Maybelle "May" Parker (nee Reilly) is the wife of Ben Parker and the aunt of Peter Parker.
Biography[]
Spider-Man[]
May and Ben took care of their nephew, Peter Parker. After Ben was shot and killed by a carjacker, Peter and May shared their grief for Ben.
Later, after Peter had moved into an apartment with his friend Harry Osborn, May visited them on Thanksgiving. She was not shy about reprimanding Harry's father, Norman for his rude and boorish behavior.
Shortly thereafter, when Norman (who had become the villainous "Green Goblin") learned Spider-Man's identity, he attacked May at home while she was saying her prayers. May was terrified by the Goblin's demonic appearance and was hospitalized after the Goblin injured her.
Green Goblin then made a failed attempt to kill Mary Jane Watson, whom he believes to be Spider-Man's girlfriend, before he was killed. May showed up at Norman Osborn's funeral alongside Peter, MJ and Harry. Soon after that, she and Peter visited Ben's grave located elsewhere in the cemetery.
Spider-Man 2[]
May continued to look after Peter, but had financial difficulties since the death of her husband, Ben, forcing her to sell the house and live in a smaller apartment (although it is implied that the bank is cheating her out of the house). Her opinion of Spider-Man is not high, as she claims "the less we see of him, the better".
However, when May's visit to the bank with Peter was interrupted by a robbery perpetrated by the new villain Doctor Octopus, Octavius took her hostage and climbed the side of a skyscraper with her. May was rescued by Spider-Man and, in return, helped Spider-Man during the battle by hitting Octavius with her umbrella and from that point believed that he was good.
Peter's powers began to wane because of a subconscious desire to live a normal life and he decided to give up his superhero persona, throwing his suit in a trash bin; May made a speech which encouraged him to resume his heroic activities. She later expressed that she felt she caused Ben's death "you wanted to take the subway and he wanted to drive you. And if I had stopped him, we'd all be having tea together" prompting Peter to admit that he caused the death by not stopping the killer. May was understandably stunned and sad, but later thanked Peter and told him that admitting the truth to her was a brave thing to do.
Spider-Man 3[]
Peter visited May in her apartment and told her that he was going to ask Mary Jane to marry him, after which the two embraced. May then told him that he needed to come up with a good way to initiate the proposal, and that he needed to put his wife before himself, no matter what. She then related to Peter how Ben proposed to her and that they would have been married for fifty years "this August", had Ben not been killed. She then took off her engagement ring and gave it to Peter, asking him to use it to propose to MJ.
May was also present alongside Peter when captain George Stacy told them that Flint Marko, his uncle's "actual" killer, was on the run. She played a strong role in providing moral support to Peter.
Later, when Peter informed May about Sandman's apparent demise at the hands of Spider-Man (under the influence of an alien symbiote) she delivered another speech, which was more of a warning to Peter of the danger to oneself in seeking revenge. Peter was at first shocked at his aunt's reaction, for he expected May to be happy as Sandman was the one who killed Ben. Peter soon realized that this was not the case and May said that Ben would never have wanted revenge.
Much later, May visited Peter in his apartment where Peter said that he had done terrible things, after separating himself from the symbiote suit that had caused him to disfigure the right side of Harry's face with a pumpkin bomb and backhand Mary Jane. He tried to return the ring to her, but May said that she knew he would find a way to put it right and gave it back before leaving.
May attended Harry's funeral.
Character traits[]
As a housewife who is widowed by the events of the first film, she was the one who encouraged Peter the most throughout the films with her words of wisdom as Ben had done before his death. In the second movie, she managed to make him try to return to life as Spider-Man after he lost his powers and threw away his suit.
Relationships[]
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Nephew and savior.
- Ben Parker - Husband; deceased.
- Norman Osborn/Green Goblin - Guest and enemy; deceased.
- Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus - Enemy; deceased.
- Harry Osborn - Guest and friend; deceased.
- Mary Jane Watson - Friend.
Appearances/Actresses[]
- Earth-96283 (3 films)
- Spider-Man (First appearance) - Rosemary Harris
- Spider-Man 2 - Rosemary Harris
- Spider-Man 3 - Rosemary Harris
Behind the scenes[]
- Marion Ross was considered for the role of May Parker.
Trivia[]
- Whether she had deduced Peter's secret identity or not was not made explicit. However, the bank robbery scene, in which she took notice of Peter fleeing to put on his suit, May reacted suspiciously after Spider-Man told her, "We sure showed him". May's later speech to Peter about the need for Spider-Man to return suggested that she may in fact have known of her nephew's alter-ego.
Gallery[]
Spider-Man[]
Spider-Man 2[]
Spider-Man 3[]
