Aunt May - Fictional Character Biography

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 her brother-in-law and his wife, May and Ben took in their only son, 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, 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.

Peter's secret life as Spider-Man endlessly complicated both his and his aunt's lives. Aunt May lives 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 is a vigilante whom Aunt May feared because of her unquestioning acceptance of the Daily Bugle's smearing.

Peter fears 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 serves 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 takes on an unusual turn when Aunt May had his enemy, Doctor Otto Octavius (also known as Doctor Octopus) as an apparent sweetheart; Peter struggles 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. Afterward, Aunt May finds a new purpose in her life defending Spider-Man online while enjoying knowing that her actually robust nephew's previously mysterious behaviors such as his suddenly disappearances during times of crisis now made sense.

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, it was revealed 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. 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 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 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 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.

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.