Welcome back, nerd squad.
We continued to hear your call for more discussion surrounding the exploration of mental illness
in comics and we are answering it.
Today we will be counting down the top 10 superheroes with mental illness, part two.
And understandably many superheroes suffer from a variety of different mental illnesses
so if there is someone I still haven't talked about, that wasn't on part 1 or part 2, feel
free to let me know in the comments below.
I want to hear more about the superheroes who you feel struggle the most with their
illness and in some cases illnesses, plural.
On the last list we talked quite about multiple instances of dissociative personality disorder
or multiple personality disorder as some people know it.
Often times with superheroes there is a pattern and because superheroes are striving for similar
things or have similar origins, many heroes tend to suffer from the same illnesses.
What type of mental illnesses do you think most superheroes share and struggle with the
most?
Let me know in the comments below.
I personally struggle with anxiety a lot and would love to see that explored more in the
comics.
Seeing your superheroes deal with real-world illnesses or issues makes them come alive
and makes them more relatable.
It also helps those struggling to feel like they are not alone.
And feeling like you have company can often be super helpful when you are struggling with
mental illness and often feel isolated.
Okay, let's get counting.
10 Wonder Woman
After realizing that her time spent in Themescyria was all an illusion and that none of it was
real, in the 2016 New 52 comic series Wonder Woman, Diana has a psychotic break.
She has lost what appears to be years to this illusion.
Her mind just snaps.
And she goes into an almost catatonic state.
As such Steve Trevor decides he must continue on without Diana and has her committed at
Nightingale Hospital.
Unfortunately he seems to forget to mention that she is Wonder Woman.
Call it forgetfulness, protecting her secret identity or just straight up weird cruelty
from Steve, regardless this seems to be a huge mistake.
And interesting thing that Wonder Woman's psychotic break allows to explore is how awful
misdiagnosis can be when it comes to mental illness.
During her stay at the mental institution instead of being treated for her PTSD regarding
the revelation she experienced, she is instead treated for her "delusion" that she is Wonder
Woman.
Which is more harmful than helpful because she IS Wonder Woman.
Don't worry though, she ends up coming to when Ferdinand the Minotaur comes to see her
and checks herself out.
Unfortunately there are no consequences for those who mistreated Diana.
I think in terms of mental illness, Wonder Woman would simply encourage you to listen
to those who suffer and come to you, rather than judge them.
We have to fight for those who can't fight for themselves.
9 Punisher
Frank Castle is more of an anti-hero than superhero and he isn't powered but if it wasn't
for his trauma he wouldn't be a hero at all.
After the death of his family that resulted from a wrong place wrong time scenario, Castle
does everything in his power to avenge the ones he lost.
He somehow managed to survive the hit but none of the other members of his family did.
Too bad Thanos wasn't the one who wiped out this family.
If that had happened Mentor might have been able to try and help him out at least.
Like with Drax and Moondragon.
Beyond just avenging his dead family, the Punisher also seeks vengeance for others as
well, violent and brutal vengeance.
He does his best to protect innocents while Punishing those he deems guilty.
While many criticize the depiction of Punisher, calling it a glorification of violence, there's
really more going on.
Where Punisher can cause idolization of brutal violence and capital punishment, he also stands
to serve a reminder for what is it like to come home from violence and war and what that
can do to someone's psyche.
How does one adjust when violence is all you've known for such a long time?
8 Rorschach
When many people think of mental illness they think of Rorschach from Watchmen.
I get it.
Dude is covered in inkblots and gets his name from the Rorschach test which is used to help
diagnose patients through analyzing their perception of what the see within inkblot
images.
This test can also be used to help break down a person's thought process and potentially
diagnose thought disorder.
In Rorschach's case the mask was just what he decided to create.
Though it does seem to symbolize a mental instability for his character.
Walter Kovacs was abused by his mother as a child and this combined with his psychotic
break upon discovering the murdered corpse of Blaire Roche and way in which her body
was desecrated--chopped up and fed to the murderer's dogs.
Rorschach most likely suffers from paranoid personality disorder embodied in the way he
views the world as being mostly immoral and his suspiciousness of others.
7 Daredevil
In the comments for part 1, a lot of you were saying that comics and fiction are often wildly
inaccurate when it comes to depicting mental illness and treatment.
And while I would sometimes agree with that statement, it's not always the case.
If you want to read a comic that articulates relatively accurately what it's like to suffer
from a mental illness, look to Matt Murdock's struggle with depression.
In Daredevil vol 5, iss 10 the first few pages allow Matt to beautifully describe what it
is like to feel depressed.
As someone who has struggled with depression anyways, I know I agree with it.
Daredevil articulates that he has always struggled with depression but is usually pretty good
at dealing with it.
He often does not let it overwhelm him.
However after he has emotions manipulated by the Purple Man's children, he is left paralyzed
from his depression.
His depression is so severe in this issue that he can't even follow the Purple Man's
commands.
It's so powerful, it allows him to refuse Kilgrave's influence.
6 The Comedian
Edward Blake is a reckless man, one who shows little regard for other people and one who
does even seem to feel affected by other people.
He kills mercilessly.
Killing a woman point-blank for attacking him after she got him pregnant.
He seems to feel no remorse when it comes to the way he treats people.
He catches Silk Spectre changing after a photoshoot with his fellow Minuteman and tries to rape
her only to be stopped the Hooded Justice.
He doesn't even apologize simply threatens the Hooded Justice for attacking him and stopping
him.
Ultimately the Comedian displays sociopathic tendencies which is very scary in a superhero,
to have such a blatant disregard for others.
5 Jessica Jones
The trauma of Jessica Jones is astounding and is also quite well-explored in her Netflix
show.
Jessica suffers from PTSD after being kidnapped by Killgrave and manipulated by him.
She is a survivor of rape and was a victim of abuse.
Not only does her show deal with those issues, it also deals with the fear and reluctance
to leave that people often feel when they are being abused or held captive.
She makes Hope repeat over and over again in season one, that it is not her fault.
Often when victims of assault feel as though they must somehow to blame.
Part of this is due to guilt and part of this problem stems from desperately wanting to
have some kind of control over or find rationale behind what happened to you.
4 Crazy Jane
Jane Morris is actually Kay Challis who at one point was Miranda.
She in fact has over 30 different personalities who each have their own unique powers.
Kay Challis was a victim of assault.
She sexually abused by her father when she was just a little girl and as such eventually
withdrew into another personality, Miranda.
After she was a victim of rape while in her Miranda persona, this triggered a psychotic
break which led to even more personailities and her being institutionalized.
Jane suffers from dissociative identity disorder which was also suffered by Moon Knight, Legion,
Sentry and potentially Batman from part 1 of this list as well as many other superheroes.
3 Hulk and Bruce Banner
These two both have their issues.
Hulk obviously deals with anger issues and in fact is a good symbolic representation
of what it can feel like for those who struggle with anger.
When you fly into a rage it can often feel like you are becoming or monster or rather
that you were.
The interesting thing about the Hulk and Bruce is that while Banner may often wrestle with
feeling about how the Hulk makes him a monster often the Hulk does not express these feelings.
The Hulk actually sometimes seems to feel that Bruce is weak.
So both view the other side of themselves as being problematic.
In Bruce's case, similar to Ben Grimm, he also struggles with feeling as though he is
too much of a monster for the world.
This was beautifully articulated in the film adaptation of the Avengers where in Age of
Ultron we actually see Bruce himself, not the Illuminati, banished the Hulk from earth.
And his feelings toward himself in regards to his hatred of his monster-like have even
made him borderline suicidal.
2 Jessica Cruz
Another pretty accurate representation of mental illness can be found within DC's story
of Jessica Cruz, a Green Lantern who finds herself plagued with debilitating anxiety.
And I mean, debilitating.
Jessica suffers from severe anxiety which results in her struggling to perform superhero
duties due to feeling a lack of self-worth, like that time she struggled to fight the
Red Lanterns because she felt she wasn't good enough; chest pains; palpitations and panic
attacks.
The best thing about her character is that the comics show Jessica struggling with her
illness but working hard to repair and maintain her mental health.
She uses breathing exercises, she tries to establish a routine to keep her mind away
from negative thinking, exercising regularly and cleaning with her sister.
These are real world solutions to anxiety problems and real techniques that even I have
used to try and fight my anxiety.
The way this mental illness is discussed in the comics is just great and so relatable.
Also Jessica seems to overcome her anxiety and perform great feats.
Which just makes the reader feel, if Jessica can do it then maybe they can too.
1 Deadpool
Wade Wilson suffers from many illnesses.
He seems to show signs of possible amnesia.
He can never seem to get his origins story to quite stick and has even expressed that
he thought he knew it but then he found out that he was wrong about it.
Making me wonder if his memories were tampered with or if he's maybe had his head blown off
a few times too many.
Deadpool has also shown signs of schizophrenia, substance abuse, hallucinations, and PTSD.
We may not know how rough his childhood was, unlike his pal Wolverine who had maybe the
worst childhood in comic book history, but we know his adult life certainly has not been
easy, making it unsurprising that Deadpool is so erratic and often delusional.
Thank you for watching.
I hope you found this video informative and that you maybe learned something new about
one of your favourite heroes.
I really love when comics humanize our heroes by giving them real world problems.
We live in a world where so many people struggle with mental illness and never speak up and
highlighting mental illness, even if it sometimes is less than accurately depicted, helps us
to get talking.
Seriously, if you are suffering from a mental illness talking about it is one of the best
things you can do it regards to getting the help you need and feeling better.
Are there any superheroes you feel we have still missed?
Let us know in the comments below and maybe, just maybe we'll give you a part 3.
Are there any illnesses or other world issues that you feel have not yet been covered comics
but need to be?
Shout it out in those comments.
And while you are on your way down there, remember to like, sub, ring that bell and
maybe give this video a share to spark more talks on mental illness.
As always this is top 10 nerd and I'm your host Amanda McKnight, reminding to stay nerdy
and to keep sparking those important conversations.