The next chapter has Peter Parker stop by the F.E.A.S.T.Food, Emergency, Aid, Shelter and Training. homeless shelter. It’s owned by a guy named Martin Li. Mr. Li funds the place and helps run it, but the real management work is done by the eternally elderly and saintly Aunt May. Mister Li is throwing a party to thank Aunt May for her years of ongoing sainthood or whatever it is she does at the FEAST center when she’s not walking on water.
Aunt May
I think there's something wrong with my graphics settings, because Aunt May's halo doesn't seem to be rendering.
May is an interesting character because of how unapologetically one-dimensional she is. Usually fans dislike it if a character doesn’t have any flaws. Uncomplicated characters are seen as “boring”. As characters pass from one writer to the next, there’s always the temptation to “make them more interesting” by giving them flaws and secrets and stuffing their closets full of skeletons. But Aunt May never got that treatmentACTUALLY they tried to give her a backstory where she was a super-spy back in the 60s, but that idea seems to have been dropped. I think? I hope so. The whole point of Peter Parker is that he’s just a normal kid in extraordinary circumstances, and that falls apart if you retcon him to be a member of a family of badasses.. She’s been a nice old lady since the beginning. She’s always encouraging and supporting of Peter, and she’s always telling him to do the right thing. She doesn’t have any feuds, grudges, vices, or hangups.
Aunt May works as a character despite her lack of flaws. Then again, she’s usually not treated like a full-blown character. Her status quo doesn’t change very much, she doesn’t have any long-term aspirations, and she’s not involved in interpersonal conflicts the that way Mary Jane or Flash Thompson are. She’s almost an aspect of Peter’s character. She’s the flawless mother figure for him to disappoint, while also acting as his moral center.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Spider-Man Part 7: Mary Changed”
Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.
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