What Happened to Aunt May in Marvel’s Spider-Man? Answered

There are a spectacular amount of characters to keep track of in the Marvel universe, and Spider-Man is responsible for plenty of those names in the bucket. Of all of his friends and family, few of them are more important than Aunt May, but if you’re playing Spider-Man 2, you might be finding a strange absence of the loving mother figure. If you need a refresher on what happened to Aunt May in Spider-Man, here’s what you need to know.

Did Aunt May Die in Marvel’s Spider-Man?

In Marvel’s Spider-Man, Aunt May worked as a volunteer at the F.E.A.S.T. shelter in New York after the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben. During that time, she grew close with Martin Li before discovering him being Mister Negative and attacking City Hall, but she took over the shelter to continue doing all the good work that she could. She took great care of the homeless population in the city and worked to make the shelter as successful as it was by the time of the second game.

Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus) stole the bioweapon Devil’s Breath from Oscorp and released it on the city with the help of the Sinister Six. It caused much of the city’s population to fall severely ill, including Aunt May, unbeknownst to Peter. After he defeats Doc Ock, Peter returns to his Aunt to find that she is at the point of no return, and he has to decide to use what little of the antidote he had to save the rest of the people of New York instead of saving her life.

At this point, Peter was still under the impression that his identity had been a secret to May, but on her deathbed, she revealed that she had known about him for quite a long time. Not only did she support him being Spider-Man, but she encouraged him to let her go to use the antidote to cure the rest of the city.

After this point, you can find May’s grave directly next to Uncle Ben’s in the cemetery in Harlem. It’s a hard shift from much of the other Spider-Man content where Peter can always save her, but for this story, she became another of the sacrifices he had to make to protect the greater good.

That’s about it for what happened to Aunt May in the first Spider-Man game. It’s a sad moment that lives with Peter throughout the second game, but one that further demonstrates the risk that comes with the mask. For more on Spider-Man 2, check out some of our other guides, like how to get the black suit.