How Old Is Marisa Tomei's Aunt May In The Spider-Man Movies & Why Is It Important?
As fans have seen different iterations of Spider-Man swing onto the big screen, the actors behind his surrounding character roster have also changed. Naturally, that means that several actors have portrayed his loving and supportive Aunt May in live-action at the movies. Following in the footsteps of Rosemary Harris and Sally Field beginning in 2016 was Marisa Tomei, who, with some amount of regret, became the Marvel Cinematic Universe's take on the character in 2016. While she excelled in the role opposite Tom Holland as May's super-powered nephew, Peter "Spider-Man" Parker, Tomei's age made her an outlier compared to her fellow May actors.
To date, Tomei's May is the youngest version of the character Marvel fans have seen on the big screen. Though we don't know her exact age, if we use Tomei's age as a guide, it can be assumed that she's somewhere in her late 40s to early 50s. This is a big change compared to Harris and Field, who were respectively in their 70s and 60s during their tenures, as well as the Marvel Comics May, who is generally in a similar age range. This aging down of the character goes a long way in helping Tomei stand out from her counterparts, taking May in a bit of a different direction from those who came before her.
In fact, Tomei's May being younger is just one of many examples of the MCU Spider-Man's story subverting expectations and going against the cinematic web-slinger grain.
The MCU's Spider-Man has been about trying new things
Between Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy and Marc Webb's "Amazing Spider-Man" films, fans had been stuck with more of the same. Peter Parker is bit by a spider, gets superpowers, Uncle Ben is killed, he makes a suit, and becomes a hero. These story details and more had been done twice already, so when the MCU launched its Tom Holland-led "Spider-Man" series, the minds behind it opted to make some changes to freshen things up. The aging down of Aunt May is one of multiple instances of Marvel Studios wanting to try new things for the webhead.
One of the biggest changes is the removal of Uncle Ben from the story. The MCU's Peter rarely mentions him, and we certainly don't see him in any of his solo movies. Tony "Iron Man" Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) becomes an Uncle Ben-like figure instead, and Aunt May delivers a version of the "with great power, comes great responsibility" line commonly associated with Ben just before she dies. Peter also dons a variety of Spider-Man suits instead of one or two different ones as previous takes did, his best friend is Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) instead of Harry Osborn, and he goes on world-saving adventures with other heroes instead of focusing on his own little corner of New York. The list goes on and on.
Regardless of how you feel about these big and small alterations, if nothing else, the MCU's Spider-Man offers a unique and memorable approach to the character's world and mythology.