Marvel's Spider-Man writer claims Aunt May was almost cut because she was too wrinkly to animate

Spider-Man
(Image credit: Insomniac)

Aunt May almost never made it into Marvel's Spider-Man because older characters are too difficult to animate.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, acclaimed Spider-Man comics writer Dan Slott, who contributed to the game's narrative, said early on in development Insomniac wasn't planning to include Peter Parker's only living relative, who is a major part of many portrayals of his character. "They wanted Aunt May to just be a voice on the answering machine or over the phone. In a very early version, they didn't want Aunt May to even be an NPC."

According to Slott, the reason behind Insomniac's approach was that May would be too difficult to animate. "They were telling me the reality of it; according to them, old characters - wrinkly characters - to make them look good and realistic, it takes a big amount of work. Equal to what they could use to create five other characters."

Fortunately, Slott stuck to his guns, saying he was "adamant" that the character should feature in the game. Eventually, he said "'Look, Marisa Tomei [who plays Aunt May in Tom Holland's Spider-Man films] isn't that old. Aunt May doesn't have to be super wrinkly; she can be less wrinkly'." That does seem to have been the way that the developers chose to go with the character; while Insomniac's May looks a little older than Tomei's portrayal, she's also a bit younger than take in Maguire's films or even some of Slott's comics.

Slott says that while Insomniac was "fantastic" to work with, "this was an early bone of contention I had with them," but that he's "very happy they ended up using her."

While Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will get "a little darker" than the original, we also spoke to Slott about his work on The Reckoning War

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.

Read more
Spider-Man 2 PC
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 star promises the sequel's ending doesn't mean Peter Parker will be "relegated to the couch" in Spider-Man 3
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Who is [spoiler] in Marvel's Spider-Man 2's post credit scene?
Spider-Man 2 Aunt May's grave
How to find Aunt May's grave in Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 swings and stumbles onto Steam to join Sony's long tradition of dodgy PS5-to-PC ports: “To say this is rough is an understatement”
The Invisible Woman in Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals devs know exactly how popular Invisible Woman is, and say that "body shape or silhouette" add to a character's popularity in a way far more innocent than the internet deserves
Rift Apart
Retiring Insomniac boss says developers should still tackle new genres, but it's much riskier these days due to time and money
Latest in Spider Man
Spider-Man 2 PC
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 star promises the sequel's ending doesn't mean Peter Parker will be "relegated to the couch" in Spider-Man 3
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 swings and stumbles onto Steam to join Sony's long tradition of dodgy PS5-to-PC ports: “To say this is rough is an understatement”
Marvel's Spider-Man
Marvel's Spider-Man reportedly made a whopping $3.8 billion, although the math doesn't seem to add up
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2 DLC hopes dashed as Insomniac confirms "we have no additional story content planned" while touting the new PC port
Spider-Man
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 actor tries to play it cool after accidentally revealing release date
Marvel's Spider-Man
It's Puddlegate all over again: Marvel's Spider-Man mod makes it look like it did at E3 2017
Latest in News
Final Fantasy 16 protagonist Clive uses magic in closeup screenshot
Despite fans begging for Tifa, Final Fantasy 16's Clive is "significantly more popular" than any other Tekken guest fighter
Spider-Man 4
There might be an obvious reason why Tom Holland's Spider-Man wasn't announced for Avengers: Doomsday
Patrick Stewart in X-Men
Marvel fans are already theorizing how Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and James Marsden's X-Men will be integrated into Avengers: Doomsday
Daredevil: Born Again episode 6
Daredevil's Charlie Cox isn't in the Avengers: Doomsday cast list – but Marvel fans have an idea about how he might still show up
Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Simu Liu had the best reaction to Shang-Chi’s announcement for Avengers: Doomsday, but fans think it's "criminal" there hasn’t been a direct sequel
Fighting a dragon with a sword and shield in Skyrim
Former Skyrim dev says "a lot of the great stuff" in the RPG came from the devs having "quite a bit of freedom" to create what they wanted, even if it wasn't "on schedule"