Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man, Venom | Tagged: amazing spider-man, aunt may, peter parker, Torment, Uncle Ben

Marvel To Reveal Peter Parker's Aunt May Or Uncle Ben Had A Child?

Is Marvel going to reveal Aunt May or Uncle Ben had a kid before they adopted Peter Parker? Or that either is actually his biological parent?

So what is happening for Amazing Spider-Man #1000? We don't know, but it seems to involve Peter Parker's direct family, one way or another. And the most recent Amazing Spider-Man #267 (legacy number #990) is giving us plenty of clues… or are they red herrings? Time to join some dots…

• Dot One. In the most recent Amazing Spider-Man #26, family line serial killer Torment tries to kill a man he calls Peter Parker's cousin. Peter Parker does not have a cousin, not by blood, at least. His adoptive aunt's nephew, Sam Reilly, in his only appearance, was obsessed with whether there was a free buffet. But it's not this guy.

• Dot Two. The Mark Bagley "Spoiler" cover tops that issue, which shows the figure being targeted; featured this man. Some speculation wondered whether it could have been Peter Parker's father, Richard Parker, his brother, Ben Parker, or someone else. It was someone else, but it underlines that this is an important person in the story.

• Dot Three. An upcoming issue of Amazing Spider-Man has been labelled "The Talk" and features a cover with Aunt May in a chair, with Uncle Ben behind her. When solicited, it seemed to suggest that this may be the death of Aunt May, possibly seeking euthanasia, or accepting an upcoming terminal illness.

• AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31 (LGY#995)
  Written by JOE KELLY Art and Cover by PATRICK GLEASON
  Patrick Gleason joins Kelly for "THE TALK." Just in time for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1000, Peter Parker's world is turned upside down with one of the biggest reveals in Spider-Man history. Don't miss this pivotal story that leads directly into AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1000 and beyond! On Sale 6/17

• Dot Four. Trouble was a five-issue series by Mark Millar, Terry and Rachel Dodson in 2003, the debut issue of Marvel's revived Epic Comics imprint. The series follows the summer vacation of recent high school graduates May, Mary, Ben, and Richie, depicting subjects such as abstinence, teenage pregnancy, and abortion. It was marketed as a potential new origin story for Peter Parker, featuring the teenage versions of Peter Parker's adoptive parents, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and Peter Parker's biological parents, Richard and Mary Parker. In which May and Ben, and Richie and Mary, are dating. May and Ben have a sexually active relationship, but Mary tells Richie that she is abstinent. This sees Richie have an affair. May becomes pregnant, but Ben reveals he is sterile, bringing Richie and May's affair into the open. May considers an abortion, but instead runs away from home and has the child. May later contacts Mary, and the two agree that Mary and Richie will raise the child as their own, and that their respective parents will never know the truth. The plan was to make Peter Parker Aunt May's biological child rather than her adopted nephew, while keeping Richard Parker as his biological father. The series and its plans didn't go down well, not just for the change, but also that it would have made Richard, May, Ben and Mary far younger than portrayed in the comics. Aunt May had always been portrayed as an elderly aunt to Peter, though the current MCU movies changed that. Okay, that was a big dot, and it may not even feature.

• Dot Five. For no apparent reason, a 2021 Bleeding Cool article looking at the pre-Marvel Universe appearances of Uncle Ben and Aunt May blew up on Reddit this week. Again, it may be irrelevant, but it suggests something is in the air.
• Dot Six. Spider-Man Brand New Day is coming. In which Aunt May and Uncle Ben are both dead. And no one remembers Peter Parker. Might there be a… replacement relative? Or a new revelation about Peter Parker's family in that, and Marvel Comics wants to get ahead of the game, as they did with Wolverine's Origin?
• Dot Seven. Spider-Man editor Nick Lowe underscores just how important Amazing Spider-Man #26 is to what is coming… and that's got to be the Mysterious Cousin. He says, "BOOK OF THE WEEK! AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #26! HUGE issue. Not only is it climactic "Death Spiral" but there is a big moment you will not want to miss that will reverberate"

The question is: of this mysteriously revealed cousin. He doesn't appear to be Sam Reilly. He is a figure of import. Torment is on his way to kill Aunt May as part of his family bloodline obsession. And Peter Parker is about to get The Talk.  Is the Mysterious Cousin to be revealed as a child that either May or Ben had before Peter? Is the child of May and Richard from Trouble, and came long before Peter (although had the same name?) Will he be a biological child of Ben Parker and May Parker from before, somehow lost, thought dead or given up for adoption, or for some reason never mentioned, and adopting Peter after the death of Richard and Mary Parker was seen as some form of replacement for them?

If not actually putting trouble into canon, will the idea of Ben and/or May having a kid when they were teenagers, given up for adoption, now become part of Peter Parker's family history? And is anyone going to mention Theresa Parker, Peter's older, stated biological sister, in all of this? We shall look to more of those Mark Bagley covers, as they are revealed, for clues…

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