Growing Old Gracefully: Marisa Tomei Wanted To Play Older Aunt May In 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'

While you may only be as old as you feel, some fans are already sKeptical of how #MarisaTomei's young #AuntMay will fit into #SpiderManHomecoming. We first met the flirty fosterer in Captain America: Civil War, where the housewife swooned over #RobertDowneyJr's Tony Stark. It was a decidedly younger version of May than we have seen in the past, going from groovy granny to AILF (aunt I'd like to...) With both Aunt May and Stark featuring heavily in the upcoming #superhero epic, Tomei has now revealed that she too imagined a more classic iteration of May.

Golden Oldie

Speaking to Stephen Colbert on his The Late Show, the 52-year-old actress was also apprehensive about how fans would treat a sexier Aunt May:

“You can imagine my horror when I was cast and I started doing the research, but then I thought “well, I’m going to go with it” and I actually made a case to go, to age me up, but no they didn’t do it.”

Previous women to portray the role have included Rosemary Harris in Sam Raimi's trilogy and Sally Field in Marc Webb's universe, so Tomei is definitely on the younger end of the spectrum. However, the idea of her undergoing some Benjamin Button make up skills seems a little OTT — we all remember how Guy Pearce looked in Prometheus.

Age Before Beauty

Introduced in 1964, fans of the Spider-Man #comicbook are used to seeing a fragile May with her wispy white hair, who usually ends up as a damsel in distress. May's history has included a number of major storylines, including her (apparent) death, a marriage to J. Jonah Jameson Sr., and even a fling with Doctor Octopus.

May has a thing for bad boys and her comic book counterpart has a dramatic history with Adrian Toomes when he causes the death of her lover, Nathan Lubensky. This small snippet has already led some fans to speculate that Tomei's May could actually end up dating Vulture in Homecoming — talk about a plot twist.

Like it or lump it, a younger Aunt May is what we are given to work with. Given that the #MCU's titular #SpiderMan is only 20, it sort of makes sense that May is younger than we have seen her before. #Sony and #Marvel rightly stuck by their decision, defending Tomei's casting with the statement that if they had wanted an older May, they would've cast one.

Given more to do, we will have to wait and see how Marisa's version stacks up against the other Mays when Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into action on July 6. Who knows, if the Vulture thing doesn't pan out, Peter may even find he gets Iron Man as a stepdad — I can think of worse people.