Is Aunt May Really Necessary?!

[RyanParkerMan]

Seriously. You can say what you want about erasing the marriage and whether or not it was a good idea or a bad idea, but the answers many people in this thread and others have given about why Peter should've let Aunt May die sound like the same arguments a pretty unlikeable Supervillain would give.

"She was old! She was gonna die anyways!" I mean, yeah. What kind of person sacrifices something of great personal value to save others?! WHAT A LOSER.

Thank you for existing and writing this post. What is wrong with people?

"Who throws away their marriage to save their old half dead Aunt?"

I don't know? A superhero maybe? How about two young people who can't live with the fact that their marriage would be based on their decision to let someone else die.

I hate OMD because of what it did and how it did it. It made MJ and Peter both look bad by design. Peter can't let May die because of him. He especially can't let May die if there's an option to let her live. MJ gets royally screwed in this. She knows that on one level, Peter would resent her for making him pick her over May and she can't live in a relationship like that. She also knows that, by design, there's only one real option here. If they take the deal, no one dies. And please stop with the daughter. Read OMD again. Mephisto doesn't release the daughter thing till after the deal is already made. And even then she's just a possibility... So, if they take the deal they lose their marriage but no one dies. This is the herioc option. If they don't take the deal, someone dies and they live with a selfish decision.

And as Tendrin pointed out, the reasons some of you are making are just sophmoric and juvenile. "She's old." Wow. Breath taking observation. "She doesn't do anything." Do you get Spider-Man comics? "Who would trade their hot wife for their old Aunt" ... ... Spider-Man would. He so would. He'd do anything for Aunt May.

[Tendrin]

Thank you for existing and writing this post. What is wrong with people?

"Who throws away their marriage to save their old half dead Aunt?"

I don't know? A superhero maybe? How about two young people who can't live with the fact that their marriage would be based on their decision to let someone else die.

I hate OMD because of what it did and how it did it. It made MJ and Peter both look bad by design. Peter can't let May die because of him. He especially can't let May die if there's an option to let her live. MJ gets royally screwed in this. She knows that on one level, Peter would resent her for making him pick her over May and she can't live in a relationship like that. She also knows that, by design, there's only one real option here. If they take the deal, no one dies. And please stop with the daughter. Read OMD again. Mephisto doesn't release the daughter thing till after the deal is already made. And even then she's just a possibility... So, if they take the deal they lose their marriage but no one dies. This is the herioc option. If they take the deal, someone dies and they live with a selfish decision.

And as Tendrin pointed out, the reasons some of you are making are just sophmoric and juvenile. "She's old." Wow. Breath taking observation. "She doesn't do anything." Do you get Spider-Man comics? "Who would trade their hot wife for their old Aunt" ... ... Spider-Man would. He so would. He'd do anything for Aunt May.

I know, right? Who trades their future for the past? Aunt May's time is gone and the woman who raised him and was like a mother to him is just an ALBATROSS that's WEIGHING HIM DOWN. When my mom gets that way and if I'm given the opportunity to save her, I'll just say 'naw, she was holding me back. I don't need her anymore. I got my super hot wife to bang, yo.'

Btw, I will totally be Best-Man if I ever become a superhero. Because I am the best man ever.

[charlesthehammer]

Aunt May is an albatross though. She was originally designed to be an albatross. The bullet killing her was probably the best thing that could have happened to end that event (to be fair it was a shitty event). Sadly it didn't.

[Scott Taylor]

Aunt May also told Peter to let her go. What people want matters. Peter made a deal with the devil in order to save her. Now, the devil may or may not have been telling the truth in setting the terms. He may have lied about the deal saving Aunt May. He is untrustworthy to do anything good for anyone.

So its not as easy as saving Aunt May versus saving his marriage. The devil being involved brings in alot of other factors to the mix that should be considered. Would Aunt May have wanted them to do it? What people want matters. Just ask those who are considering pulling the plug on a loved one in a vegetative state.

[Mister Mets]

The One More Day questions are beside the point.

If Aunt May had been killed off earlier, One More Day could still have happened.

Or it could have happened in a way that didn't involve Aunt May.

Whether or not you think it was a good idea to dissolve the marriage has little to do with what Aunt May brings to the book.

[charlesthehammer]

The One More Day questions are beside the point.

If Aunt May had been killed off earlier, One More Day could still have happened.

Or it could have happened in a way that didn't involve Aunt May.

Whether or not you think it was a good idea to dissolve the marriage has little to do with what Aunt May brings to the book.

Well yeah, but that question has been answered. Nothing.

[Scott Taylor]

I don't mean to join in an OMD derail. But the OMD story seems relevant because it can be seen as a statement by Marvel that Aunt May is necessary to the book. Otherwise, why make her fate the focal point of the story?

[jmresp]

The One More Day questions are beside the point.

If Aunt May had been killed off earlier, One More Day could still have happened.

Or it could have happened in a way that didn't involve Aunt May.

Whether or not you think it was a good idea to dissolve the marriage has little to do with what Aunt May brings to the book.

Aunt May no longer brings the value she once had to the book anymore. OMD will always be a crap story, but this is for another forum.

[Tendrin]

Aunt May isn't having too much done with her right now. That does not mean that she brings nothing to the book. Just because a character isn't doing much right now doesn't mean they need to be 'killed off'. It's thinking like that that ultimately diminishes a character's supporting cast. I think a lot of desire to see Aunt May dead comes as part of the backlash to OMD.

May is fine where she is. She is *necesasary* in the sense that she *can* and *will* provide certain things that no other character can. She has a spot. That spot is one only she can fill, but the immediate visibility of the spot is and always will be relative to the story being told. It will be interesting to see what happens with her and SpOck, for example.

[Knightsilver]

Aunt May's continued presence (such as it is), is indicative of the desire of the current writers/editors at Marvel to prevent any actual progress for Peter. Marvel can't stand Peter moving passed the status quo of "young, single just starting out in life" despite the fact that pretty much every other character in the MU has been allowed more progress.

[RyanParkerMan]

Well yeah, but that question has been answered. Nothing.

You haven't been reading me, Mets, and many others posts.

On one level, Peter is obviously happy that May is alive and in his life, but another level that he wouldn't discuss with anyone, except maybe MJ, he's burdened by her. He's burdened by her because he can make a mistake that lets her die just like he made a mistake that caused Ben to die. I.E. OMD!!! He can't let her die. In Stan's run, May looked like she was 85. She was ready to keel over and dieat any moment. She was fragile. Peter helped big time in widowing her. Not only did he have to worry about saving the day and paying his own way, but he had to make sure Aunt May was ok and didn't find out Peter was Spider-Man. He was literally afraid that the revelation would kill her.

This is both fascinating from a psychological point of view... Peter feeling burdened by May's very existence and essential to the mythos of the character. Clark Kent had no control of his parents deaths. His planet blew up or whatever new origin Superman has now. Bruce Wayne couldn't save his parents either and just as important, both of them died.

Peter was partially responsible for Uncle Ben's death but what's worse is that it can happen all over again with Aunt May.

Just because you don't find her as interesting as maybe, Mary Jane, doesn't make her role in the book less important. Look, I find MJ more interesting too. As a reader, you're suppose to find her more interesting. She's young and beautiful and you really don't know what's going on in her head. MJ didn't have a thought bubble for forever in Stan's run. It was genius. She brings other things to the book. Back in the day, it was romantic drama and conflict for Peter. Now it's a loving friendship with the possibility of always developing into something more. All main supporting cast members are important and different from eachother.

I dig Aunt May.

[Tendrin]

Aunt May's continued presence (such as it is), is indicative of the desire of the current writers/editors at Marvel to prevent any actual progress for Peter. Marvel can't stand Peter moving passed the status quo of "young, single just starting out in life" despite the fact that pretty much every other character in the MU has been allowed more progress.

Have they really? Because Reed Richards isn't approaching Retirement Age and Franklin isn't an adult yet, or even close. Frankly, allowing Spidey to achieve that much success, have an enduring marriage, and start raising a baby May has *all sorts of other problems* attached to it for the wider MU. Do you really want Spidey to be 'frozen' *there* instead? Spidey is a young character. Making him older, more responsible and 'adult' seeming is certainly rewarding to older fans who've been reading the book a while, but it serve to weaken what distungishes him as a character from the other succesful, super-scientist characters with families.

[Captain Jibberish]

Have they really? Because Reed Richards isn't approaching Retirement Age and Franklin isn't an adult yet, or even close. Frankly, allowing Spidey to achieve that much success, have an enduring marriage, and start raising a baby May has *all sorts of other problems* attached to it for the wider MU. Do you really want Spidey to be 'frozen' *there* instead? Spidey is a young character. Making him older, more responsible and 'adult' seeming is certainly rewarding to older fans who've been reading the book a while, but it serve to weaken what distungishes him as a character from the other succesful, super-scientist characters with families.

When it comes to OMD, my opinion is that I hate how they did it (Spider-Man making a deal with the devil?), but I was really happy were we ended up. I don't know how many of you have bought the Amazing Spider-Man 40th anniversary, or read through the whole Amazing Spider-Man series any other way, but the series changed a lot after the Spider marriage. In my opinion, it got pretty boring, at least on the Peter Parker side of things. Peter trying to lead a normal social life as a twenty something while trying to be Spider-Man, keeping that life secret, was always a big part of the series, and the marriage fundamentally changed that. He'd always have MJ waiting for him at home. Instead of having to break promises to friends, dates and girlfriends, having to suffer the consequences being Spider-Man brings to his social life, he always had MJ to make excuses for him. That's if any of his other supporting cast appeared at all. One thing I really didn't like about JMS's run was that Mary Jane and Aunt May WERE his supporting cast. You didn't see Flash, Betty or anybody else at all. Which is pretty realistic in a way, as some young married 20 to 30 somethings have a way of becoming pretty insular, drifting away from friends and such. But it's pretty boring. It didn't have the spark, the energy that the older Spider-Man stories had.
If The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of a young man growing up from an awkward teenager to a fully fledged adult, shouldn't marriage and kids come at the end of the story?

[Tendrin]

When it comes to OMD, my opinion is that I hate how they did it (Spider-Man making a deal with the devil?), but I was really happy were we ended up. I don't know how many of you have bought the Amazing Spider-Man 40th anniversary, or read through the whole Amazing Spider-Man series any other way, but the series changed a lot after the Spider marriage. In my opinion, it got pretty boring, at least on the Peter Parker side of things. Peter trying to lead a normal social life as a twenty something while trying to be Spider-Man, keeping that life secret, was always a big part of the series, and the marriage fundamentally changed that. He'd always have MJ waiting for him at home. Instead of having to break promises to friends, dates and girlfriends, having to suffer the consequences being Spider-Man brings to his social life, he always had MJ to make excuses for him. That's if any of his other supporting cast appeared at all. One thing I really didn't like about JMS's run was that Mary Jane and Aunt May WERE his supporting cast. You didn't see Flash, Betty or anybody else at all. Which is pretty realistic in a way, as some young married 20 to 30 somethings have a way of becoming pretty insular, drifting away from friends and such. But it's pretty boring. It didn't have the spark, the energy that the older Spider-Man stories had.
If The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of a young man growing up from an awkward teenager to a fully fledged adult, shouldn't marriage and kids come at the end of the story?

Not necessarily. But in the context of the shared, Marvel universe, it's just a bad idea, in my opinion. On its own, it's not so bad. But it creates a *huge* host of problems for the *rest* of the line if you begin advancing Peter into marriage and then fatherhood, with a baby that's growing up (or not, as Franklin Richards would protest). He's always been portrayed as the youngest of the lot. His getting older, by definition, ages the rest of the line signifnicantly. While that would suit some comic fans just fine, and in fact is something some long term fans desperately want to see as evidenced by the message boards, it's not something Marvel has any interest in doing. Thus, Peter stays young, with all that this youth calls for.

Frankly, the Spider-Marriage was a mistake in the first place, in my view. It was a mistake they stuck with for twenty years because they didn't feel they could undo it without doing even more harm to the character, but undo it they did.

[Knightsilver]

Tendrin;16495020]Have they really? Because Reed Richards isn't approaching Retirement Age and Franklin isn't an adult yet, or even close. Frankly, allotrulyto achieve that much success, have an enduring marriage, and start raising a baby May has *all sorts of other problems* attached to it for the wider MU. Do you really want Spidey to be 'frozen' *there* instead? Spidey is a young character. Making him older, more responsible and 'adult' seeming is certainly rewarding to older fans who've been reading the book a while, but it serve to weaken what distungishes him as a character from the other succesful, super-scientist characters with families.

Unfortunately now he's frozen in a state of perpetual adolescence essentially, so readers can watch him make the same mistakes, date/break up with various women, never truly succeed at much of anything, even for new readers it won't take long for that to get redundant.