At the beginning of Seinfeld Season 7, Jerry and George make a pact to get their lives on track by getting engaged, hoping to settle down after years of misadventures across New York City. In typical sitcom fashion, things don’t go as planned. After George proposes to his old girlfriend Susan Ross (who he dated throughout Season 4), Jerry decides to back out of his own engagement, leaving George as the only member of the main group who plans to marry. This started a hilarious season-long arc in which George has to adapt to his new reality as he prepares for the next chapter of life. Infamously, the story decidedly did not have a happy ending, but along the way, there were plenty of laughs to be had.
Perhaps the best subplot that stemmed out of George’s engagement came in the hour-long episode “The Cadillac,” which originally aired on February 8, 1996. The titular storyline revolves around Jerry purchasing a new Cadillac for his father, but this episode is probably more famous for George’s narrative. This is when Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei made her only appearance on Seinfeld, playing a fictionalized version of herself. She doesn’t just have a cameo; it’s an integral role in an unlikely romantic subplot that actually spawned Marvel fan theories decades later.
George Costanza Could Have Dated Marisa Tomei On Seinfeld
In “The Cadillac,” George meets Katy, one of Elaine’s friends. Upon learning the news of George’s engagement to Susan, Katy expresses disappointment because George would have been the perfect match for her other friend: Marisa Tomei. If George wasn’t engaged, Katy would have been willing to fix them up on a date. The very notion that someone like George Costanza could be Marisa Tomei’s type is hysterical enough, but the added wrinkle of George’s relationship with Susan makes the situation even funnier. One of the episode’s best scenes is when George explains his plight to Jerry, bemoaning the fact that he’s engaged when an Oscar winner is sitting at home waiting for him.
Of course, George isn’t going to let his engagement prevent him from meeting Marisa Tomei, and so begins a subplot that brings out all of George’s worst tendencies. Seinfeld was never your traditional sitcom; Larry David’s mantra was “no hugging, no learning,” meaning the point of the show was not to teach characters morals that helped them grow as people. Seinfeld stood apart from the pack because its main characters were actually horrible (yet relatable) people that went through life without much regard for others around them. This is why the divisive Seinfeld finale ends with Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer being sent to jail. These characters were fundamentally flawed despite being funny every week.
George’s pursuit of Marisa is a textbook example of how the Seinfeld characters were horrible and funny at the same time. Much of the humor stems from how incredibly selfish George is about the whole situation; he visits a hospitalized Katy not to offer moral support but to bug her for Marisa Tomei’s phone number. He goes behind Susan’s back to spend time with the award-winning actress and leads Marisa on by not revealing he’s engaged until midway through the date. It’s funny to watch George give into his impulses and attempt to navigate this web of deception he’s weaved — not just because the whole setup is outrageous, but there’s a small part of us that would be willing to do just about anything if we learned we had a shot with a popular actor.
Seinfeld‘s Marisa Tomei subplot received the ultimate payoff in the Season 7 finale that really highlighted how awful George can be. After Susan dies from licking toxic envelopes for the wedding invitations (that George picked out), he wastes no time calling Marisa again to see if he still has a chance to be with her. Again, the callousness on display is what makes the scene so funny. A “normal” person would take time to grieve their late fiancé and maybe even need encouragement from friends before moving on. George doesn’t mourn Susan; instead, he’s almost relieved he doesn’t have to go through with the wedding. What’s even funnier is that George could have broken off the engagement, but he kept Susan around as a fallback option in case things didn’t work out with Marisa. He’d rather be unhappy and engaged than alone — which perfectly sums up George’s character.
Seinfeld‘s Marisa Tomei Subplot Fueled a Marvel Fan Theory
Image Courtesy of Marvel Studios
George’s near romance with Marisa Tomei became part of the pop culture conversation years after “The Cadillac” originally premiered after it was announced that Tomei would play Aunt May in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She made her debut in Captain America: Civil War, which of course takes place well after Peter Parker has started operating as Spider-Man. Kevin Feige and Co. made the wise decision to forgo the origin story angle for the MCU’s Spider-Man since that tale is so well-known by now. Other than Superman and Batman, Spider-Man has the most famous origin story in superhero media.
This meant fans wouldn’t see Uncle Ben’s tragic death on screen again, but people couldn’t help but wonder if the character would eventually appear in a flashback sequence. As that speculation swirled, Jason Alexander emerged as a popular fan cast pick for the MCU’s Uncle Ben because of the Seinfeld episode. Many felt it would have been hilarious if “George” ended up with Marisa decades after “The Cadillac” first aired. The thought of Alexander bestowing wisdom upon Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was also humorous. Alexander is a tremendously gifted actor, but he’s so synonymous with George Costanza at this point — and George is hardly the first person who comes to mind when one things of respectful mentor figures. “It’s not a lie if you believe it” is a far cry from “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Ultimately, no actor played Uncle Ben in the MCU. The character was never shown on screen and was just referenced through dialogue on a few occasions. And as Holland’s Spider-Man starts a new chapter in this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s unlikely that will change. As fun as it might have been to see the filmmakers try to put a fresh spin on Uncle Ben, it’s better to just keep moving forward and not retread familiar territory. Plus, the deaths of Tony Stark and Aunt May essentially served the same purpose, having a profound emotional impact on Peter as he learns what it takes to be a hero. If nothing else, those who subscribed to the Jason Alexander/Uncle Ben fan theory can keep that intact in their head canon since there isn’t anything out there that debunks it.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!