Madame Web Reuses Footage From Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man 2 - But Is There More To It?

Contains spoilers for "Madame Web"

According to many critics, "Madame Web" may be the worst movie ever in the Spider-Verse. That makes it even more intriguing that the Dakota Johnson-starring film seemingly rips a scene straight out of arguably the best "Spider-Man" movie to date — Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2."

Fans noticed 'MADAME WEB' reuses footage from a scene in Sam Raimi's 'SPIDER-MAN 2'. pic.twitter.com/kGBNybQVLA

— One Take News (@OneTakeNews) February 16, 2024

The scene in question comes toward the end of "Madame Web," where Cassandra Webb (Johnson) now clearly sees a future where she and the three forthcoming Spider-Women fight crime together. The camera pans up a building before cutting away to Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) battling a villain. That shot of the building comes straight from "Spider-Man 2" when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) leaps toward the same building before swinging away. It could easily be a case of simply reusing footage, but some fans think this is evidence that "Madame Web" takes place in the Raimi timeline.

On X (formerly known as Twitter), @GothicHeroes laid out some evidence, writing, "['Madame Web'] is set in the early 2000s. Features stock footage from Spider-Man 2 (2004) It shows a tribe of Spider-Men who wear lenses inspired by the Raimi films. I'm convinced that Madame Web was meant to be a part of the Raimi Verse." More than likely, it's simply some reused footage, as throwing Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man into the world of "Madame Web" probably makes things more confusing than anything else.

It probably isn't likely that "Madame Web" is part of the Raimi-Verse. For starters, "Madame Web" takes place in 2003. Sam Raimi's first "Spider-Man" movie came out in 2022, so Tobey Maguire's version of the web-slinger should be fully powered and swinging around town during the events of "Madame Web." Additionally, Ben (Adam Scott) and Mary Parker (Emma Roberts) are in the movie, with the latter giving birth to a boy who's presumably Peter Parker at the film's end. Granted, Mary never actually says her baby's name is "Peter," so these could be completely different people. It's just not very feasible that "Madame Web" is precisely in the same universe.

With the Multiverse now mandatory across any superhero franchise, it's always possible Madame Web could wind up in another universe if she wanted, including the one where Raimi's film series takes place, but the safest bet at this time is that Sony simply reused a shot. The studio did it before with a project that had nothing to do with "Spider-Man." The trailer for the 2017 film, "Life," starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, had a shot pulled from a scene in "Spider-Man 3." It appears Sony simply likes recycling footage where it can.

All this talk of the Raimi-Verse likely just makes fans hope even harder that "Spider-Man 4" with Maguire comes to fruition. After all, Maguire's Peter Parker is now familiar with the Multiverse thanks to "Spider-Man: No Way Home," so maybe he'll wind up in the universe of "Madame Web" at some point.