Aunt May

Lore & Background

May Parker 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 nephew, Peter, and raised him at their home at 20 Ingram Street, Forest Hills, Queens. She remained an important influence in Peter's life even during college as she was the only family he had left. In the early years of his superhero career, Peter feared for May's well-being and worried shock could end her life if she ever learned of his dual identity as Spider-Man. During a period of convalescence at a nursing home, May met wheelchair user Nathan Lubensky. Gradually, May and Nathan fell in love, 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 Vulture. 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. 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. When Spider-Man joins the Avengers, Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane Watson move into Stark Tower after May loses her house to a fire. During the Superhero Civil War, she and Mary Jane convince Peter to unmask himself in front of a press conference. An assassin hired by Kingpin tries to kill Peter, but hits May instead. Peter takes May to a hospital where she 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 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 named FEAST, 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 "Jay" Jameson and started a relationship with him. Jay walked with May in Central Park and asked her to marry him, and May accepted. Despite Doctor Octopus' subconscious efforts to halt his former fiancé's wedding plans, May and Jay were reluctantly wedded by New York Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. 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 Jay 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 continues to be bad-tempered and at first, rebuffs him. However, after seeing Peter 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 Jay formally announce their intention to leave New York for good, for their own safety, and move to Boston. They put May's old house up for sale and leave once the moving van is packed. Following the Ends of the Earth storyline, when May and Jay are returning home to New York on their private jet, the superhero Alpha uses his powers recklessly in his battle with Terminus, causing many aircraft to shut down. The Avengers rescue everybody and Spider-Man saves his May and Jay from Jameson's malfunctioning private jet just before it crashes. Later Peter arrives at the hospital to see that his Aunt May and Jay are okay, although she has sustained minor nerve damage to her leg that will require the use of a cane for the rest of her life. In The Superior Spider-Man storyline, Aunt May's leg is fully healed from operation and completion surgery with gratitude of Elias Wirtham. As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, May and Jay became part of the Parker Industries foundation, a charity focused on providing help for the less fortunate. However, her husband Jay had coughed up blood and collapsed. Aunt May was heartbroken after Jay died in the hospital. After Peter Parker had his doctorate revoked for "copying" Doctor Octopus' thesis and getting fired from the Daily Bugle, May confronted her nephew about his actions. While stating that he should take responsibility for his actions, May leaves stating that Uncle Ben should have raised him better. Shortly afterwards, May was diagnosed with cancer. While she initially does not tell Peter to avoid overwhelming him, she eventually relents. Peter accompanies her to chemotherapy, and asks Stephen Strange if he can use his mystic powers to cure her, but he refuses. She decides to dedicate her remaining time to serving the homeless community, and reopens F.E.A.S.T. An operation to cure her is successful. When Peter is a coma due to his exposure to poison gas and radiation in a fight with the U-Foes, May enlists Otto Octavius to help her find a cure. Together, they track down the U-Foes and obtain samples from them. Octavius breaks down the components of the gas, allowing doctors to cure Peter. After taking care of a homeless Ned Leeds, May decides to reopen F.E.A.S.T., where she eventually meets a elderly charity worker named Ric Bernal and moves in with him. When Peter is sent into space by the powerful villain Hellgate, his clone, Ben Reilly, takes over his personal life and cuts off communication with May. Peter returns and attempts to mend his relationship with her, though Ric remains distrustful of him.

In Their Own Story

The kitchen clock ticked past midnight, casting long shadows across the linoleum floor. May sat at the small table, a cold cup of tea in front of her, watching the rain streak the windowpane. The silence was heavy, broken only by the distant wail of a siren echoing from Queens. She reached for the framed photo on the mantle, tracing the glass over Ben’s smiling face and young Peter beside him. A soft thud against the window made her jump, but no one was there—just a spider weaving its web in the corner. She smiled faintly, knowing that somewhere out there, another spider was watching over the city. She whispered a silent prayer into the quiet room, hoping he would come home before dawn.

Reader's Guide

Aunt May Parker is the widow of Ben Parker and the paternal aunt by marriage of Peter Parker. She 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 took in their only nephew, Peter, and raised him at their home at 20 Ingram Street, Forest Hills, Queens. She remained an important influence in Peter's life even during college as she was the only family he had left. In the early years of his superhero career, Peter feared for May's well-being and worried shock could end her life if she ever learned of his dual identity as Spider-Man. May became sweethearts with his enemy, Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), and Peter struggled to deal with his enemy's schemes while not hurting his aunt. During a period of convalescence at a nursing home, May met wheelchair user Nathan Lubensky, fell in love, and was briefly engaged, but Nathan suffered a fatal heart attack while protecting her from Adrian Toomes (the Vulture). Later, May was replaced by a "genetically altered actress" as part of a plan by Norman Osborn, while May was held captive by villains. 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. When Spider-Man joins the Avengers, Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane Watson move into Stark Tower after May loses her house to a fire. During the Superhero Civil War, she and Mary Jane convince Peter to unmask himself in front of a press conference. An assassin hired by Kingpin hits May instead of Peter, and she lapses into a coma. Peter gives her a radioactive blood transfusion, hoping his mutated healing factor would save her. The demon Mephisto offers to restore 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 named FEAST, run by Martin Li (Mister Negative). At this point, her knowledge of Peter being Spider-Man was erased. During her work at the shelter, she met John Jonah "Jay" Jameson and started a relationship with him. Jay asked her to marry him in Central Park, and May accepted. They were wedded by New York Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. After her honeymoon, she accidentally walked in on Martin Li torturing one of Mr. Negative's Inner Demons, and Li touched her with his corrupting touch. Under this corruption, she insulted Peter, calling him "One damn big disappointment", but later broke the corruption through an intense mind battle. Prior to Spider-Island, May and Jay moved to Boston for their own safety. Later, May sustained minor nerve damage to her leg requiring a cane, but it was fully healed in The Superior Spider-Man storyline. As part of All-New, All-Different Marvel, May and Jay became part of the Parker Industries foundation. Jay died in the hospital after coughing up blood and collapsing. May was later diagnosed with cancer, underwent chemotherapy, and an operation to cure her was successful. When Peter was in a coma from poison gas and radiation, May enlisted Otto Octavius to help find a cure. After taking care of a homeless Ned Leeds, May reopened F.E.A.S.T., met elderly charity worker Ric Bernal, and moved in with him.

Did You Know?

• May was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 5.
• She was briefly engaged to Nathan Lubensky, a wheelchair user she met during a period of convalescence at a nursing home.
• May was once replaced by a 'genetically altered actress' as part of a plan by Norman Osborn, while May was held captive by villains.
• She married J. Jonah 'Jay' Jameson Sr., the estranged father of J. Jonah Jameson, making Jameson her step-son and by extension Peter's step-cousin.
• May was diagnosed with cancer and successfully treated with an operation after initially not telling Peter to avoid overwhelming him.