Marvel Minds

Superhero Struggles

• Kyle Kactro • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In this episode, we ask the question: what superpower would you want, and how would you wield it to help humanity? We hear from your favorite MARVEL superheroes that it wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows having superpowers, as we listen to their battles with alcohol, anxiety, PTSD, and isolation. 


Keep going, and stay in the fight!

 We are on your left

Creator 

Kyle is a U.S. Army veteran and a Media Communications student at the Los Angeles Film School. He is the president and founder of MOJA WATER Hawaii. 

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Show your superhero power to save lives and protect our planet with clean water at mojawaterhi.org

Special thanks

MARVEL STUDIOS

Marvel Maniacs

"Yes, I know Thor, Korg, & Meek were actually playing FORTNITE when Hulk and Rocket showed up to New Asgard. I figured, given the context, I'd just say Call of Duty."

Next episode

Join us for episode 2 featuring an exclusive look at Florence Pugh "Yelena" and the making of *The New Avengers (Thunderbolts*).




Keep going, stay in the fight, we are on your left!

 "Everybody in this room is about that superhero life, and if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" 

Welcome to Marvel Minds. I'm your host, Kyle Kactro of the Los Angeles Film School. Today, we're asking the age-old question. What's your superhero power? Or maybe what power would you like to have?

It's easy to say, I wanna fly. Well, let's say you could fly. You fly around for seven minutes. Everyone sees you zipping around up there. Congratulations. Nice barrel roll, but how are you using that power to positively impact humanity? You'd need the power to control the elements, then you might have a chance. I'd want to have a superhero power connected to water where I'd be able to control and manipulate water in all its forms, from waves to ice to vapor. 

With my water powers. I could provide clean drinking water to 2 billion people around the world, who don't have access to it. I could pull water to the surface from aquifers underground, purify contaminated water, stopping the spread of disease and saving countless lives.

I could support marine life and conservation, help protect coastal cities from storms and flooding, facilitate search and rescue operations, and help mitigate the effects of water-related disasters. I could make it rain. But having superhero powers wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows. It would be a complex and challenging experience, both physically and emotionally.

Just look at some of the Marvel superheroes and their struggles with anxiety, alcohol, isolation. Some Marvel superheroes have struggled with substance abuse like take Thor for instance. We see him in Avengers: Endgame in a rather unusual state fat, drunk, and hiding out with his buddies crushing kegs and playing Call of Duty instead of leading his people.

And the only way to get him in the fight was to tell him he could keep drinking. 

"Hey I know you think I'm down here wallowing in my own self pity, waiting to be rescued and and saved, but I'm fine. Okay, we're fine, aren't we? 

"No. All good here mate." "So whatever it is that's offering, we're not into it. Don't care."Couldn't care less, goodbye."

 "We need you pal." 

"There's beer in the ship." 

"What kind?"  

Another Asgardian, Valkyrie, who's always drunk. Trying to cope with memories of war. 

"I've spent years in a haze trying to forget my past. Sakaar seemed like the best place to drink and forget and to die one day." 

"I was thinking that you drink too much and probably was gonna kill you."

"I don't plan to stop drinking." 

Oh, oh. 

And star Lord. We see him deep in drunken madness at the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy III. Dealing with the loss of Gamora. 

" Hey I told you a million times you keep your grimy raccoon hands off my suit."

 Marvel superheroes have struggled with mental health issues. Like Bruce Banner has struggled with anxiety and controlling his emotions. In Thor: Ragnarok, we see him trying to cope with his Hulk persona. And the anxiety that comes with it.

"I don't know. Maybe the fact that I was trapped for two years inside of a monster made me a little weird." 

"Good. Calm down. Calm down. Come on. Listen. We're gonna go to As..."

 "Thor, I think I'm freaking out." "No, no no. Don't freak out. You're okay. Put Tony's clothes on." 

"Is he here?" 

Iron Man has also struggled with anxiety. PTSD,

 "check the heart, check the check, the, is it the brain?"

"No sign of cardiac anomaly or unusual brain activity." "so it was poison?" "

 "My diagnosis is that you've experienced a severe anxiety attack." 

"It's been going on for a while. I haven't said anything. Nothing's been the same since New York. Glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink? No Drink. You sure? I'm having one."

Spider-Man had to deal with the pressure of being a hero and the weight of having his identity revealed to the entire world and navigating the complexities of being a superhero in the public eye. And how it impacts his friends and family. 

"No, but my aunt May should really know." 

"Peter, tampering with the spell." 

"When she found out that I was Spider-Man...It was, it was really messy. I don't think that I could go through with that again, so my aunt May." 

"Yes."

 Many Marvel superheroes also find themselves alone, isolated, or on the run. They're often without a partner or family, sacrificing their personal lives for the greater good. Black Widow is a prime example, shown to be vulnerable and struggling to connect with others...

In the middle of nowhere, living alone in a trailer. 

"Where's an avenger when you need one?"

 "I don't wanna be here. I'm on the run. You coulda got me killed." And her sister. "Is that what we are?" 

Desperate for companionship. 

"Did you ever wish for kids? I want a dog."

Having superhero powers would be a wild ride, and it's not something to be taken lightly, but if I had the chance to have the power, I'd take it, I think it would be an incredible opportunity to help people in need and positively impact our world. So what would you do if you had superhero powers? What kind of powers would you want and how would you use them to help create a better future?

That'll do it for this week on Marvel Minds. Thanks for listening and keep going. Stay in the fight.

"Cap, it's Sam, can you hear me...on your left."

 We just want to take a moment to let you know that on Marvel Minds we get into some of these topics and we jest and, and have fun, take things very lightly. We understand that in your lives, you're going through things that other people probably could never even begin to imagine. 

Let it be known that it's all lions up here and we are on your left.