Aunt May
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"May Parker" redirects here. For May "Mayday" Parker, see Spider-Girl.
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May Reilly Parker, often known as Aunt May, is a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
She is aunt-by-marriage and adoptive mother of Peter Parker, who leads a secret life as Spider-Man. She is nurturing and supportive of Peter although, throughout most of Spider-Man's history, she did not know of his secret life and considered Spider-Man frightening.
An important part of the Spider-Man series, she has appeared in most other media adaptations of the character.
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[edit] Aunt May in the comics
May Parker (maiden name - Reilly) was born in Brooklyn, New York.
May and Ben Parker took in their nephew Peter after the death of his parents and raised him. Ben immediately took to the role of the boy's father but May was at first reluctant. She still remembered her parents blaming her own birth for the destruction of their marriage, and she was afraid that Peter might signal the end of her own marriage. In time, however, she warmed up to Peter, who unexpectedly strengthened the couple's marriage. After Ben's death, life became a struggle with money problems and Peter did his best to help. Through these situations, a subtle undertone of inner strength was maintained until the departure from the title by co-creator Steve Ditko, after which her characterization leaned closer to stereotypical senility.
Peter's secret life as Spider-Man endlessly complicates both his and his aunt's lives. Aunt May lives in constant fear for her "frail" (but now unaccountably secretive) nephew who insists on a job as a freelance photographer. Parker is determined to capture Spider-Man in action, frequently submitting pictures of him to the Daily Bugle; Spider-Man is a vigilante whom Aunt May fears because of her unquestioning acceptance of the Daily Bugle's smearing.
Meanwhile, Peter fears for his aunt's well-being and the fatal shock that could result if she ever learns about his career as Spider-Man. This problem served as an easy crutch for dramatic tension in the comics for years, with Peter being torn between dealing with major crises while his aunt needs nearly constant care. This conflict took on a unusual turn when Aunt May had his enemy, Doctor Otto Octavius (also known as Doctor Octopus) as an apparent sweetheart; Peter struggled to deal with his enemy's game while not hurting his Aunt.
Aunt May has "died" several times. In her most recent "death", the "Aunt May" who died was, in a widely-derided plot twist, revealed to be a "genetically-altered actress" who impersonated her while May was held captive by villains. Later writers, like J. Michael Straczynski, of Babylon 5 fame, returned to portrayals of Aunt May's strength and character nuance. For instance, Straczynski controversially had May finally learn about her nephew's secret life once and for all (in Amazing Spider-Man (volume 2) #35, #38). That resulted in a heartfelt discussion in which aunt and nephew confess their darkest secrets and each learned that the other was far stronger than they imagined.
After their house was destroyed, Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane Watson moved into Stark Towers (as Spider-Man has recently joined the Avengers). Aunt May seems to be developing a romantic relationship with the Avengers' butler, Jarvis. May is quite the strong-willed woman and even the hard-nosed Wolverine found it impossible to argue with her. During the Civil War storyline, she and Mary Jane had convinced Peter to unmask himself in front of a press conference, and May had even made Peter a hand-stitched copy of his original costume. Later on, she was the target of the Chameleon, but outwitted the villain by feeding him Ambien-filled oatmeal-raisin cookies (Sensational Spider-Man #31).
When Peter changes his mind about the Superhuman Registration Act he has to move Aunt May, Mary Jane, and himself out of Stark Tower because Iron Man is the leading supporter for the Superhuman Registration Act. In Amazing Spider-Man #538 (February 2007), Aunt May is shot in the stomach by a sniper under orders from the Kingpin. No entry wound is visible, just blood on her hands and stomach. In Amazing Spider-Man #539 (March 2007) Peter web-slings May to a hospital. At the end of the issue it is revealed that she has lapsed into a coma and will most likely die. The story is ongoing.
[edit] Alternate Versions
[edit] Ultimate Aunt May
In the Ultimate version of Spider-Man, Aunt May is a strong and independent woman in her late forties or early fifties, significantly younger and "cooler" than her original Marvel Universe counterpart. She refused to be destroyed by the death of her husband Ben and is a pillar of strength for Peter. She is slightly overprotective of her nephew, and not supportive of Peter's secretive behavior. Aunt May is quite good with computers and likes to search for things on the Internet. At one time she had romantic feelings for John Stacy, the policeman who investigated Ben's murder and father of Gwen Stacy. May has been seen working in an office cubicle and attending a PTA meeting.
Having gotten over the traumatic event of her husband's death, Aunt May recently went on a date while Spider-Man was caught up with Deadpool and the X-Men. As he was returning home from the skirmish, he decided to reveal his secret identity to her, only to find that she had left a note on her phone saying that she was staying the night with her date: Professor Miles Warren, Harry Osborn's hypnotist/therapist. (On Earth-616, Warren is the Jackal.)
In Ultimate Spider-Man #99, Peter reveals his secret identity to Aunt May after he finds Gwen Stacy's clone at her old house. Aunt May screams at Peter and Gwen to leave the house, furious that she gave up her adult life for someone who kept secrets from her. At that moment, Peter's father appeared, apparently not dead as Peter had thought.
In #100, Peter learned that May had known his 'father' (It is in truth a clone of Peter and not really his father) was alive for some time and had kept the secret from him to "protect him". After a long talk between Peter and his 'father', Nick Fury and a team of Spider slayers surround the Parker home, which triggers a transformation in Gwen turning her into Carnage. May then, has a heart attack. In Issue 101 she is rescued from dying by the Invisible Woman. In issue 105 she gets back together with Peter and accepts him as Spider-Man though she is not at all fond of his costume. In issue 106 Aunt May is still in the hospital talking with Mary Jane about Spider-Man's personality.
[edit] MC2
In the alternate timeline known as MC2, May Parker is dead, although the exact nature of her death is never discussed. A letter in Spider-Girl #48, however, mentions that her "death" in The Amazing Spider-Man #400 is valid in MC2 continuity. Peter's daughter, May "Mayday" Parker, is named for her. Mayday becomes the super-heroine Spider-Girl and meets the original May when she finds herself displaced in time, although Mayday makes no attempt to explain who she really is.
[edit] Trouble
The 2003 limited series Trouble was marketed as the "true origin" of Spider-Man. In that story, characters named Ben, Richard, May and Mary met while on summer vacation, and May becomes pregnant with a child she names Peter. None of the characters' last names were revealed. The story was later ignored due to negative fan reception.[citation needed]
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Animated Series
[edit] 1960's
May had made two tiny appearances in the first two episodes of the second season of the 1960s "Spider-Man" series. In the second season premiere where it revealed about Spider-Man's origin, she and Uncle Ben made a tiny cameo about what Peter was doing after no one knew he was bitten by a radioactive spider. And in the second episode, she was taking medications to cure a sickness she had, only making her feel worse. It was then revealed that it was a drug created by the Kingpin that would be fake medicine for old people to take that would make them feel worse to the death, but the plan was foiled by Spider-Man and Aunt May was saved, along with every other old person, who took the drug.
[edit] 1980's
May appeared several times in the course of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and that show's cast operated out of May's home, along with her pet, Ms. Lion.
[edit] 1990's
Aunt May notably appeared in the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series, in which her character hated Spider-Man deeply but loved his alter ego, her nephew Peter Parker. As in the comic, she doesn't know who her nephew is.
She had many encounters with villains Spider-Man fought like Venom (Eddie Brock), the Hobgoblin, Dr. Octopus, Morbius, the Chameleon (who was imitating Anna Watson), Tombstone, Green Goblin, the Scorpion and the Shocker. She has a past with Keane Marlow as friends and also, Keane was May's late husband, Ben's friend as well (and unbeknownst to her, he was also a member in the 1940s superhero team called the Six Forgotten Warriors being named the Destroyer). May has a friend relationship with Anna Watson, and despite they like each other and May has some kindness to Mary Jane, Anna has no respect for Peter and he has to tolerate her (though there was a time when Peter blurted out to her in anger where she blamed him for Mary Jane getting kidnapped by the clone of the dead Hydro-Man) and Anna even once had respect for him when he was with Mary Jane after she was saved from the Hydro-Man clone. May even gave Peter and Mary Jane her wedding rings when she had with Uncle Ben before his death when Peter and M.J. were getting married.
By the series finale of the show, it was revealed that when the Beyonder and Madame Web rounded up Spider-Men from different realities, that in the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Carnage's reality, Aunt May was dead with Uncle Ben, but her cause of death was unknown.
[edit] Spider-Man Unlimited
Aunt May did not make an appearance to the spin-off show of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Spider-Man Unlimited, but was mentioned numerous times by Spider-Man throughout the series and was seen in the opening credits, hugging Peter when they were at Uncle Ben's grave. She also didn't make an appearance to Spider-Man: The New Animated Series which was a spin-off show to the Spider-Man movie nor was she mentioned by any of the characters in the show, but in the pilot episode in Canada, she was seen in one of Peter Parker's photos with Uncle Ben (and in the second photo was Parker's parents).
[edit] In the films
In the Spider-Man films, Aunt May is played by Rosemary Harris. She is the one who encourages Peter the most throughout the films, in the second movie even managing to make him try to return to his Spider-Man life after losing his powers.
In the 2002 film Spider-Man , Aunt May and Uncle Ben take care of their nephew, Peter Parker. Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) is shot and killed by a carjacker. Peter and May share their grief for Uncle Ben. Later, when Peter has moved into an apartment with his friend Harry Osborn, Aunt May visits them on Thanksgiving. She is not shy about reprimanding Harry's father Norman for his rude and boorish behavior. Shortly thereafter, when Norman (who has become the villainous Green Goblin), learns Spider-Man's identity, he attacks May at home while she is saying her prayers. May is terrified by the Goblin's demonic appearance, and is hospitalized after the Goblin injures her. (The Green Goblin then makes a failed attempt to kill Mary Jane Watson, whom he believes is Spider-Man's girlfriend, before he is killed.)
In the sequel, Spider-Man 2 (2004), Aunt May continues to look after Peter, and has had financial difficulties since the death of her husband. Her opinion of Spider-Man isn't high, claiming "the less we see of him, the better." However, when May's visit to the bank with Peter is interrupted by a robbery perpetrated by Otto Octavius, Octavius takes her hostage and climbs the side of a skyscraper with her. She is in turn, rescued by Spider-Man, and from that point believes that he is good. Later in the film, Peter's powers begin to wane because of a subconscious desire to live a normal life, and he decides to give up his costumed persona; Aunt May makes a speech which encourages him to resume his heroic activities. Whether she has deduced his secret identity or not is not made explicit; however, the bank robbery scene, in which she takes notice of Peter fleeing and where May reacts suspiciously after Spider-Man tells her, "We sure showed him", and May's later speech to Peter about the need for Spider-Man to return, suggest that she may in fact know of her nephew's alter-ego. Also in the film, she expresses that she feels she caused Uncle Ben's death ("You wanted to take the subway, and he wanted to drive you. And if I had stopped him, we'd all be having tea together"), prompting Peter to admit that he caused the death by not stopping the killer. May is understandably stunned and sad, but later thanks Peter and tells him that admitting the truth to her was a brave thing to do.
Aunt May returns in the third film, but her role in this film still remains a mystery. In the new trailer, Peter tells his aunt that he's going to ask Mary Jane to marry him and in a recent TV spot, it shows her telling Peter to use her wedding ring to do it. May then tells him that he needs to put his wife before him, no matter what. A preview aired during the television series Heroes shows Peter going to his aunt's new apartment to tell her the news. She then tells Peter how Uncle Ben proposed to her. She is also present when Captain Stacy tells Peter that Flint Marko, his uncle's "actual" killer, is on the run. Peter's anger at this news prompts her to deliever another speech, which is more of a warning to Peter of the danger to oneself in seeking revenge.
