Spider-Man: No Way Home star Marisa Tomei said she wanted her character, Aunt May Parker, to be a lesbian in the franchise’s final installment.
“There was a moment, where I felt that May — maybe she should just be with a woman because, like, Ben is gone, and who should she be with?” Tomei told the Geeks of Color.
The actress was referring to her character’s deceased husband, Ben Parker, who gets killed by a burglar in the comic books and films.
“We were kind of talking about it, and so I actually really wanted Amy Pascal from Sony to be my girlfriend.”
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“I was like, ‘No one even has to know, Amy. I’ll just, like, be in a scene, and you’ll be over there, and I’ll just be like, ‘Hey!’ You know? And it’ll just be, like, a subtle thing,” Tomei added. “But no one went for it at the time.”
Tomei’s lesbian proposal was blasted on social media.
“‘Let’s forget completely about Uncle Ben and go straight to Aunt May being lesbian. Yeah, the fans will be super happy’ — Said no one. Ever,” one Twitter user reacted.
“As a bisexual I hate that,” another tweeted. “I don’t like being pandered to, changing a character to be a different way for diverse purposes is pandering pure and simple. Just make a new character.”
“It really does come off as lazy. Just make a new character instead changing anything about an already established character for the sake of diversity points,” another Twitter user echoed.
Moreover, Marvel Comics is no stranger to creating LGBTQ comic book figures. Earlier this year, the company revealed that it will be introducing a nose ring-wearing, gay Captain America for the character’s 80th anniversary. The new Captain America will also be an LBGTQ activist.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.