For the longest time, people have gotten so used to seeing Peter Parker's Aunt May as being someone who is already in her twilight years, but still indomitably strong and courageous.
But Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony Pictures wants to completely change the "Spider-Man" franchise, and their first move they made was getting a younger actor to play the title hero Peter Parker. After careful selection and deliberation, Marvel execs went with Tom Holland - an English actor best known for his roles as Billy Elliot in "Billy Elliot the Musical" at the Victoria Palace Theater in London as well as Lucas Bennett the 2012 disaster movie "The Impossible," which also starred Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. "Spider-Man" will be his biggest role to date.
Now that studio execs have gotten their lead actor and director (Jon Watts), they are now busy moving along with casting other characters, and the first one they got was Marissa Tomei, who will be taking on the role of doting Aunt May, according to Variety.
Tomei will be the youngest actress to take on the role, which has been played by Rosemary Harris (during Tobey Maguire's stint in 'Spider-Man') and Sally Field (in Andrew Garfield's version of 'Amazing Spider-Man').
This role in the "Spider-Man" film marks a new beginning for Tomei, who is best known for appearing in dramas such as "The Ides of March" and "The Wrestler." If not drama, Tomei has gotten involved in romantic comedies such as "Crazy Stupid Love" and "My Cousin Vinny."
She will next be seen in the film "Trainwreck" together with comedian Amy Schumer, and is currently busy filming "The Big Short" with Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling. The actress has also dabbled in small screen projects such as the Fox hit "Empire," where she has a recurring role in the second season.
Holland will be making his first appearance as "Spider-Man" in the Marvel 2016 film "Captain America: Civil War." The young actor actually nabbed the highly covetable role because of his amazing rapport with Marvel's most bankable stars/superheroes Chris Evans (Captain America) and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), and their chemistry is very important given the fact that all of them will be a part of the "Avengers" next time around.
However, Tomei's stint as Aunt May might not appear until the standalone film for "Spider-Man" gets ready in 2017. As for Parker's Uncle Ben and love interest - Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane Watson, those roles have yet to be cast.
