MCU Breakdown: The Trauma Behind the Heroes

 

Since 2008, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU for short has been engaging with fans in various ways with various characters tackling various topics. One thing that recent Marvel films and even the television series on Disney+ tackle is trauma. Grief and trauma often go together and in the MCU you see those two topics come up many times and they fester within either the same character or different characters at the same time. If you ask an everyday Marvel fan who has followed the MCU which character has suffered the most trauma the answers would probably vary, but if I had to guess a majority would be split between Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Peter Quill, and Thor. The one recent Marvel trilogy I would say tackles trauma and grief the best is the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Since the first movie, Peter Quill had to deal with the loss of his mother. After that, he found out that his father was the reason his mother not only died of cancer but he was the one that put the cancerous tumor in her head, to begin with. Fast forward to the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and Peter Quill has to not only deal with Thanos murdering his girlfriend Gamora but also deal with the Blip and being dusted out of existence for 5 years and then coming back to everything new instead of what he knew.

The website Mary Sue has a good reason for how trauma is conditioned in the characters of Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers. The authors Alysa Auriemma and Sam Riedel state, "In Captain America: Civil War, this training/conditioning is further extended. We find out that HYDRA used trigger words to mentally transform Bucky into the Winter Soldier once he’s out of cryo for a mission. Bucky has spent the past two years working hard to reclaim his fractured brain, but once Baron Zemo uses the trigger words, that work is destroyed. In interviews, Sebastian Stan has talked about researching PTSD and the experiences of traumatized soldiers to prepare for the role (as well as Alzheimer’s), and how he views Bucky and the Winter Soldier as two entirely different people. This could be a commentary on how trauma, triggers, and even depression can create a new personality as if someone has installed a new hard drive to wipe out the old"¹. She makes a valid point because trauma can manifest in different ways and in many cases, can have dire and sometimes long-lasting consequences. 

They go on to further state that "After the battle with the Mandarin, he destroys all of his suits to please Pepper but peace doesn’t last long; he says to Steve Rogers in Civil War that he and Pepper are on a break. “I can’t stop, because the truth is, I don’t want to stop,” he admits. This inability to get rid of his patterned response to trauma is not only seen in the Avengers films but becomes a major plot point in Civil War. Tony signs the Sokovia Accords in order to assuage his survivor’s guilt, which has grown ever larger with each adventure. He is completely incapable of seeing anyone else’s side in this matter because he is incapable of viewing himself through the lens of his own trauma, and as a result, his single-mindedness splinters the team. Of course, Steve is on a parallel track, and his obsession with Bucky and his concept of “home” does just as much damage as Tony’s guilt and fear. They both cause the Avengers to be scattered to the winds, with neither side fully willing to admit they need assistance in navigating their trauma."² Grief and trauma are both ugly and more often than not, we are too scared to come face to face with them. That is the case with these Avengers, but they are works of fiction. We are real people living in a real society where things can get pretty ugly pretty quick.

Thor is probably the most traumatic hero out of the bunch after witnessing every family member (Loki, Frigga, and Odin) as well as his Asgardian friends (Heimdall, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun) all die gruesome deaths either because of his decisions or decisions that were out of his control. In Infinity War, he was partly to blame for Thanos' snap after stabbing him in the chest with Stormbreaker instead of decapitating him. That led to him hiding between a fat belly and loads of various alcohol in Endgame becoming a shell of the man and god he used to be. What does this all mean? This is all to say that as previously stated, grief and trauma are part of nature, and we choose to deal with them however we see fit. Just know that you do not have to go through it alone, some people can help. The real world does not have the Avengers, but we do have everyday people who are real-life superheroes and who can help anyone in their time of need. Trauma should not be avoided, embrace it because once you deal with it and the grief that comes with it, you will become a better person and see the beautiful light waiting for you at the end of the dark tunnel. Everyone can always use someone to lean on in a time of crisis.

1. Riedel, S. (2016, June 28). How the marvel cinematic universe depicts trauma. The Mary Sue. https://www.themarysue.com/mcu-trauma/ 

2. Riedel, S. (2016, June 28). How the marvel cinematic universe depicts trauma. The Mary Sue. https://www.themarysue.com/mcu-trauma/