Sony Rumoured To Be Working On Aunt May Spider-Man Prequel

Yep. Let that headline sink in for a second longer. Sony Pictures might be set to give Aunt May - the legal guardian of Peter Parker/Spider-Man - her own film. Without Peter Parker/Spider-Man. 

Word comes from scoop-hunting Latino Review that Sony is running out of ideas for its next Spider-Man project. One project rumoured to being tossed around the table is a film that would follow the origin story of the future protector of Spider-Man, revealing Aunt May's unlikely back story that dips into the world of espionage and international security. It would have something of a Mad Men flavour and - given that it's in no way based on Marvel material - could go anywhere. 

After Andrew Garfield's valiant efforts in The Amazing Spider-Man reboots were met with critical mumbles and a general shrug from Marvel's fanboys, the rumour follows news that the studio is looking beyond the red and blue Lycra of the franchise's central character for its next project. While recent mutterings have surrounded a sometimes-on, sometimes-off Sinister Six/Venom: Carnage villain film and an all-female Spider project, the Aunt May project is... downright odd.

Marvel has never given Aunt May a detailed back story, ditching an idea it ran in a poorly-received 2003 comic run called Trouble that looked to tell the story of how Peter Parker was actually the child of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Quite why Sony would pin its hopes on a convoluted back story is beyond us, but we're hoping that the inevitable fan backlash to the rumour will kill the project outright.

What's next, a film about Bruce Wayne's Alfred as a British explorer before he turned to a life of butlering? Actually, we think we'd prefer that...

(Image: Rex)

[Via: Latino Review]