Aunt May is a fixture in Spider-Man‘s life, but she’s always been a supporting character. She either serves as moral support for Peter Parker during some of his darkest moments, or is the damsel in distress who needs rescuing. That all changes in the most recent issue of Spider-Boy. The Spider-Man spinoff series stars Bailey Briggs, a young boy experimented on to splice his DNA with a spider. Spider-Boy has been working to emancipate the other Humanimals created by Madame Monstrosity. This brings Spider-Boy into conflict with a villain in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, where we get to see Aunt May demonstrate an ability she’s never had before. WARNING: Spoilers for Spider-Boy #19 below.
Spider-Boy #19 comes from the creative team of Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Erick Arciniega, and VC’s Joe Caramagna. Spider-Boy and his friend Christina are robbing a bank where Mr. Negative is holding some of his safety deposit boxes full of hidden keys. As you can imagine, things don’t go exactly as planned, and Aunt May gets tangled in the web of action when Mr. Negative mind controls a group of innocent bystanders, forcing them to attack Spider-Man and Spider-Boy. As the mob starts to swarm Spider-Man, Mr. Negative touches Aunt May and commands her to destroy the wall-crawler. However, a funny thing happens… Aunt May is able to resist Mr. Negative’s influence.
Does Aunt May Have a Super Mind?
Mr. Negative takes mental control over the mob one by one, sending them to attack Spider-Man. He even commands Aunt May to destroy Spider-Man. Of course, our web-slinger is shocked when he sees Aunt May taken under control, but she immediately fights it off and smacks Mr. Negative with her purse. “If you want a piece of my mind, Martin Li…,” Aunt May says, “… I am happy to oblige, you awful man!”
There’s no immediate explanation as to how Aunt May was able to resist Mr. Negative — that comes later — but before the villain can strike at her, Spider-Man grabs him by the arm and tosses him through a window. Aunt May says that she’s relieved Mr. Negative wasn’t able to corrupt her again, with an editor’s note referencing the last time that happened in 1999’s Amazing Spider-Man #618.
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If you look back at that issue, Aunt May walked in on Mr. Negative right after he sliced one of his Demons in the stomach. Mr. Negative took control of her, telling Aunt May that what she thinks she sees isn’t real. She later meets up with Peter Parker and Jay Jameson and begins berating Peter, showing she is still under Mr. Negative’s bad influence.
The final pages of Spider-Boy #19 reveal how Aunt May broke free from Mr. Negative. We see almost the exact same events play out later, with Mr. Negative touching Baily Briggs and commanding him to kill Spider-Man. Bailey plays along at first, but then punches Mr. Negative from behind, setting Spider-Man up to deliver the knockout blow with a kick. Bailey explains to Spider-Man that Mr. Negative can’t possess you twice, and he had already controlled Spider-Boy back in 2023’s Superior Spider-Man #1. So this second time, just like with Aunt May, wouldn’t work.
It was fun to think that Aunt May had a super power, but in the end, it came down to a better understanding of how Mr. Negative’s powers work, and don’t work. What did you think of Spider-Boy #19? Let us know in the comments below!
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