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Seems like Aunt May's ability to be rather astoundingly ignorant of the fact that her nephew is Spider-Man was one of her more endearing traits and she'd be somehow less of an interesting character if she were the Spider-Man's Alfred rather than his constant inspiration. In the comics, not the MCU, did she ever really (permanently) learn that Peter Parker was Spider-Man?

If she did know his identity for any period of time, how did it change their relationship?

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  • 3
    What is "permanently" in comics?
    – Andrey
    Jul 10, 2017 at 17:14
  • I want to write an answer about Civil war and Spiderman coming out to the world, but I don't know how it impacted the relationship, so I am hoping someone else can do it better
    – Andrey
    Jul 10, 2017 at 17:20
  • @Andrey not just a dream or a Mephisto induced nightmare (unless said Mephisto induced nightmare lasted more than 12 issues)
    – Peter Turner
    Jul 10, 2017 at 17:32
  • I honestly prefer Sam Raimi's depiction of Aunt May, where she totally knows but never lets on, just giving Peter the right advice at the right time to help him come home safe.
    – DisturbedNeo
    Jul 11, 2017 at 9:13
  • @PeterTurner: Is there anything more I can add?
    – FuzzyBoots
    Jul 12, 2017 at 20:15

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Courtesy of her Wikipedia entry:

In the main continuity, The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #35, #38:

May finally learned about her nephew's secret life when she walked into his room after he had sustained a serious beating from the villain Morlun, the two later talking about May's discovery as May came to accept her nephew's real life.

The One More Day storyline reversed this, much as it did with everything good in the universe.

In the Ultimate continuity, starting with Ultimate Spider-Man #99:

Peter reveals his secret identity to Aunt May after he finds Gwen Stacy's clone at her old house, resulting in May evicting Peter from her home, as she despises Spider-Man. .... She is rescued from dying by Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four, reconciles with Peter and accepts his life as Spider-Man, though she is not at all fond of his costume. Peter later explains to May why he became Spider-Man, and May tells him that Ben would be proud of him for doing so.

This one stuck with the end of the comic book line meaning they couldn't "fix" it.

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  • Are either of these permanent?
    – Edlothiad
    Jul 10, 2017 at 16:44
  • @Edlothiad how would she forget dementia?
    – William
    Jul 10, 2017 at 16:45
  • @Edlothiad: The main contuity one was reversed with One More Day. That is, if we lived in a cruel universe where something like that would have been published. :)
    – FuzzyBoots
    Jul 10, 2017 at 16:47
  • reddit.com/r/Marvel/comments/34sk0t/…
    – Edlothiad
    Jul 10, 2017 at 16:48
  • @Edlothiad: What a fascinating bit of AU fiction... :-P
    – FuzzyBoots
    Jul 10, 2017 at 16:49

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