Aunt May

This article is about Peter Parker's aunt, May Parker. For her grand-niece, May "Mayday" Parker, see Spider-Girl.

Aunt May
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
Created by	Stan Lee Steve Ditko
In-story information
Full name	May Reilly Parker Jameson
Supporting character of	Spider-Man

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 critic J. Jonah Jameson).

Fictional character biography

May Parker (née Reilly) was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 5. After the death of her brother-in-law and his wife, May and her husband Ben Parker took in their only son, Peter, and raised him at their home in the Forest Hills section of Queens. She remained an important influence in Peter's life even after he went to college due to her being the only family he had left, although her continued belief that Peter was still the fragile boy he'd been before he gained his powers could be frustrating at times.

As part of a plan by Peter's arch-foe Norman Osborn, May was replaced by a "genetically-altered actress" who impersonated her while May was held captive by villains until the actress died, Osborn returning May to Peter with a device planted inside her that would detonate a series of gene bombs if removed, decimating Earth. Fortunately, Mister Fantastic was able to disable the device without removing it, saving the world and May, who apparently retained no memory of her time in captivity. May finally learned about her nephew's secret life when she walked into his room after he had sustained a serious beating from the villain Morlun, the two later talking about May's discovery as May came to accept her nephew's real life.

When Spider-Man joins the Avengers, Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane Watson move into Stark Tower. During the Superhero Civil War, she and Mary Jane convince Peter to unmask himself in front of a press conference. Later, she is targeted by the Chameleon, but outwits the villain by feeding him Ambien-filled oatmeal-raisin cookies.

When Peter changes his mind about the Superhuman Registration Act, he moves his family from Stark Tower to a motel. An assassin hired by the Kingpin tries to kill Peter, but hits May instead. Peter takes May to a hospital where she has lapses into a coma and is likely to die. However, Aunt May receives a radioactive blood transfusion from Peter, which he hoped would save her life due to his mutated healing factor.

The demon Mephisto offers to restore Aunt May's health in exchange for erasing Peter's marriage from history, and Peter and Mary Jane agree. May lives, and Spider-Man's identity is once again a secret.

At the beginning of Brand New Day, May is doing volunteer work for a homeless shelter, run by Martin Li, the supervillain crime boss Mister Negative. At this point, her knowledge of Peter being Spider-Man was erased. 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, and saw through Norman Osborn as a thug who holds nothing but contempt for the people.

John walked with May in Central Park, and asked her to marry him, which May accepted. Despite Doctor 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 later 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 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.

Prior to the events of Spider-Island, after Martin Li's secret identity is exposed to the public, May and John formally announce their intention to leave New York for good, for their own safety, and move to Boston. John explains this was the result of all the recent major incidents towards them and their friends and family. They put May's old house up for sale and leave once the moving van is packed. After spending their last night in New York at John's apartment, the following day she and John head to an airport in New Jersey with Peter and Carlie and they say their goodbyes before flying off. Following the Ends of the Earth storyline, when May and John are returning home to New York on their private jet, but the irresponsible superhero Alpha uses his powers without care in his battle with Terminus causes many aircraft to shut down. The Avengers rescue everybody and Spider-Man saves his Aunt May and John from Jameson's malfunctioning private jet just before it crashes. Later Peter arrives at the hospital to see that his Aunt May and John are okay.

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 and was more in control of himself rather than a slave to his pre-existing hunger. 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. It has been argued that Aunt May was not married to Ben Parker in the Ultimate continuity; this is incorrect. In issue 45 it is revealed that not only was Aunt May a biological sister to Mary Parker, but also that Ben Parker was her husband. After the death of Ben Parker she was the pillar strength for 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, prior to the man's death, she had romantic feelings for John Stacy (the Ultimate Marvel version of George Stacy), the policeman who investigated Ben's murder and was the 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 Ben Parker'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, a man who seemed to be Richard Parker, Peter's father, appeared.

Peter learned that May had known this 'Richard Parker,' in truth a clone of Peter who'd been artificially aged, had been alive for months and had kept the secret from Peter to "protect him," believing that if Richard had deliberately kept his survival secret from his own family for years then he was not worth knowing and that the revelation that Peter had been abandoned, not orphaned, would be too much for the boy. 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.

Although angry at the Ultimates for belittling Peter's accomplishments in life when attending her nephew's funeral, May was nevertheless comforted when she met some of the people that Peter had saved during his career as Spider-Man, one little girl even offering her a comforting hug as thanks for raising the man who saved her. After the funeral, May and Gwen decide to take up Tony Stark's offer to set themselves up for a new life in France.

However, following the emergence of a new Spider-Man, May and Gwen return to New York. They manage to contact Miles and convince him to meet them at an abandoned warehouse, only to be confronted by Captain America, who threatens to arrest Miles' parents and expose his secret to them unless he retires the Spider-Man identity. However, May and Gwen are more supportive of Miles, and May gives him Peter's old web-shooters along with the formula for the web-fluid, telling him to do things his own way rather than Peter's.

During the Spider-Men storyline, May and Gwen are back in the United States, presumably to oversee the selling of the Parker Residence and to finish Gwen's term at Midtown High. They encounter someone wearing a red-and-blue Spider-Man costume and believe he is a lunatic who is disrespecting Peter's memory. They become angry and threaten to call the police. However, when the person unmasks himself, they are stunned beyond belief to see an older, more mature Peter Parker. However, still disbelieving that he is Peter, May comes up and slaps him in the face, followed by Gwen physically attacking him. With the arrival of Miles Morales, the current Spider-Man of their universe, May faints after hearing the remorse from Peter for ever showing up. She later recovers and finds Gwen speaking to both Peter and Miles. Though Gwen is thoroughly convinced that he is Peter Parker from another universe, May is still cautious, until Peter relates how he had lost his Uncle Ben and begins the quote, "With Great Power..." in which May finishes with "Comes Great Responsibility." Finally convinced that he is indeed Peter Parker, May tearfully embraces him and is given the chance for the closure that she had missed when her Peter had died. S.H.I.E.L.D. later arrives to take Peter back to his own universe, as May decides that she had made the right choices concerning her nephew.

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", voiced by Peg Dixon. In the episode, she is 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 did not 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 following Gary's death. 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 is 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 did not 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. Of course a major difference than other versions is that she does not seem to hate Spider-Man at all, never complaining about him, and even willing to not move aside for the Sinister Six to attack him. 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, was 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 better 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 does not 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.

• Aunt May appears in Ultimate Spider-Man voiced by Misty Lee. Like her Ultimate counterpart, this version of Aunt May is considerably younger and less frail than her comic book portrayal. She is shown to be involved in various hobbies such as yoga and cooking classes, which allow Peter to sneak out of the house without arousing suspicion. In one episode, she dated SHIELD agent Phil Coulson, who is the principal of Peter's school.

• Aunt May is referenced by Spider-Man in the The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "New Avengers"

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 snatching Octavius' head 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; 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. When talking to Doctor Octavius, Peter helps him regain his sanity by repeating what May had told him about giving up your dreams sometimes to do what's right.
  • 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 has 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. Like May, Peter comes to forgive Sandman who admits he killed Ben by accident while trying to get money to save his daughter's life. May later appears at the end of the film attending Harry Osborn's funeral.
• Aunt May was portrayed by Sally Field in the 2012 reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, and is shown somewhat younger and more strict than in previous depictions. Throughout the film after being widowed, she expresses concern for Peter being out late and coming home injured, though he refuses to admit to her where he has been. At the end of the movie, despite coming home in serious pain, Peter brings home the eggs she asked him to get in the middle of the movie and does not bother to ask what happened.
  • Sally Field will reprise her role as Aunt May in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which is set for a release in May 2014.

Toys

There was a Famous Covers Aunt May figure offered by Toy Biz as a mail-in offer. The figure stood approximately 9" in height, and featured rooted hair and cloth clothing, including fuzzy slippers.

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.

See also

• Spider-Man: Back in Black
• Spider-Man: One More Day
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day
• One Moment in Time (comics)

External links

• May Parker (Aunt May) at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Comic Book Awards Almanac
• The Women of Marvel Comic's Aunt May Page
• Aunt May's Profile at Spiderfan.org