May Parker in Spider-Man: Who Plays Aunt May

May Parker, usually called Aunt May, is Peter Parker's aunt and guardian, played by Rosemary Harris, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin (voice) and Marisa Tomei across ten Spider-Man films. The credits list her as May Parker, Aunt May or Aunt May (voice) depending on the film.

In Spider-Man (2002), directed by Sam Raimi, Peter lives in Queens with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and Rosemary Harris plays her as the sixth billed cast member. Four performers have taken the part, and the quickest way to keep them straight is by universe.

The Raimi films run from 2002 to 2007, and Marc Webb directed both Amazing Spider-Man films. Tomei first appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), directed by Jon Watts, and her run now stretches to 2026. Tomlin's voice role in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) is the only time the character is performed off screen.

May Parker's story runs as four separate arcs, one each in the Raimi films, the Webb films, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and only the Marvel Cinematic Universe version, played by Marisa Tomei, ends with her death. Here is how each one runs.

The Raimi films. In Spider-Man (2002) May shares a home with Ben and Peter, and Ben is killed by a carjacker Peter chose not to stop. That loss shapes the household and Peter's code of power and responsibility. Harris is billed fifth in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and seventh in Spider-Man 3 (2007), so May stays part of the ensemble, though the plots of those two films center on Doctor Octopus, Harry Osborn, Sandman and Venom.

The Webb films. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) opens with Peter left with Ben and May after his scientist parents vanish. Ben is killed after Peter lets a thief walk away, much as in the earlier version of the story. Sally Field is billed sixth in that film and eighth in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Lily Tomlin voices Aunt May as the sixth billed cast member in the 2018 film, which follows Miles Morales alongside Peter B. Parker.

The MCU. Tomei's May is introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming, where she walks in just as Tom Holland's Peter puts on his suit. In Spider-Man: Far From Home, a doctored video exposes Peter as Spider-Man, and in Spider-Man: No Way Home May is arrested alongside Peter, Michelle 'MJ' Jones and Ned Leeds before lawyer Matt Murdock gets the charges dropped. That film is also where her arc ends, and Peter visits her grave at the close of it. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, released in 2026, Peter is living in isolation and visits her grave again.

May's closest relationship is with her nephew Peter Parker, and nearly every other bond in her story runs through him. She is his guardian and the person he comes home to, in every universe where she appears.

Ben Parker, known as Uncle Ben, is the second pillar. Cliff Robertson plays Ben in Spider-Man (2002) and Martin Sheen plays him in The Amazing Spider-Man, and in both films his death is what pushes Peter toward heroism. May is the one left behind to hold the household together.

In the MCU her circle widens. Peter's friends Michelle Jones and Ned Leeds are arrested with May in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Happy Hogan is the other adult in Peter's orbit. Mary Jane Watson belongs to the Raimi films, so she should not be confused with Michelle 'MJ' Jones.

The villains also touch her story. In No Way Home it is Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) who fatally wounds her, and Doctor Strange's spell sets the whole chain of events in motion.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, May Parker dies in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), directed by Jon Watts. The Green Goblin fatally wounds her during the fight with the villains pulled in from other universes, and her last words to Peter are that with great power comes great responsibility.

Peter later asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell that makes the whole world forget him, so the person who loved her most is remembered by almost no one. He visits her grave at the end of that film, and in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) he visits it again, which makes her loss a lasting part of his solo life rather than a single scene.

In the other universes her story is not closed in the same way. The Raimi and Webb films end on Peter, Mary Jane and Gwen, and Into the Spider-Verse closes on Miles. As a result the MCU is the only version in which May's fate is stated outright.

The best May Parker moment is her final scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), where she tells Peter that with great power comes great responsibility. A saying that began as an uncle's lesson in Spider-Man (2002) returns in the aunt's last breath, and that gives the Tomei version the most complete arc of any May.

The quieter pick is the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, where May opens the bedroom door and finds Peter in the suit. It is played as a comic beat, and it changes what May means to the MCU Peter, since from then on she is someone he cannot hide from.

If you want to see the character at her most central, start with the Tomei films in release order. If you prefer the earlier eras, the Raimi trilogy, with Harris, is the better place to start. Our Spider-Man movies in order guide shows where each one sits. Both picks are my opinion, so your own favorite May may differ.