Spider-Man 4 is reportedly in early development and while the upcoming Marvel movie will continue the wall-crawler’s MCU story, it will, in many ways, be a new beginning for the character, as his friends no longer know him, and his only family, Aunt May, has died.
Aunt May, as played by Marisa Tomei may not appear in future MCU movies, but that apparently hasn’t had any impact on an ongoing debate regarding her character, was Aunt May too young? A recent thread on Reddit recently relaunched the conversation, pointing out that Tomei’s version of the character is significantly younger than previous iterations of the character, with the OP saying…
I'm sorta used to Aunt May being an old defenseless u know?
There’s little argument that Tomei’s portrayal of Aunt May was not as old and defenseless as previous versions of the character. To be clear, Tomei wasn’t chronologically too young to be Peter Parker’s aunt. The actress was in her early 50s when she appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming. However, it’s true that put her a decade or two younger than the previous screen versions of Aunt May. As one commenter pointed out the comic book version of Aunt May was more in line with this…
in the comics she’s more like a grandma
It’s certainly true that in the comics Aunt May has more of a grandmotherly vibe than one of an aunt. Peter Parker’s parents are rarely portrayed as being quite as old as Aunt May when they died, so it, makes the age of Aunt May seem potentially out of line. While somebody can have a sibling who is decades older than they are, as one commenter pointed out, it is unusual…
I always thought it was weird Peter's aunt seemed like his grandmother in every other version.
Of course, as another person in the thread pointed out, the issue at hand may not be that Aunt may seemed too young, but that Aunt May was kinda hot. Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark flirts with her when she’s introduced and Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan dates her. The fact that men see her as attractive and want a relationship with her is really what sets her character apart. As one reply puts it…
The problem isn't she's young (she isn't), the problem is Tomei is hot
Whether Marisa Tomei was too young, or too hot, to play Aunt May ultimately comes down to whether you think the traditional version of the character is a requirement for a good Spider-Man story or not. Tomei certainly worked in the role, and had the most epic Aunt May finale of them all.
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