Aunt May
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| Aunt May | |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Amazing Fantasy (1st series) #15 (August, 1962) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| In story information | |
| Full name | May Reilly Parker |
| Supporting character of | Spider-Man |
May Reilly Parker, commonly 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 as May Parker in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962).
In the main story continuum, Aunt May is aunt-by-marriage and adoptive mother of Peter Parker, who once led 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.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
May Parker (maiden name Reilly) was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 5[1]. Originally a very naive girl in her youth who was about to fall for a small-time crook, she eventually discovered her affections for her schoolmate Ben Parker and married him, both enjoying a happy life together.
May and Ben 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 but later 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 an 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.
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. May finally learns about her nephew's secret life once and for all[2]. 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 had 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, 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[3].
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 Act. The following issue, when Peter takes Aunt May and Mary Jane to a sleazy motel for refuge, a prostitute witnesses Peter check into his room, and now knowing that Peter is Spider-Man, calls up a crime organizer named 'Lucille' and puts Peter's name down as a hit. The hit is made by an assassin named Jake Martino who was ordered by the Kingpin, except that instead of Peter Parker, Aunt May is shot in the stomach[4]. Peter web-swings May to a hospital[5]. It is then revealed that she has lapsed into a coma and will most likely die. Aunt May however, receives a radioactive blood transfusion from Peter, which he hoped would once again save her life due to his mutated healing factor.[6]. Although healing factor is in his blood, the most recent issue of Amazing Spider-Man shows that the radioactivity has literally done nothing to her system. Peter believes she has built an immunity to his blood, considering this hasn't been the first time he gave blood to her.
However, it is revealed that May is not dead, as Peter and Mary Jane were forced to move May to a ward in another hospital[7]. This was the result of a police investigation with Mary Jane as a prime suspect in what was erroneously believed to be a case of blood poisoning when traces of radioactivity from Peter's blood showed up in May's system.
The demon Mephisto has offered to restore Aunt May's health at great personal cost to Peter, his life and marriage to his wife, Mary Jane. Agreeing to the terms, on her conditions, Mary Jane has reality altered so that May lives, Peter was never unmasked and Harry Osborn never died... at the cost of their marriage getting erased from all memories.[8]
Since the beginning of Brand New Day, May is doing volunteer work for a homeless shelter, run by the seemingly benevolent entrepreneur, Martin Li, who is in fact the supervillain crime boss, Mr. Negative and Peter's alter ego is yet again secret from her[9].
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Bullet Points
In this alternate reality, May suffers the loss of Ben only months into their marriage. Ben is killed during the assassination of Doctor Erskine, the man who would have created Captain America. Richard and his wife promise to be there for May but she eventually ends up raising Peter by herself. Without the influence of Ben, Peter becomes a troublemaker, even going so far as to steal cars, and eventually is exposed to a gamma bomb that transforms him into this reality's version of the Hulk (Bruce Banner becomes this world's Spider-Man during experiments on the animals that were affected by the bomb).
[edit] Golden Oldie
May Parker was transformed by Galactus into the cosmically-powered being Golden Oldie to serve as his herald. Rather than lead him to populated worlds, Oldie discovered an extraterrestrial baker who made planet-sized snack cakes which sated Galactus' hunger. May's transformation was ultimately revealed as a dream. The issue, a parody of an old Hostess snack cake advertising campaign, was part of Marvel's "Assistant Editors Month" series of humorous issues[10]
May would also appear as "Golden Oldie" (this time an Iron Man parody) as well as "The Astonishing Aunt Ant" and "Auntie Freeze" in an imaginary story issue of What If?.[11]
[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, teenagers named Ben, Richard, May and Mary meet while on summer vacation, and May becomes pregnant with a child she names Peter. None of the characters' last names were revealed. The story did not become canon because of its negative reception.
[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 prior to him being killed by a Spider-Man imposter. May has been seen working in an office cubicle and attending a PTA meeting.
In Ultimate Marvel, Aunt May is the sister of Mary Parker,[12] Peter Parker's mother (which is different from the mainstream continuity, in which Aunt May is unrelated to Mary Parker and May's husband Ben Parker is Richard Parker's brother).
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.)
Peter reveals his secret identity to Aunt May after he finds Gwen Stacy's clone at her old house[13]. 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.
Peter learned that May had known his 'father', 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"[14]. 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 herself into Carnage. May then suffers a heart attack. She is rescued from dying by Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four[15]. She gets back together with Peter and accepts him as Spider-Man though she is not at all fond of his costume[16]. Aunt May is still in the hospital talking with Mary Jane about Spider-Man's popularity[17].
After recovering, May returns home, and focuses on her talking with Peter about his double life. Peter tells May why he became Spider-Man, and May tells him that Ben would be proud of him for doing so[18].
[edit] Marvel Zombies
In the Marvel Zombies universe, once zombified, Spider-Man eats Mary Jane and Aunt May, though he does so reluctantly asking Aunt May to lock herself in the bathroom since he can't control himself. He constantly regrets this during the rational periods he has after eating, going so far as to ask a Skrull impersonating Thanos to destroy him.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Animated Series
[edit] 1960s
May's first appearance in animation was in the first season of the 1960s Spider-Man series as part of the episode "Horn of the Rhino." In the episode, she's seen trying to nurse Peter over a severe headcold and very abruptly telling J. Jonah Jameson that he was not to call Peter about photo assignments until he had recovered. May apparently made an impression on Jameson as he told Betty Brant that he didn't ever want to speak to May again. May had also 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 the elderly to take that would make them feel worse to the point of death, but the plan was foiled by Spider-Man and Aunt May was saved, along with every other elderly person who took the drug.
[edit] 1980s
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. She was voiced by veteran voice actress June Foray.
[edit] 1990s
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 at that time, she doesn't know that her nephew is really Spider-Man.
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. Keane was also friends with May's late husband Ben (and unbeknownst to her, he was also a member in the 1940s superhero team called the Six Forgotten Warriors being named the Destroyer). May is friends with Anna Watson, and despite their friendship and May's kindness towards 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 expressed 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, in the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Carnage's reality, Aunt May was dead along with Uncle Ben, but her cause of death was unknown.
Linda Gary voiced Aunt May in the first three seasons. Following Gary's death from a brain tumor, Julie Bennett replaced her during the final two seasons.
[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 Peter's parents).
[edit] The Spectacular Spider-Man
Aunt May Parker appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Deborah Strang. She appears to be slightly younger and less fragile than her other counterparts (minus the Ultimate universe), but she's still overprotective of Peter. In "Persona" she begins to feel faint while cooking dinner but comes to the moment Peter arrives. In "Group Therapy" she suffers a heart attack while out to a Broadway show with Anna Watson; Peter, who is under the influence of the symbiote suit, is unaware of it until Mary Jane Watson visits to tell him May is in the hospital.
[edit] Live-action series
Aunt May appeared in the pilot episode of the 1970s live-action The Amazing Spider-Man series, played by Jeff Donnell, and in one subsequent episode, "Night of the Clones," where she was portrayed by Irene Tedrow.
[edit] Films
In the Spider-Man films, Aunt May is played by Rosemary Harris as a 70-80ish housewife, and later, widow. She is the one who encourages Peter the most throughout the films with her words of wisdom as Uncle Ben had done before his death, 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. After 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.) May shows up at Norman Osborn's funeral alongside Peter, MJ and Harry; soon after that, she and Peter visit Ben's grave located elsewhere in the cemetery.
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, forcing her to sell the house and live in a smaller apartment. 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.
In Spider-Man 3 (2007), Peter tells Aunt May that he's going to ask Mary Jane to marry him, after which the two embrace. May then tells him that he needs to come up with a good way to initiate the proposal, and that he needs to put his wife before him, no matter what. She then relates to Peter how Uncle Ben proposed to her, and that they would have been married for fifty years "this August", had Ben not been killed. She then takes off her engagement ring and asks Peter to use it to propose to MJ. May is also present alongside Peter when Captain Stacy tells them that Flint Marko, his uncle's "actual" killer, is on the run. She plays a strong role in providing moral support to Peter but nothing much is really done by her in the third movie, nor was she ever targeted by Spider-Man's foes as in the previous two movies. Later, when Peter informs May about Sandman's apparent demise at the hands of Spider-Man (under the influence of an alien symbiote), she delivers another speech, which is more of a warning to Peter of the danger to oneself in seeking revenge. Peter is at first shocked at his aunt's reaction, for he expected Aunt May to be happy as Sandman was the one who killed Uncle Ben. Peter soon realizes that this is not the case, and Aunt May says that Uncle Ben would never have wanted revenge. Much later, May talks to Peter in his apartment where Peter says that he's done terrible things (after separating from the symbiote suit that had caused him to hurt Mary Jane and Harry). He tries to return her ring to her, but Aunt May says that she knows he'll find a way to put it right, and gives it back. May later shows up at Harry Osborn's funeral at the end of the film.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ The 2007 Free Comic Book Day edition of The Amazing Spider-Man.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man (volume 2) #35, #38
- ^ Sensational Spider-Man #31
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #538 (February 2007)
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #539 (March 2007)
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #541 (May 2007)
- ^ Cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #543
- ^ Comic fans fume as Marvel erases Spidey-MJ marriage - USATODAY.com
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #552 (March 2008)
- ^ Marvel Team-Up #137.
- ^ What If? v.1 #34
- ^ In Ultimate Spider-Man #100, Aunt May says to a man she believes to be Richard Parker, "I've had enough Parker drama for the rest of my life! My sister married you, not me!"
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #99
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #100
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #101
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #105
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #106
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #111
[edit] References
- Comic Book Awards Almanac
- The Women of Marvel Comic's Aunt May Page
- Aunt May's Profile at Spiderfan.org
- Aunt May on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
