Marisa Tomei to Play Aunt May in New 'Spider-Man'

It's funny to think that just 13 years ago, we were in the midst of the summer of 2002, when Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire was dominating the film industry and box office.

I was heading into my freshman year of high school as the public's first foray into the cinematic world of the webcrawler was a roaring success. The film had received glowing reviews and and opened with the biggest box office weekend of all-time (then $114 million), eventually heading to over $400 million domestically and over $800 million worldwide (back then, that was pretty huge).

Obviously, two more sequels came after, followed by a reboot in 2012 with a sequel to that hitting last year, and now we have another reboot coming in 2017. This one though, is being headed by Marvel Studios and will be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the next 10-15 years.

How time flies.

With our new Spider-Man cast in Tom Holland (The Impossible) and a director found in newcomer Jon Watts, word now comes that the all important role of Aunt May (the woman who raises Peter Parker and guides him as his moral compass) will be played by Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei.

Yeah that's right, Mona Lisa Vito from My Cousin Vinny will be playing Aunt May (believe it or not, she's 50 now but doesn't exactly look it). Like I said, time flies.

This casting actually makes a lot of sense given the Peter Parker/Spider-Man we'll be getting in this new rebooted series will be starting out as just a freshman in high school (ironic connection to my summer of 2002) at the age of 13-14, so Aunt May being in her late 40s, early 50s seems pretty appropriate.

There's also a rumor that she'll be making her first appearance as Aunt May in next year's Captain America: Civil War, alongside Tom Holland's new Spider-Man. We shall see on that.

Tomei is a really great actress, having been nominated for an Oscar three times (winning once, My Cousin Vinny) and appearing in numerous films like Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Wrestler and The Lincoln Lawyer. This serves as a new direction for her into studio tentpoles as she mainly sticks to dramatic work.

Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios untitled Spider-Man reboot hits theaters in a little over two years, July 28th, 2017.

Source: Variety/The Hollywood Reporter