Should Aunt May die for good?

[Kevinroc]

Once upon a time the idea of Aunt May dying seemed unthinkable. It's been joked that Aunt May would survive the heat death of the Marvel Universe.

But times have changed. And recent Spider-Man adaptations have done the unthinkable. They have killed Aunt May.

There was a time the comics did the same, only to take it back in one of the most soap opera way imaginable. But, given everything, is it time the Spider-Man comics follow suit and do the unthinkable? Is it time for Aunt May to finally pass on?

[Chris0013]

No. Her age is not that old these days. Just need writers to stop with all the health scares and write her as a healthy elderly woman with a few more decades in her. If Peter is going to perpetually in his late 20s there is no reason to make May get any older.

[Frontier]

If writers feel like they can't get anything more out of her now, maybe, but I doubt it. Comics don't have the sense of finality that adaptions do.

[Tendrin]

In the comics? Despite the blood lust of some fans who see her survival as 'holding Peter back', no. I don't think they should kill her. I'm not sure that the MCU wasting an actress as talented as Marisa Tomei for three whole movies only to off her is the best example to draw from, no matter how popular the movie is right now.

[Vegeta]

She's been dead before, and comics weren't any better because of it. (That whole run was kind of forgettable or downright just bad.) I don't really see a reason for turning Peter Parker into yet another superhero "orphan."

[Tofali]

Why is Aunt May's death needed to tell a story? The only thing it would do is open Spider-Man to criticism and lessen the ppl in Peter's inner circle? Maybe that is the point. Do ppl want her death to lead to a marriage with MJ?

[Hypestyle]

I don't think it's a good idea. It's been done too many times. She's been quietly, vaguely de-aged, or at minimum, her "cultural" age has been lessened. For decades she was written as if she was well into her 80s. Now, with Peter presumably at the cusp of 30, she's been walked back slightly to someone who might be in her early 70s. Not a woman whose coming of age was in the early 30s, 40s, or 50s. She got married to Nate Lubensky, then Jay Jameson.

It's best to keep her around at this point. The "oh, that icky spider-man... help! I've lost my bladder pills!" era is over. She can play a more sophisticated supporting role.

[Tendrin]

I don't think it's a good idea. It's been done too many times. She's been quietly, vaguely de-aged, or at minimum, her "cultural" age has been lessened. For decades she was written as if she was well into her 80s. Now, with Peter presumably at the cusp of 30, she's been walked back slightly to someone who might be in her early 70s. Not a woman whose coming of age was in the early 30s, 40s, or 50s. She got married to Nate Lubensky, then Jay Jameson.

It's best to keep her around at this point. The "oh, that icky spider-man... help! I've lost my bladder pills!" era is over. She can play a more sophisticated supporting role.

The diminishment of Aunt May's importance goes hand in hand with the general diminishment of supporting casts in superhero comics in general. Whether its minutes in a movie or pages in the page count, comics, moves, and entertainment generally have lost the ability to let the smaller moments breathe as they compete for our attention.

The tide on this seems to have begun to turn, however.

[Aura Blaize]

Once upon a time the idea of Aunt May dying seemed unthinkable. It's been joked that Aunt May would survive the heat death of the Marvel Universe.

But times have changed. And recent Spider-Man adaptations have done the unthinkable. They have killed Aunt May.

There was a time the comics did the same, only to take it back in one of the most soap opera way imaginable. But, given everything, is it time the Spider-Man comics follow suit and do the unthinkable? Is it time for Aunt May to finally pass on?

If it could tell a good story, maybe. But in those adaptations had a sense of finality that the comics don't. On top of that, both of the deaths I can think of led to development for Peter. Marvel seems to be allergic to that these days.

She doesn't NEED to die. Quite frankly I'm glad they've gone away from writing her as some frail old woman and instead seem to write her more like her Ultimate counterpart.

[Frontier]

If it could tell a good story, maybe. But in those adaptations had a sense of finality that the comics don't. On top of that, both of the deaths I can think of led to development for Peter. Marvel seems to be allergic to that these days.

She doesn't NEED to die. Quite frankly I'm glad they've gone away from writing her as some frail old woman and instead seem to write her more like her Ultimate counterpart.

Although her Ultimate counterpart feels much more involved than she does now.

[Huntsman Spider]

If it could tell a good story, maybe. But in those adaptations had a sense of finality that the comics don't. On top of that, both of the deaths I can think of led to development for Peter. Marvel seems to be allergic to that these days.

She doesn't NEED to die. Quite frankly I'm glad they've gone away from writing her as some frail old woman and instead seem to write her more like her Ultimate counterpart.

Are you referring to Into the Spider-Verse and Insomniac Games' Spider-Man on PS4/5, by any chance? That said, I do agree with you on Aunt May not needing to die, at least as long as they write her as the kind of spirited, determined, and resolute woman who damn well could have raised the Marvel Universe's greatest hero.

[Alex_Of_X]

If anything, Aunt May should...kill!

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[Jman27]

If anything, Aunt May should...kill!

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boi was Aunt May a sucker for Octopus

[Huntsman Spider]

If anything, Aunt May should...kill!

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boi was Aunt May a sucker for Octopus

I still love that moment during or after The Conversation where she apologized to Peter, following her discovery that he was Spider-Man all along, for how she'd threatened him while Ock was courting her. And let's not forget ASM 80.BEY, which was pretty good on Aunt May's characterization, insofar as her ultimately rebuking and rejecting Ock, realizing he'd never really change, not even for her sake.

[Aura Blaize]

Are you referring to Into the Spider-Verse and Insomniac Games' Spider-Man on PS4/5, by any chance? That said, I do agree with you on Aunt May not needing to die, at least as long as they write her as the kind of spirited, determined, and resolute woman who damn well could have raised the Marvel Universe's greatest hero.

Insomniac and No Way Home actually. I actually forgot about Peter B's Aunt May.