In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director SJ Clarkson suggested that Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web character isn’t necessarily beholden to other Sony or Marvel movies. “She’s definitely in a standalone world. I was able to just have free rein and let the movie be what it needed to be, as opposed to trying to force it into something else.”
While this quote makes it sound like “Madame Web” is untethered to existing continuity, that likely isn’t the case. Emma Roberts plays a character who has yet to be named but whom fans believe is Mary Parker, Peter Parker’s mother. In one set photo, Roberts’ character appears to be pregnant, implying that “Madame Web” takes place just before the birth of Tom Holland’s incarnation of Peter. The movie’s 2003 setting corroborates this. If the reason Clarkson’s film isn’t bound to existing material is simply because it takes place before the events of any Holland Spider-Man movie, then her statement can still be true. It’s worth noting that Holland’s Peter was born in August 2001, so perhaps “Madame Web” will retcon some character details.
According to Jeff Sneider’s rumor — and presuming the belief about Roberts’ role to be true — even if neither Andrew Garfield nor Holland appears in “Madame Web,” Mary was once supposed to be pregnant with the future Garfield version of Peter Parker. Instead, the unborn child is Holland’s take on the character.
