'Avengers: Infinity War' Fans' Thoughts About Aunt May Will Break Your Heart

Avengers: Infinity War opened in theaters last week and now that audiences have seen the epic Marvel Cinematic Universe film they've had a chance to really break down much of the movie. For many, that includes speculation about how the film's events would impact characters long term -- including Peter Parker's Aunt May.

Warning! MAJOR spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War below! And by major we mean significant plot points revealed so if you're trying to avoid spoilers, now's a great time to check out some of our other articles. You've been warned!

In Infinity War, there is one particular scene that broke fans heart. We've written about it quite a bit because there is so much to unpack -- that devastating scene between Tony Stark and Peter Parker on Titan. It's a difficult scene to think about, with a terrified Peter feeling himself beginning to fade away, pleading with Tony that he doesn't want to go while Tony watches his worst nightmare play out right in front of him. Many fans have taken to Twitter to reveal that they cried over the scene but, folks might want to break out their tissues because that scene is about to get a lot more heartbreaking. How? Two words: Aunt May.

You see, when we catch up with Peter in Avengers: Infinity War, he's on a school bus either heading back from or going on a field trip when the Q-Ship appears in the sky over New York, prompting Peter to swing into action. It's an action that eventually leads Peter to Titan alongside Tony and Doctor Strange which is where they are when, having failed to remove the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos, half the universe begins to vanish when Thanos snaps his fingers. After Peter crumbles to ash right before Tony's eyes, he's left there in his grief.

But back on Earth -- provided that she didn't turn to ash -- Peter's Aunt May is worried about him. She's likely seen the news. She knows that something horrible is happening in New York and, when news breaks that people have been turning to ash all over the world you can bet she's frantic, desperately looking for Peter, hoping he comes home from that field trip. Even worse, given the ending of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Aunt May likely even knows that Peter is Spider-Man so if the news reported seeing Spider-Man ascend into space with the departing Q-Ship, well, that's a whole different level of frantic. And when she finally realizes that he's not coming home, Aunt May's grief is probably every bit as sharp as Tony's, considering that she was entrusted with raising her nephew after the deaths of his parents. Keeping him safe was her responsibility and now he's gone.

imagine tony having to tell aunt may that peter is gone and there’s no body left for a proper funeral

— ko 🍬 | iw x2 | spoilers kinda (@starknparker) April 30, 2018

For fans, this realization took a little bit of time to set in, but once it did it may be the saddest unspoken part of Avengers: Infinity War. Aunt May's grief -- even if only imagined by fans at this point -- drives home that even for all the heroic losses in Infinity War, there is a human cost for those left behind. It's that pain of survivorship that may well be the worst consequence of what fans have termed "The Snappening". Grief is a powerful force and can be very difficult to move on from, especially when there is no closure. Some fans have already imagined that horrific situation, considering the nightmare when Tony returns to Earth and has to break it to Aunt May that Peter is gone, and they can't even bury his body.

I told you you'd need to get your tissues for this one.

Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now.

Do you think Aunt May survived The Snappening? How do you think she will react upon finding out about Peter's fate? Let me know your thoughts in comments and feel free to hit me up on Twitter @lifeinpolaroid to further break down this heartbreaking scene and your reaction to it.