Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #38
The Conversation
Having recently discovered that her nephew is Spider-Man, Aunt May has asked Peter to meet with him right away but doesn’t say why.[1] Worried by Aunt May’s tone of voice, Peter goes through the various scenarios of what it could be that she wants to talk about. He decides to stop trying to guess what she wants to talk about before it drives him crazy. When May comes knocking at his door he invites her in and sees that she is carrying the tattered remnants of his spare Spider-Man.[2] Peter tries to make up an excuse on the fly, but May tells him not to bother, she knows he’s really Spider-Man.
In tears, she demands to know why Peter would lie to him about this for all these years.[3] After thinking about it for a moment, Peter says that he loves her and he didn’t want anyone to hurt her, least of all him. May can’t understand why Peter would think she was so fragile, reminding him that she took Peter in and raised him after her parents died.[4] She still continued to raise him after her husband Ben was murdered. She then asks him that if she was strong enough to survive those tragedies, what made him think she couldn’t handle this. Peter says he was just trying to protect her. However, May sees through this, and although she believes Peter is telling the truth it’s not the whole truth. She points out that he also hid it because he was afraid of how she would react or that she might try to stop him and that he’d have to choose between his love for his aunt and what he wanted to do, so he avoided it. When she tells him that his aversion has kept her out of the most important aspect of his life for years, Peter can only agree with her. Peter says that’s not the only reason why he didn’t tell her. When she asks him what else he’s been keeping a secret, he thinks about his early days as Spider-Man. He remembers how he let a crook go free and that criminal later murdered his Uncle Ben. He then decides that he can’t tell her the truth. May presses him to talk about it, saying that him coming clean is the only way they can get back to some normalcy after all of this.
Peter bites the bullet and then tells her that it’s his fault that Uncle Ben died. He tells her how he had a chance to stop the crook who killed Uncle Ben earlier and chose not to and that’s why Ben’s death is his fault and that he has been fighting crime as Spider-Man ever since in order to make up for it. That’s when May drops a bombshell of her own, saying that all these years she blames herself for Ben’s death. On the night in question, she says she and Ben had an argument. As usual, Ben went outside until things cooled down because he didn’t like to argue. Having gotten over what they were fighting about, May thought to tell him to come back inside but didn’t. The last time she saw Ben he left the house to run some errands. This brings May to tears again and Peter comforts her. She realizes that she was never able to tell Peter about what happened that night until after he was able to tell his secret. Realizing how both of them have been carrying so much unnecessary guilt for so many years makes her able to forgive Peter from keeping this secret from her for so long. Peter and Aunt May then hug and that’s when May starts to laugh. When Peter asks what’s so funny, Aunt May says that for years she knew that Peter was hiding something given how awkward he was. For a while, she thought he was gay, not that it would have changed how much she cares about him. She then quips that she knew that Peter was hiding something in the closet, she just never realized it would be a costume. That causes both of them to laugh out loud and Peter feels a huge weight lift off his shoulders now that Aunt May knows that he’s really Spider-Man.
Still, they have serious things to talk about and they get down to talking about what to do next. May admits that she doesn’t agree with what Peter does with his powers she has learned that you need to let your loved ones find their own way even if that way leads to them getting hurt.[6] May admits that she is probably going to argue with him about being Spider-Man and be very happy when he retires, but she can’t tell him to quit. Still, she asks him how it happened, because she’s certain that spider-powers don’t run in the family. It takes Peter over two hours to tell her the whole story and when he is done, May realizes that not a lot of people like Spider-Man and decides people can’t go on thinking her nephew is a bad man. Peter reminds her that nobody knows that she is Spider-Man’s aunt. Still, it’s been a long night and May has a lot to process and decides to head home, however before she goes she tells Peter that if he loves her as much as he says he does, he won’t keep any more secrets from her. He promises and as he sees her out, Peter can’t help but be amazed by how strong Aunt May is. Putting on his costume to go on patrol, Peter feels free for the first time and vows to keep the promise to never keep any secrets from Aunt May again.[7]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Aunt May, Uncle Ben (in flashback)
Continuity Notes
May discovered that her nephew is Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #35.
This costume was left in shreds during his fight with Morlun in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #32-34.
Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Peter has been keeping his double-identity a secret from Aunt May for roughly 11 years at the time of this story.
Richard and Mary Parker were government agents that were killed on a mission while Peter was still an infant. This was detailed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.
Ben Parker was murdered in Amazing Fantasy #15.
May says she is older than she thought she’d ever been and outlived almost everyone she knew as a child. Per Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #2, May Parker is roughly seventy years old at the time of this story.
Except for when he later makes a deal with Mephisto to save May’s life in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As a result, virtually everyone who knew his secret identity had this knowledge erased including May. So technically, he’s lying to her all over again, but hey why quibble over stupid editorial decisions?
