Having watched more than 50 movies this year, and a dozen of them being superhero ones, I have been wanting to write about these movies (and series) with a psychological angle.

All our superheroes have either had a messed up childhood, defined by loss and trauma of some significant sort, or have faced immense distress due to the inevitable identity crisis, because hey, which superhero accepted they’re duality in the first go? None of them, right? I mean even Superman or Captain America, for that matter have been shown to face identity crisis at some point in their lives.

I am not going to get into the technicalities of therapy here but will focus on certain specific elements related to it that should help you relate to the superhero-front of this article.

Every superhero, in my opinion, needs a therapist. I mean imagine having JARVIS and a therapist! (I personally love this combo). Ooh or having the Bracelets of Victory and a therapist; that would do wonders too! (see what I did there? ;))

The realization that every superhero needs some form of mental health support dawned upon me after watching Wanda Vision (or as some would say Wanda’s Vision, which would have been a very cool and an apt name for the series, but oh well). She channelized her grief and feelings of loss into creating a surreal world that had traces of similarities from the sitcoms that she used to watch as a child. Now, as brilliant as that idea is in terms of its theatrical aspects, from a psychological standpoint, it isn’t so desirable. Yes, it is considered to be a natural process, rather, an unconscious one to project something onto something/ someone else. This happens for the sake of that individual, for them to be able to process the overwhelming feelings of difficult and challenging situations.
The thing that stuck with me was that if she had visited a therapist to help her out with her struggles related to loss and getting on with life, things could have been better for her and for others around her. I mean, she jeopardized every sense of security and privacy that there was in order to avoid her reality, her truth.

As against this, in the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I was very happy to see that they showed Bucky procuring support from a mental health professional. I mean, the kind of things that Bucky had to go through, hands down, he definitely needed a therapist (and that is an understatement, I mean come on! You’re a 100 years old with a metal arm!) Through therapy, I found Bucky’s journey with his struggles to be relatively healthy and fruitful, if I were to compare it with Wanda’s journey.

I also thought of Batman and how he was kind of obsessed with maintaining Gotham’s safety; he believed that it was his duty to save Gotham from all the “bad guys”. I personally found it to be a little irrational. But, with the kind of money and power that Bruce Wayne had, sure, go ahead; but also remember where to draw a line (easier said than done, I know). On another note, the death of his parents really scarred him and for that level of trauma, you need therapy or some form of mental health support.

Well, these are just a few examples that I could think of and write about. Writing about superheroes from a mental health perspective helped me change my perception towards these movies and the characters. On that note, I think this is what brings us closer to superheroes, to some extent; I mean we all go through emotionally and mentally challenging times in our lives, or have been through some in the past, and like superheroes we fight and learn to live above our demons, because the enemy lies within us (more often than not).