelligence, quick wit, and analytical skills help her during crises. 

Spending much time with her character allowed Merced to reflect on her own family history and legacy. She had the time to grapple with the traumatic backstory that shapes Anya and draw from her own experiences as a Peruvian American.

"In this storyline, [Anya] represents the lower class and the immigrants who have immigrated to the United States. I have my own experiences with that with my family. And it's important to talk about that, especially since it was a different climate back then, especially in 2003. It's more common to talk about it, but the stakes were extremely high back then. Much higher, at least,” Merced says. “She represents a special group of people who must be strong. They are self-sufficient, and they are working twice as hard. They are extremely intelligent, well-rounded individuals, not because they want to be but because they must be. They do not have a choice. They need to overcome whatever by being the best." 

Like her character, Merced has experienced several life-altering shifts: a stint in Peru, her mother's home country, after living in the Midwest, and a fire that destroyed her family's home in Cleveland, Ohio. Both experiences laid bare the importance of collective care.

“As a society, being independent is praised, and I don't think that's a good thing. I think we should lean on community. Our power as human beings is that we have the power to connect and have each other and be there for each other,” Merced shares.

This wisdom, she says, is at the heart of Madame Web. “It's a lovely message for everyone who goes to watch, especially women, who might lack community in a world that always tries to pit us against each other and tear us down."

The sense of kinship at the film's core and the invaluable learning opportunity that comes with partaking in it also mirrors the "wholesome and fruitful" friendship between Merced, Sweeney, and O'Connor, surpassing their time together on set. 

"We understand how complex we are. We understand how nuanced we can be and how what we need to hear in a world that's full of male ideas is shoved in our faces all the time. It's important to have a group of women you can talk to and not feel embarrassed by the topics you choose to discuss," Merced says. 

As she looks at her first decade as a working artist, Merced realises that both leaning on community and learning to listen to the messages of the voice within are key tenets of growing up. The actor, whose role in the second season of HBO's The Last of Us is one of her most anticipated projects, says her self-confidence has buoyed like a rising tide and her inner voice has gotten stronger, as nothing worthwhile comes easily. 

"I put a lot of work into this. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I thought I didn't deserve this,” Merced says. “I've worked hard enough to feel I deserve this [an opportunity like Madame Web], and I can't wait to show the world that."

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