Spider-Man star Marisa Tomei says she wanted Aunt May to be queer

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Spider-Man star Marisa Tomei has said she suggested that her character be queer.

In Jon Watts’s film franchise, Tomei plays Aunt May, who is a mother figure to Spider-Man aka Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland).

In a recent interview with Geeks of Colour, the 57-year-old said: “There was a moment where I felt that May – maybe she should just be with a woman because Ben is gone.”

In the MCU, Ben Parker is Aunt May’s dead husband. He is also commonly referred to as Uncle Ben.

Tomei went on to suggest that Sony producer Amy Pascal could portray May’s girlfriend.

“And we were kind of talking about it,” she laughed. “And so I actually really wanted Amy Pascal from Sony to be my girlfriend.

“I was like, ‘No one even has to know, Amy. I’ll just be in a scene and you’ll be over there. And I’ll just be like, ‘Hey!’ It’ll just be a subtle thing.”

The film executives, however, shut the idea down. “No one went for it at the time,” said the Oscar-winner.

Tomei portrayed Aunt May in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, after which she starred in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019).

Spider-Man: No Way Home is in cinemas now.