May Reilly Parker-Jameson, 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). She has appeared in most other media adaptations of the character as an important part of the Spider-Man series.

In the main universe continuum, Aunt May 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 has not known of his secret life and considers Spider-Man frightening.

After years as a widow, Aunt May married John Jonah Jameson, Sr. (father of long-time Spider-Man adversary J. Jonah Jameson).

Fictional character biography

May Parker (née Reilly) was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 5. 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.

After the death of their young nephew's parents, May and Ben took in the boy, Peter, and raised him at their home in the Forest Hills section of Queens. 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 though Peter did his best to help. Through these situations, May maintained a subtle undertone of inner strength which later leaned closer to stereotypical senility.

Peter's secret life as Spider-Man endlessly complicated both his and his aunt's lives. Aunt May lived in constant fear for her "frail" (but unaccountably secretive) nephew who insisted on a job as a freelance photographer. Parker was determined to capture Spider-Man in action, frequently submitting pictures of him to the Daily Bugle; Spider-Man was a vigilante whom Aunt May feared because of her unquestioning acceptance of the Daily Bugle's smearing.

Peter feared for his aunt's well-being and the fatal shock that would result if she ever learned 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 needed 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.

During a period of convalescence at a nursing home, May met the wheelchair-bound Nathan Lubensky. Gradually, May and Nathan fell in love with each other. She invited Nathan into her Forest Hills home after converting it into a boarding house, and the couple was briefly engaged. However, May's heart was broken when Nathan suffered a fatal heart attack while protecting her from being taken hostage by Adrian Toomes, the costumed villain known as the Vulture. Not long thereafter, a guilt-stricken Toomes confronted May, begging her to forgive him for his role in Nathan's death (Ironically, Nathan had befriended Toomes when the two briefly resided at the same nursing home). May refused to do so, stating that only God could provide the villain with the type of redemption he was seeking.

In her most recent "death", the "Aunt May" who died shortly after learning of Peter's secret identity, 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. This resulted in a heartfelt discussion in which aunt and nephew confess their darkest secrets, and each learned that the other is far stronger than they had imagined.

After their house was destroyed during Spider-Man's fight with Charlie Weiderman, Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane Watson moved into Stark Tower (as Spider-Man had joined the Avengers). Aunt May seemed to be developing a romantic relationship with the Avengers' butler, Jarvis. May was quite a strong-willed woman and even the hard-nosed Wolverine found it impossible to argue with her. During the Civil War, she and Mary Jane convinced Peter to unmask himself in front of a press conference, and May even made 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.

When Peter changed his mind about the Superhuman Registration Act, he had to move Aunt May, Mary Jane, and himself out of Stark Tower because Iron Man was the leading supporter for the Act. The following issue, when Peter took Aunt May and Mary Jane to a sleazy motel for refuge, a prostitute witnessed Peter check into his room, and now knowing that Peter is Spider-Man, called up a crime organizer named 'Lucille' and put Peter's name down as a hit. The hit was made by an assassin named Jake Martino, who was ordered by the Kingpin, except that instead of Peter Parker, Aunt May was shot in the stomach. Peter brought May to a hospital. It was then revealed that she has lapsed into a coma and would most likely die. Aunt May however, received a radioactive blood transfusion from Peter, which he hoped would once again save her life due to his mutated healing factor. Although healing factor is in his blood, the most recent issue of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' shows that the radioactivity had done nothing to her system. Peter believed she has built an immunity to his blood, considering this hadn't been the first time he gave blood to her.

However, it was revealed that May was not dead, as Peter and Mary Jane were forced to move May to a ward in another hospital. 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 offered to restore Aunt May's health at great personal cost to Peter, his life, and his marriage to his wife, Mary Jane. Agreeing to the terms, Mary Jane and Peter had reality altered so that May lived, Spider-Man's identity was once again a secret, and Harry Osborn was still alive. The cost of Mephisto's offer was the erasure of Peter and Mary Jane's marriage.

At the beginning of ''Brand New Day'', May was doing volunteer work for a homeless shelter, run by the seemingly benevolent entrepreneur, Martin Li, who was in fact the supervillain crime boss, Mister Negative. During her work at the shelter, she met John Jonah Jameson (the father of J. Jonah Jameson) and started a relationship with him. The following issue, Peter caught the two of them in bed. However, he approved of this relationship, mainly because John supports Spider-Man, who had previously saved his life,

John walked with May in Central Park, and asked her to marry him, which May accepted. Despite Dr. Octopus' subconscious efforts to halt his former fiance's wedding plans, May and John were wedded by New York Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. After the wedding, May and John embarked on a round-the-world honeymoon.

It was recently revealed that Aunt May has several blood relatives that are still alive. Aunt May has a sister named Jan. May's first cousins Sam and Julia are the children of her uncle Bill and his wife Claudia. Peter was attracted to Julia's daughter Alexa. The Reilly family is currently staying in Aunt May's house.

Upon her return from her honeymoon, she stops by the FEAST offices, only to accidentally walk in on Martin Li, along with Hammerhead torturing one of Mr. Negative's Inner Demons. Trying to escape, Li touches her with his corrupting touch. She then returns to meet her husband and Peter. When John suggests going somewhere nice for dinner, Aunt May sarcastically proceeds to insult Peter over his fluctuating jobs and his dependence on them, culminating with calling her nephew "One damn big disappointment". A heartbroken Peter then runs off. Peter returns, after a physically and mentally exhausting battle against the Lizard, tries talking to Aunt May, looking for someone to help give him hope after seeing the death of Curt Connors' humanity. She still continues to act like a bad-tempered teenager and at first, rebuffs him. However, after seeing Peter clearly suffering mentally, she feels guilty and undergoes an intense mind battle, breaking the corruption, and is shown simply sitting next to Peter.

Other versions

Bullet Points

In this alternate reality, May suffered the loss of Ben only months into their marriage. Ben was killed during the assassination of Doctor Erskine, the man who would have created Captain America. Richard and his wife promised to be there for May, but she eventually ended up raising Peter by herself. Without the influence of Ben, Peter became a troublemaker, even going so far as to steal cars, and was eventually exposed to a gamma bomb that transformed 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).

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 bakes planet-sized snack cakes that sate Galactus's hunger. May's transformation is 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.

May also appeared as "Golden Oldie" (this time an Iron Man parody) as well as "The Astonishing Aunt Ant" and "Auntie Freeze" in an issue of ''What If?''.

Marvel Noir

In ''Spider-Man Noir'', May Parker was a socialist activist in charge of a Welfare Center established by the murdered Ben Parker.

Marvel Zombies

In the Marvel Zombies alternate universe (Earth-2149), Spider-Man was bitten and transformed into a zombie, leading him to devour first Mary Jane, and then Aunt May, despite warning her to lock herself in the bathroom because he couldn't control himself. However, Spider-Man thereafter felt remorse for his act of cannibalism, repeatedly referring to their deaths after he has feasted. Eventually, this lead him to turn against his fellow former metahuman and mutant colleagues.

MC2

In the alternate timeline known as MC2, May Parker's death in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #400 was valid. It was May who died in this continuum, rather than an actress. Peter's daughter, May "Mayday" Parker, was named for her. Mayday became the super-heroine Spider-Girl and met the original May when she found herself displaced in time, although Mayday makes no attempt to explain who she really was.

When Spider-Girl was trapped in an illusion by her enemy, Misery, she was given encouragement from a familiar spirit. She recognised the spirit as being Aunt May.

In the final arc of ''Amazing Spider-Girl'', Aunt May acts a spiritual advisor to May in order to help her grandniece reclaim her identity and save Peter from Norman Osborn. In this form, she initially appears as a younger version of herself, which prevents May from recognising her. However, May finally figures it out when she sees Aunt May through her father's eyes.

Spider-Man: Clone Saga

In the retelling of the Clone Saga, May did not die as in the original storyline. Rather, she was infected with a virus by Jackal along with Mary Jane. Though she is close to death, Ben Reilly and Peter manage to get the cure and save her life. May and Ben are later by Peter and Mary Jane's side when she gives birth and is horrified when news breaks that Allison Mongrain has stolen baby May. The baby is later returned to the Parkers

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 met while on summer vacation. Ben and May are one couple while Richard and Mary another. Richard is secretly also seeing May who becomes pregnant with his child. She informs Ben of this who counters that he is sterile. May gives birth to a boy and her best friend Mary presents it to Richard as her own.

None of the characters' last names were revealed. The story did not become canon because of its negative reception.

Ultimate Aunt May

In the Ultimate version of Spider-Man, Aunt May was a strong and independent woman in her late forties or early fifties, significantly younger than her original Marvel Universe counterpart. After the death of her husband Ben Parker, she was the pillar strength for her nephew Peter. She was slightly overprotective of her nephew, and not supportive of Peter's secretive behavior. Aunt May was quite good with computers and liked to search for things on the Internet. At one time, she had romantic feelings for George Stacy, the policeman who investigated Ben's murder and father of Gwen Stacy prior to him being killed by a Spider-Man impostor. May has been seen working in an office cubicle and attending a PTA meeting. Also, in this continuity, Peter's mother Mary is May's sister, making her and Uncle Ben in-laws.

Having gotten over the traumatic event of her husband's death, Aunt May went on a date while Spider-Man is dealing 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 revealed his secret identity to Aunt May after he found Gwen Stacy's clone at her old house. Aunt May screamed at Peter and Gwen to leave the house, as she despises Spider-Man. At that moment, Peter's father appeared.

Peter learned that May had known his 'father', in truth a clone of Peter himself, had been 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 surrounded the Parker home, which triggered a transformation in Gwen, turning her into Carnage. May then suffered a heart attack. She was rescued from dying by Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four, reconciles with Peter and accepted him as Spider-Man, though she was not at all fond of his costume. Aunt May was still in the hospital talking with Mary Jane about Spider-Man's popularity.

After recovering, May returned home, and focused on her talking with Peter about his double life. Peter told May why he became Spider-Man, and May told him that Ben would be proud of him for doing so.

During the events of Ultimatum, May was taken in for questioning by the NYPD concerning her odd connections to several vigilantes, most notably Spider-Man. No charges came of it, though, following the change in Spider-Man's status caused by Ultimatum. The questioning itself was interrupted by the tidal wave that devastated New York; it threw a passenger ship onto the street just outside the building May was in.

Post-Ultimatum, Aunt May has turned her home into a teen shelter of sorts for superhumans without a home, including Bobby Drake (Iceman), Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), and Johnny Storm (Human Torch).

During the climax of "The Death of Spider-Man" storyline, Aunt May manages to shoot Electro with a gun. She was by Peter's side when he died following a battle with the Green Goblin who died shortly after Peter.

In other media

Television

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. In "King Pinned," she was taking medications to cure a sickness she had only it was 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.

In the 1977 television movie pilot for the CBS series ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Aunt May is portrayed by actress Jeff Donnell. The character subsequently appears in one episode of the series, "Night of the Clones," where she is portrayed by Irene Tedrow.

Aunt May appeared in the 1980s ''Spider-Man'' TV series voiced by Linda Gary.

Aunt May appeared several times in the course of ''Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends'' voiced by June Foray. The Spider-Friends secretly operated in her house.

Aunt May notably appeared in the 1990s ''Spider-Man: The Animated Series'' with Linda Gary reprising Aunt May for the first three seasons and later voiced by Julie Bennett in the last two seasons. In this version, her character hated Spider-Man deeply but loved his alter ego, her nephew Peter Parker. As in the comic at that time, she did not know that her nephew was really Spider-Man. She had many encounters with villains Spider-Man fought like Venom (as Eddie Brock), the Hobgoblin, Doctor 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 as the Destroyer). May was friends with Anna Watson, and despite their friendship and May's kindness towards Mary Jane, Anna had no respect for Peter and he had 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 and Ben's wedding rings 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. It's possible she might have died in the same manner in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #400.

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 in ''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).

Aunt May Parker appeared in ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' voiced by Deborah Strang. She appeared to be slightly younger and less fragile than her other counterparts (minus the Ultimate universe), but she was still overprotective of Peter (though like her movie counterpart, she believed Spider-Man was good). She like in the comics introduced Mary Jane Watson. In "Persona", she began to feel faint while cooking dinner, but shook if off the moment Peter arrives. In "Group Therapy", she suffered a heart attack while out to a Broadway show with Anna Watson during the Sinister Six's attack. Peter, who was under the influence of the symbiote suit, wasn't unaware of it until Mary Jane Watson visited to tell him May was in the hospital. She recovered and headed back home for a Thanksgiving dinner with Peter, her doctor, Gwen and Captain George Stacy at the end of the first season, where May informed the others that she was writing a cookbook and had already received an advance from a publisher. In Season 2 she is revealed to be feeling much after the heart attack though Peter still worries about her. Her and her doctor, Doctor Bromwell, have also seem to have an liking over each other. The doctor described her as his favorite heart patient and even checking her up at her own home. She doesn't know that her nephew is Spider-Man and when asked by the reporter Ned Leeds if he is Spider-Man she thought she was being punked. After Peter's feelings were mixed in between Liz Allan and Gwen Stacy she gave Peter advice that he needed to be honest between both of the girls but before that he must be honest with himself.

Films

In Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, Aunt May was played by Rosemary Harris as a housewife who is widowed by the events of the first film. She was the one who encouraged 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 moves 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. May shows up at Norman Osborn's funeral alongside Peter, Mary Jane 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 (although it is implied that the bank is cheating her out of the house). Her opinion of Spider-Man is not 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 in return, helps Spider-Man during the battle by hitting Octavius with her umbrella), and from that point believes that he was good; it is implied, but never stated, that she may have deduced his secret identity. Later in the film, Peter's powers began 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. She later 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 is 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 M.J. 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 is 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 that he will find a way to put it right, and gives it back. May later appears at the end of the film attending Harry Osborn's funeral.

She will be portrayed by Sally Field in the 2012 reboot ''The Amazing Spider-Man''.

Video games

Aunt May makes a cameo appearance in ''Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter''.

The code named after her is used as a cheat code to unlock all cheats in ''Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro''.

Aunt May was featured in the ''Spider-Man 2'' video game voiced by Mindy Sterling.

Aunt May was also mentioned in the ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' video game.

Aunt May was mentioned to be a playable character in ''Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2'' video game which turned out to be an April Fool's joke.

See also

Spider-Man: Back in Black

Spider-Man: One More Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

One Moment in Time (comics)

References

External links

Comic Book Awards Almanac

The Women of Marvel Comic's Aunt May Page

Aunt May's Profile at Spiderfan.org

Category:Fictional characters from New York City Category:Marvel Comics characters Category:Comics characters introduced in 1962 Category:Spider-Man Category:Film characters Category:Characters created by Stan Lee Category:Characters created by Steve Ditko

fr:May Reilly Parker it:May Parker ka:დეიდა მეი nl:May Parker pt:Tia May ru:Тётя Мэй fi:May Parker sv:Faster May