The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever growing place. Phase Three of the MCU in particular will expand the universe to new places like Wakanda and Queens, NY. The latter comes to us from Spider-Man: Homecoming, which will show Tom Holland's Peter Parker attempting to go back to his High School life after being involved in the events of Captain America: Civil War. This new Spider-Man seems to be the most true to the comics yet, as Tom Holland is young enough to pull of the teenaged character. But while Peter Parker is age appropriate, the MCU made a major change by casting Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei as Aunt May.
Marisa Tomei is obviously far younger than any version of Aunt May we've seen previously, and the actress recently revealed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert how she felt about this change. She said,
You can imagine my horror when I was cast and I started doing the research, but then I thought 'well, I'm going to go with it.' And I actually made a case to go, to age me up, but no they didn't do it.
It looks like Marisa Tomei would have been more than happy to slap on some prosthesis and become a more traditional Aunt May. So take that, haters.
In all seriousness, it's refreshing to see that Marisa Tomei did her proper research for Aunt May. Comic book characters are near and dear to many folks' hearts, and a major change like making Aunt May a sexy and flirtatious 50 year old is sure to ruffle a few purist feathers.
But the fact that Marisa Tomei actually campaigned to age her character should help the fandom breathe a sign of release. The My Cousin Vinny actress understood she'd be playing a figure in the Marvel world, and was willing to portray a more traditional Aunt May. Alas, the Russo Brothers and company decided to create their own version of May, one that would be completely independent from past versions.
Because Aunt May is typically Peter Parker's sole guardian, she's been played by quite a few actresses over the years. In Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy she was played by English actress Rosemary Harris. This was probably the most age appropriate version, as the now 80 something year old actress played the loving matriarch with grace.
For The Amazing Spider-Man films, Aunt May was played by the always delightful Sally Field. And although she's since admitted she wasn't fond of the role, Field was a step in the younger direction. But now we know that we were just hitting the iceberg in regards to Aunt May's age. Because Marisa Tomei's version will make Sally Field's seem downright geriatric by comparison.
It should be interesting to see where Marisa Tomei's Aunt May goes during Spider-Man: Homecoming. Tom Holland already revealed that she won't be flirting with Tony Stark anymore, so almost anything is possible.
Spider-Man: Homecoming will swing into theaters on July 6, 2017.
