Is Aunt May Really Necessary?!

[DamnYellow]

I really thought it would have been a great idea to leave her in Boston and slowly wean Peter off of her. But whatever. Apparently Marvel thinks Peter Parker's middle name is Pan.

[Confuzzled Mutie]

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 each other.

The fact that your justification for her continued relevance essentially boils down to "She's an albatross around Peter's neck" kind of underlines how unlikable the character risks turning into if she continues to overstay her welcome. The mechanics you were discussing with regards to Peter's constant fears about May were fascinating to read about for the first 20 years of the series. But now, after 50 years, isn't it time to move on from that status quo? Is Peter constantly worrying about Mary Jane's safety over May's any less effective? For a story which is based solely on the relationship between power and responsibility, wouldn't it be more fitting for Peter to look after someone he chose to be responsible for(MJ), because he thought he was capable of fulfilling such a duty? As opposed to being responsible for May because she's the only parental figure he has left?

Of course, May doesn't have to die for Peter to progress. JMS showed us that. But that doesn't really make her anymore relevant than MJ, or say, even as relevant as Aunt May was in the 60s' and 70s'.

I'll note that currently she is useful to the title as one more character who can be suspicious of Spock.

But as things stand right now, the character most likely to suspect about Spock should be Carlie, if she is not a total idiot, as Peter in Ock's body actually managed to tip her off. The second should obviously be MJ as out of the entire supporting cast, Spock is spending the most time with her. Heck, I would even place Max Modell and the Horizon crew as candidates more likely to suspect something's up with Peter at a higher position than May. And that is counting only Spidey's core cast and not the Avengers, FF etc.

[XxSnakeProxX]

How so? What would that bring to the book?

I guess it depends on how she dies. If she dies by natural causes, explains that she has always known for quite some time that Peter is Spidey, says shes proud of him, thanks him for caring for her, and so on, I think this may help Peter finally feel a huge burden lifted off of him. He feels he failed Ben, and Aunt May saying all these things can give him the sense that he's finally done for May what he should have done for both her and Ben. If she dies tragically, like a bullet of a supervillain, this can send Peter down a dark road that would be interesting to watch. No longer an alien creature causing him to behave differently, but his raw emotions. This is what I thought we were getting when heading towards #700, what with him slowing losing sympathy for the villains he was fighting.