New SPIDER-MAN Movie Casts Marisa Tomei as Aunt May

At this rate, the next Aunt May will be younger than Peter Parker is in the comics these days.

Variety reports that Marvel and Sony have cast Marisa Tomei as Peter Parker's aunt May Parker for the next Spider-Man film.  According to the article, "while insiders could not say where things stood in the deal-making process, they have added that an offer was made late last week for the Oscar-winning actress to join Tom Holland, who was recently tapped to play the web-slinging superhero."

Tomei, 50, is best known as Mona Lisa Vito in the 1992 movie My Cousin Vinny, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.  In addition to the upcoming movie Trainwreck, Tomei has appeared in the films Crazy Stupid Love, The Wrestler, Wild Hogs, Anger Management, What Women Want, Chaplin, and The Toxic Avenger.

The article also mentions that the studios are still looking for a writer to join director Jon Watts in the screenwriting process, but insiders explained that the top brass also wanted to lock down other actors who would appear in multiple films so schedules could be worked out before shooting commences next year.

Created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Aunt May first appeared in Amazing Fantasy (vol.1) #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man.  After the death of her brother-in-law Richard Parker and his wife Mary, May and her husband Ben Parker took in their only son, Peter, and raised him at their home in the Forest Hills section of Queens.  She remained an important influence in Peter's life even after he went to college because she was the only family he had left.

In the early years of his superhero career, Peter worried about May's well-being and the fatal shock he believed would result if she ever learned about his dual identity as Spider-Man.  As a result, Peter was often conflicted over dealing with major crises while his aunt needed nearly constant care.  This conflict took on an unusual turn when Aunt May became lovers with his enemy, Otto Octavius (also known as Doctor Octopus), and Peter struggled to deal with his enemy's schemes while not hurting his aunt.

May finally learned about her nephew's secret life when she walked into his room after he had sustained a serious beating from the villain Morlun.  The two later talked about May's discovery as May came to accept her nephew's calling as a superhero.  While doing volunteer work for a homeless shelter run by Martin Li, the supervillain crime boss Mister Negative, she met John Jonah Jameson (the father of J. Jonah Jameson) and started a relationship with him.  Later in their relationship, John walked with May in Central Park and asked her to marry him, and May accepted.  Despite Doctor Octopus' efforts to halt his former fiancée's wedding plans, May and John were wedded by John's son Jonah, the Mayor of New York City.

Tomei will be the fourth actress to portray Aunt May in live action, after Jeff Donnell in the 1977 Amazing Spider-Man TV movie, Rosemary Harris in the three Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire, and Sally Field in the two Amazing Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield.

The next Spider-Man movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 28, 2017.