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With Spider-Man and Moon Knight, Marvel has been focusing on the relationships with therapy, and it has been surprisingly refreshing.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Moon Knight (2021) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2018)
Even superheroes need to talk to someone sometimes. Ben Reilly and Marc Spector, the Amazing Spider-Man and Moon Knight, have battled clones, supervillains, and gods. In their most recent issues, however, they have undergone one of the most fearful acts that anyone can undertake: an honest conversation with a therapist.
In spite of a deep history of betrayal and conditions which indicate that trust and reliance are only liabilities, these two heroes began trusting their therapists to help them. Of course, with this trust comes consequences.
Superheroes often keep their identities secret not for their own safety, but to keep those around them safe. In the most recent issues of both Moon Knight and The Amazing Spider-Man, the title characters’ therapists were attacked in some way. These attacks infringe upon the heroes and feel more of a betrayal, not only because of the message that their safety holds for readers, but also how their presence seems to be bringing the Marvel heroes to a better place.
In The Amazing Spider-Man #86, by Zeb Wells and Michael Dowling, Ben Reilly’s therapist assured him of his ability to speak with her confidentially, and the Beyond Corporation’s betrayal was a shock and ignited her rage. She truly wants to help him. This is also notable in Moon Knight #6-7, by Jed Mackay, Alessandro Cappuccio and Federico Sabbatini, as Marc Spector’s therapist is a person he trusts to share his life story with, as well as his regrets about his loss of faith. When she cuts through his layers of defense, she helps him to learn more about himself and process his trauma.
Spector’s previous experience with therapists, such as in Moon Knight #1-6 from 2016, by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood, was less positive. Here, a therapist was not only an antagonist but one of the central threats. As such, these earlier texts suggested therapists were duplicitous and deceitful, but the more recent portrayals as trustworthy people — at least ostensibly — shakes up those relationships in an interesting way.
In effect, Spider-Man and Moon Knight are showing readers that therapists can be forces for good and strong enough for even an iconic superhero and the literal enforcer of a god. They trust these people with their secrets and feelings, and the message readers may take is that they should not believe they are “too strong” for therapy; after all, even Spider-Man needs help sometimes.
These super-therapists also serve a role beyond allowing the reader to realize the vulnerability of the characters and explore their mental health. Yes, Marc Spector has Dissociative Identity Disorder and maims or kills the occasional person, but his crisis of faith takes him down from being a divine avatar who broke the Avengers. It places him instead in front of the reader as a man in all his flawed mortality. Ben Reilly is suspicious and feels manipulated by those around him, which is taking its toll on his relationships — something else that’s relatable to anyone who lives with anxiety.
These could have been parsed out eventually, but speaking with a therapist allows for the characters to begin processing the developments with the reader, allowing for the heroes to make true progress and the reader to feel invested in the journey. The buy-in on the part of the reader and the change in portrayal and perception combine to make these two stories revolutionary toward therapists in comic books… unless, of course, a radical swerve should happen and undermine the story. As ever, anything is possible in superhero comics, but for now, this journey has been a refreshing take for two of the MCU’s superhero pillars.
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