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honestly tony stark was one of the only characters with that kind of personality in action movies that showed realistic symptoms of ptsd and anxiety (like that panic attack) and oh boy, iron man 3 really hits hard on that domain

Tony grabbing the snow during his PTSD episode is actually a real coping mechanism! It's grounding, using your senses to bring you back to reality and remind you the PTSD/anxiety attack isn't real

I really wish more people paid attention to the fact that Tony didn't actually start dating Pepper until after she was CEO and no longer his employee. He always thought of her as an equal but there was no question of a power imbalance in their relationship, which is so important.

I think the reason the kid saying "you're a mechanic, right?" helps tony calm down almost instantly is because that's always been his happy place and how he escapes hard things. It's how he gains control. The kid basically took him from a place where he feels he has no control and reminded him that he does have *some* control and I think that can be super calming

I honestly think what makes Tony's relationship with Pepper work is Pepper. Even before they became romantic, Tony knew that he could trust Pepper with anything. Then as he evolved into a better person, she forgave who he used to be, and was able to trust him back more and more over time. Not every partner is willing to go through all that.

"PTSD occurs when you think your world is safe, and then you realize it's not." - as someone who has suffered from PTSD this line really struck me. Ironman is my favorite superhero, love that you guys are doing this series.

Tony Stark not only accepted that he was going to die, he also realised that it wasn't going to be enough, not even death would save the people he loved.

I'd argue that Tony's been dealing with PTSD since he got out of the cave. Everything he's done since has been on his own terms 100%, he was seizing control and he was protecting himself as much as possible. But the nuke/wormhole/sudden unexpected alien invasion combo was on a whole other level.

Deep down, I do think that Tony never truly left the cave, emotionally and mentally. We never see him whole and healed from that traumatic experience, leaving him leaping from one suit and 'not a great plan' to another. And that makes his tragedy even worse.

4:45 "You're going to kill yourself, Tony, and I'm not going to be a part of it." It took 22 movies, but Tony literally killed himself. To protect the people. And Pepper was absolutely part of it. Aaaaand now I'm crying.

21:37 "The wheezes are so realistic" Yes! Little detail that impressed me. As someone who has asthma and panic attacks, it was surprisingly...comforting?...to see a panic attack in a movie that didn't sound like an asthma attack. At least for me, they are very different.

One scene I think they missed in this was the scene where he throws himself into his work. He's got the PTSD and the insomnia so to cope he builds suit after suit after suit. I think it's a fascinating coping mechanism and so in line with Tony's character. He's already handed off management of the company and the title of CEO to Pepper so all he has left is his personal lab and his suit building. Ironically, some of his best innovations for his suits come out of it but the cost to his psyche, relationship with Pepper and physical health is super high.

I remember my first meeting with a therapist. She asked me about my childhood and I said it was better than some and worse than others. Several months later the point finally hit home. Trauma is trauma. It is not a competition. Get help. It is worth it.

Tony was my favourite MCU character. His characterisation and personal growth and visible mental health issues all made me love his character.

I think its ironic because i think the reason why everyone likes Tony and hes so popular is because his flaws are so glaring. Hes charismatic and funny but we see his growth from him being dramatically egotistical to wrecked with guilt and the later coming to terms with his PTSD it allows people to grow with him and it feels like you can know him as a character. Characters with no flaws usually suck because it never feels like a actual character and they can't grow.

As someone with PTSD/anxiety, I've been in crisis situations where I could pull it together because someone around me was in crisis. After they didn't need me, I'd fall apart, but when THEY needed me, I could do it. I can't necessarily do it for myself, but I can for others, if that makes any sense.

As someone with chronic PTSD, sometimes I can be "triggered" out of an episode with a word or an action. The PTSD isn't cured, but the panic attack will end.

OMG! If there is going to be a talk about grief in WandaVision, PTSD in Falcon and Winter Soldier, Thor and his depression, my heart will explode from happiness)

I would argue the point with “snapping out” of an anxiety attack. My husband for example will sometimes say the wrong things and I’ll latch onto it and it makes it worse when he’s just trying to help and I react how Tony did in the first scene. Then there are times when he just sits with me, rubs my back and says “you can do it, just breathe and count the books on the wall, you’re stronger than whatever made you panic, it’s okay.” And I feel stronger and I feel like I can claw my way out so much more quickly. And for me it has happened - only twice, granted - that I was able to snap out of it within a few seconds

15yrs ago out of the blue I got diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. It took me through the same journey which Tony Stark had with his heart, a few years later. I an fully understand why they'd pay that guy a million quid a movie; he nailed it! The look on his face at first of penance and terror, the one party where he completely lost it, the vegetable shakes, the exercise bike.. and the final dealing with the problem like a grown-up. More power to RDJ for his performance.

Pepper was the first consistent person in Tony's life, most likely since his mother. Tony was afraid of commitment because commitment implicitly comes with the risk of loss. Pepper persistently showed Tony love and compassion that he had been avoiding. He was only able to experience it because his guard was down due to her job title, but Pepper cared about Tony beyond her job due to her compassion and humanity. Pepper was the first person Tony felt he needed since his defense mechanisms were established. He couldn't help but fall for Pepper because he got a taste of the one thing he needed, and for that reason, he couldn't lose it, and more importantly, her.

Iron Man 3 was not well received (even I admit it’s not in my top list of MCU films) but one article I read really angered me, because the reviewer, who if I recall correctly, admitted to not being a therapist, but said something along the lines of “that’s not how PTSD works.” As someone who is not a therapist but does suffer from PTSD, the way RDJ acted out his panic attacks was very similar to the way mine would hit me at times, most often without warning. So yeah, that is in fact, how PTSD can “work.”

Tony Stark’s character isn’t a narcissist-he is behaving narcissistically. People with NPD do not feel remorse for their behaviour, nor do they change to become genuinely altruistic.

15:30 I think another thing that affects Tony so much is the fact that he physically went into space and faced aliens from another dimension. His brain would be scrambled just trying to process that. We hear him say as much in Age of Ultron. How incredibly insane such a thing is, would completely alter how a person percieves their reality, in a way that psychologically, we have no real way of quantifying, cuz it's never actually happened.

"Not the guy to make the sacrifice play..." Oof, that makes Endgame hurt so much more.

The kid was surprisingly insightful, actually. Most kids don't know about PTSD, let alone the various coping mechanisms. I'm sure everyone remembers at least one situation as a kid where we were trying to be helpful but came across as obnoxious/nagging.

“PTSD occurs when you think that the world is safe and then you realize that it’s not.” That sentence blew me away.

Tony was such a gem in the superhero movie world. He actually got hurt physically from fights, and paid emotionally and mentally as well. So few heroes have that realistic, human weight. Also, sadly realistic is how everyone, even his friends, either don't notice his struggles or don't know how to react to it in helpful ways.

In Spider-Man homecoming he even tells Peter he’s proud of him because he wants to break the cycle of fathers not telling their sons they’re proud of them

So two things from the Avengers scene that indicate Tony's really stinging from Cap's comment: 1) he breaks eye contact for like a fraction of a second. 2) the first part of his response, his voice is noticeably strained. By The Avengers, Tony really wants to think of himself as a good man, but Cap just cuts his legs out from underneath him with that comment

Peter and Tony's relationship feels like a tangified representation of inner child healing, but instead of Tony imagining talking with his inner child, he talks to Peter, whom he has watched begin to experience the same trauma he did. As a PTSD survivor, I can imagine the desperation.

I would disagree with Tony’s lightbulb moment “fixing” his attack. I have had these situations where I am in a full blown panic mode, usually triggered by helplessness in the same way tony feels helpless without his suit. He can’t force the suit to charge so he feels under pressure without a play, until the kid points out he’s not entirely helpless. He takes a few moments to process while ignoring whatever else is being said, and refocuses his thoughts to solving the problem. His (and my) adrenaline is still flowing and his heart rate is still elevated, but it’s come down from even 20 seconds ago. At least for me, panic attacks don’t stop like a brake pedal, they recede back to baseline anxiety like taking your foot off the gas.

"So quick-witted." "Alas, I admit it." You have awakened my Hamilton soul. Time to blast the soundtrack again. 😂

Well, okay, but you’re gonna make me cry, you two are excellent at this.

There's something I think you guys missed at about 5:50. Tony looked at his reflection in the glass, flashed anger and disgust, then shot his own reflection, not just once but three times.

Haven't watched the second part yet so you might have covered this there, BUT.... One key aspect I think you've overlooked is that, in Iron Man 3, Tony is obsessively dependent on the suit. It's his 'safe space', which he retreats to time and again as a crutch - some might argue it's a coping mechanism but, overall, his reliance upon the suit does more harm than good. Being in control of the situation is Tony's Zen and he feels cut adrift without it. When he needs the suit and, despite his best efforts, it's not recharging, he feels utterly helpless - particularly when you're someone like Tony Stark who can't imagine a world where he lacks control. "Then why don't you build something?" With those innocent words, everything comes into perspective. Tony builds things - he designed and built countless weapons; he designed and built both the original miniature arc reactor and the Mark I Iron Man suit in a cave; he designed and built dozens of suits of power armor with differing strengths. Since the end of the first movie, "I am Iron Man" has been his mantra but he suddenly comes to realize those words were a lie. He's NOT Iron Man - he's Tony Stark, the greatest engineering savant on the planet. He doesn't need the suit to invent things; he doesn't need the suit to overcome obstacles; he doesn't need the suit in order to be a whole person. He's NOT helpless and he had control all along - he just needed to think sideways a moment in order to realize it.

I remember watching this movie for the first time and being awed that they let a superhero have panic attacks like that, really stresses how human tony is and how most marvel movies are just about people who happen to be really good at a thing

This is why Tony is my favorite. I have always argued that he was the most human of all the avengers, which people don’t agree with me about. This video helps show what I have been saying for the longest time.

When Tony had a panic attack, I felt him. I had one in August and it felt the same. I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t. I felt weak, adrenaline pumping for hours and couldn’t be myself for days.

Tony having panic attacks is so important to me because I get them ALL THE TIME. And knowing that one of my all time favorite SUPER HEROES also deals with them is really uplifting. 20:36 this scene specifically just- the stumbling over words and the stuttering, having to actually stop the car, a small thing having such a large and sudden impact, shaking of the hand, the breathing- it’s all just so validating Not to mention the “oh god, not again.” This statement- anyone who deals with this kind of thing can absolutely relate. It’s when you start to see that pattern, when you first start to notice that “hey, that ‘freak out’ wasn’t a one time thing, it keeps happening and it sucks.” That’s absolutely crushing. You feel hopeless

The other thing about that scene when Tony is watching the news and starts blasting things in the room: It's interesting that they chose the glass walls, because glass naturally makes a reflection. Tony sees his reflection when he turns around, and because he hates who he was, he blasts away the image, that person he wishes to put behind him. And while he does still exhibit a certain amount of egotistical behavior after everything in Iron Man 1, putting distance between himself and his old life does actually play a role in his ptsd - it's half the reason he eventually turns to relying on his suits instead of relying on himself. The incident in New York is the other half of the picture, when no matter what he does, he has no way out. In effect, it teaches him that he can't rely on himself to save himself or anyone else. Combine that with guilt and self hatred, and you get the Tony who searches for something else to rely on. The kid saying "just the right thing" snaps him back to reality a bit, I think because Tony made that mental transition without even thinking about it. He was so lost in his panic and anxiety that he didn't even realize that he was putting all his trust into a suit instead of the ingenuity behind the creation of that suit. In the end, half his struggle through ptsd is also a hard lesson in humility. His pride and ego had been broken, and he didn't know what to do with himself because he relied on that for so long. After all of these events, he learns to reexamine and accept the good parts that he had, but in a different light. It really sets the stage for him in the upcoming movies, especially Civil War, because his ego would never let him accept the Secovia accords, but a humbled Tony Stark (who also learns after Avengers 2 that he doesn't always make good decisions even as a reformed man) would.

Last year, I took an Abnormal Psychology class and one of our assignments was to write a paper diagnosing two fiction characters from either movies or TV. I chose to do Tony Stark from the MCU and I diagnosed him with PTSD. It was one of my favorite papers to write.

Some people may have laughed at his portrayal but as someone diagnosed with PTSD I just felt for him. I wanted to hug him.

RDJ really did such an amazing job at portraying PTSD and the panic attacks following. I personally have some issues with that because of a brother and my family keeps mentioning him even though I always beg them not to and it immediately makes me break down, just like Tony. Suddenly it just becomes so difficult to do simple things like breathing and thinking straight, everything in your head is just filled with painful memories.

The usage of the ‘Get Help’ scene 😭👏🏻

That is often how my anxiety attacks work, although that’s not PTSD-related. I experience negative thought spirals: a thought like “I’m not ready for this” going to “I suck” to “everyone would be happier without me”. If someone successfully interrupts that spiral, then I can start thinking productively about the problem. It doesn’t exactly “solve” the problem, my mind can do that on it’s own once it stops self-sabotaging. All it does is distract me long enough to make productive thoughts (along the lines of “how can I prepare for this?”) possible. That’s kinda how I read that scene. The kid didn’t “cure” Tony, he just interrupted Tony’s spiral of negative thoughts. Reminding him that he’s an engineer just served to take Tony’s mind off the failure of his suit plan, long enough so that his mind could supply him with an idea for how to fix the problem at hand. He has enough adrenaline in his system that he can focus on the task at hand. Now when the adrenaline wears off... but Pepper is safe and that’s what matters.

I was watching just fine, then he said "weather you've been through emotional abuse, Physical abuse" and in an instant I started tearing up. My ex gf became physically violent during the worst argument we'd ever had, it was only one time, it didn't physically hurt much, but every once in a while I remember the shear emotional stress I felt in that moment, and I will sob for about a minute before bottling it back up. What gets me most is the shame I feel about crying about something that happened over a year ago...

I've had my fair share of trauma in my past, and weirdly the MCU's handling of Tony's trauma and PTSD is some of the best I've seen in a film. Like, when he has panic/anixety attacks (and yes they're different), I don't just empathise, I can feel them with him. The avoidance tactics, the poor coping mechanisms... I remember coming out of the cinema and my parents didn't like Iron Man 3 because it wasn't the "superhero movie" they expected. But I loved it because it was *the* most relatable I'd seen the MCU be. And it was handled amazingly well.

Tony's arc was largely effected by the new york invasion. He saw how unsafe the world really is, and how powerless he is to stop great threats. That feeling of powerlessness, and seeing how unsafe you really are, is a common factor in ptsd. Its the thing that inspires him to build ultron, to help prepare for a thanos level threat.

You know there was a fan theory that Peter Parker was the only person able to feel what happened to him during the snap because of his Spidey sense. That just makes it 10x worse because he’s looking at the dad he has always wanted and saying I need your help, and Tony can’t do anything to save him.

I was having an attack after a difficult conversation with my family. I was in a ward to be helped for those issues. After about 1.5 minutes of panicked SI, my care giver just casually asked “did you know people’s shoes stay where they where hit when they get run over by a car?” And it was the exact right morbid wtf kind of question that I was able to stop and start seeing the real world around me again. That’s why I think it’s so important to have people around you who know that one thing your brain will hook on to if you deal with a mental illness like us.

The way tony portrays anxiety and panic is very much like how I act. More controlled but only when others witness it and that is so relatable. Needing to take off layers, stick your face in snow, walk, tell everyone to shut up, I just loved and appreciated how well he showed it.

Tony is my personal hero. I have an anxiety disorder and have had it for eleven years. Seeing a hero with a similar disorder, go about his day, kick butt, and keep his cool even with his disorder... Gave me power and hope.

I think personally from suffering from PTSD & growing up with having numerous panic/anxiety attacks a week, one of things that hit me from that scene with the kid talking to Tony over the phone, is that the kid unintentionally was guiding him in “grounding”. “Grounding” is a technique that’s used to help a person during an attack, by attaching themselves to a truth or something stable, whether that be physically (like holding onto a stone or feeling the textures of the carpet) or mentally (grasping onto a truth or repeating a mantra). And I think that both forms of “grounding” is what the kid was implying; first telling Tony, “you’re a mechanic, build something” is a truth. Tony knows that building things is something he’s good at, something he’s familiar with & this makes him feel in control & safe. The second, is that being a mechanic requires you to work with your hands, get dirty, do physically hard things, & work your body. There’s no better physical grounding tool than that! Maybe with that combo is what kinda “snapped” Tony out of his PTSD but I agree with them, in that no one “snaps” out of an anxiety or panic attack. It usually takes me a good day & a half to fully recover from an anxiety attack & about 40 mins to recover from a panic attack. And even then I can relapse & have another one. But grounding has been so helpful to me & I encourage anyone else who struggles with panic & anxiety attacks to find what grounding method works for you!

If you want to cover PTSD more, I recommend that you analyze the character of John Rambo. If there were ever a character driven by traumatic experiences, it was him.

Honestly the way he responds to the vision Wanda gave him was actually kind of a great of showing that he isn't as over his PTSD as he appeared to be at the end of Iron Man 3. He had things to distract and focus him so he could move past it at least for the moment, but he was still supressing those feelings and Ultron really showed that just because someone seems ok and is doing productive things that they can still be struggling even if they are not aware of it.

I will say, though, with the scene where Tony gets yanked out of a panic attack with “You’re a mechanic; why don’t you build something?”-that is totally a therapist thing to say, and it helps him get power and control back over his life which does help to heal PTSD. Is it that quick? Hell no, but it definitely plays a part.

Please talk about Thor and his experience with depression, it is interesting how they treated Tony Stark as compared to Thor's depression to make many jokes. I would like to hear your opinion on how they portrayed it.

Can I request that you two do an episode on bucky barnes? He's an EXCELLENT example of PTSD and trauma. He's actually what got me interested in psychology in the first place.

im currently suffering from PTSD. Its a total nightmare, i hate it every day. This episode was cathartic, seeing how well it was portrayed was amazing! Thanks for covering it

To a degree, I feel his earlier personalities were reflections of the overall PTSD. The Narcissism, the Elitism, they were all coping methods developed to get through a life of trauma that started with losing his parents and never really having a chance to process that loss.

What I hate about PTSD and post trauma responses is the triggers can be so random and often unexpected. My third, and last miscarriage was the most traumatic and of course, baby announcements, baby clothes, and baby associated things were major triggers. But I didn't expect raspberries to be a trigger. It took quite a while until we figured that one out. Baby had been the size of a raspberry when my husband had tossed a wild raspberry to me on a nature walk we went on. I failed to catch the raspberry and I can vividly remember the juice splattered on the rocks and a weird feeling of dread at that. I still don't like raspberries much, but I can look at them and walk past them in a grocery store now without feeling nausea or a cold sweat or breathing too quickly.

I love the scene where tony is watching the news and getting more worked up. To me this is the pivotal scene where he finally decides to be a hero. building the suit, testing, etc was all just prep work and that slow build up to using the repulser to shatter the glass....OMG CHILLS. because he goes from anger, to basically questioning himself one last time to commitment and the next part is him suiting up and just pure focus. LOVE IT

To be fair Tony ptsd isn't just gone after the 3rd movie, he learned to move on he do the operation to lift the metal on his chest but his ptsd is not completely gone, I think when pepper said "you can rest now" at the end signaling that he still has a ptsd even in endgame.

The scene in Homecoming where he tells him about if he's "nothing without this suit then you shouldn't have it" is one of my FAVORITE scenes. And when Peter dusts in Infinity War 😭😭😭

In the words of Chrysostom, “feel guilty when you sin, not when you repent.”

I believe Tony's anxiety so thoroughly because I have experienced someone say just the right thing to snap me out of it almost instantly. And because of that I learned to either think back to those words or use a mantra I know works. RDJ and his portrayal of Iron Man and the way his character and personal journey have parallels are why he will always be one of the greatest of all time. I will never forget "And I.... Am Iron Man."

I think also people don’t realize that PTSD can be basically dormant for years until it something triggers it. I’ve had multiple experiences in hospitals and surgeries with mixed negative and positive experiences. I just sort of “sucked it up” at the time. Then years and years after I had a broken arm set without sedation and now I’m a crier when I hadn’t been for years. I basically do the same thing that kid was doing (peppering him with questions) internally in my mind. And in the last few years I’ve started having anxiety attacks when I didn’t used to. And when I get upset about having my blood drawn people just thing “oh you just don’t like needles”. It’s not about that one needle. It’s about all the needles and all the negativity experiences of having my blood drawn.

I'd love for you to touch on Thor's depression in Endgame. I feel like even the movie makes light of it and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we'd love to see you two cover it! Combining therapy with cinema is such an intriguing concept and you guys would do it justice!

I just love that scene in Avengers with Tony and Steve. Both their dialogue foreshadows what is to come for them both AND they prove each other wrong. “You’re not the one to make the sacrifice play.” And “everything special about you came out of a bottle.” Tony makes the ultimate sacrifice in Endgame and Steve is able to wield Mjölnir. So good!!!!

What always pulled me out of my anxiety/PTSD attacks was covering up completely in a light blanket like a ghost, and listening to a favorite uplifting song. It didn't make me completely calm, but it did work very quickly and from an outsider perspective I probably looked completely calm after even if internally I didn't. So yeah, the 'right thing' can outwardly snap you out of it sometimes.

"You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play" "Everything special about you came out of a bottle" The way endgame calls back to these 2 lines is just beautiful.

"you're laughing even as you're hearts kinda breaking for him" that do be tony stark

i hope you guys will react to “ coraline “ someday

The line "PTSD occurs when you think your world is safe, and then you realize it's not" hit me like a truck but was also kinda validating at the same time. I've been diagnosed with C-PTSD (or complex PTSD) and one of the worst flashbacks I ever had involved me shaking and crying and only being able to say "I

To me Tony's PTSD never really went away after Iron Man 3 it only changed from needing to put armor around himself, to putting armor around everything else: Suit of armor around the world (ultron), safety net for the Avengers (The Socovia Accords), giving spiderman the suit of armor and arguably the glasses as well

The use of the "get help" segment was pure editing genius.

I hope they look at Zuko in Avatar. I feel like everytime I rewatch ATLA I become more and more impressed with his character arc. With misplaced desires (like regaining his honor was about being accepted by his father), to learning about the world from different perspectives (as a prince then an outlaw), to the cathartic confrontation with his father and deciding not to seize power. I just feel like the whole show has a lot going on but especially with Zuko.

I think part of what's really poignant about Iron Man 1 is it starts with him being angry about people being hurt and taking it out on the abusers but as the movie goes on and the mcu goes on he's really become more mad at himself than anyone else and shows how sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself :(

As somone with (almost daily) panic attacks, spawned from the littlest most insignificant things, the “not again” line is so prominent. That switch from compleatly ok and content to ‘I can’t breath’ ‘I’m going to die’ is so wonderfully portrayed. You don’t expect a film like this so hold such power and have such accurate representation. Though it has its faults, it’s recognision of the struggle is important in itself. And yes, I have had moments where somthing so simple and quick has removed me from this state. Though, as said, it’s not common but it does happen and can be life saving when you feel like your world is falling apart. Cannot stop coming back to these videos, keep up the great work guys!

I think that maybe Tony doesn't actually snap out of the panic attack so much as suppress it. As someone who experiences panic attacks a lot, while it rarely happens, I can suppress the panic attack if someone shouts at me or until I'm in a more safe place. It very rarely happens because suppressing it is worse, but it does happen. So I don't think that Tony "snaps out" of the panic attack; I think he suppressed it

The way he said “Have you met me? Im Tony Stark, Im great” actually made me picture Nathan Fillion as Malcom Reynolds lol

The "Get Help" clip in relation to therapy was BRILLIANT

I always LOVED the PTSD story line of Iron Man 3 - it's the reason that it's my second-favourite Iron Man film - and I thought RDJ did an incredible job portraying his struggling character.

Imagine being that kid You run into Tony Stark, help him through some stuff, get rewarded with material goods and a scholarship and you probably think that's it Then the snap happens, world goes crazy, things work out, you find out Tony Stark is now dead, and you were a big enough help in his life that you get the honor of being there at his funeral That seems like a great set up for a next generation of a tech-based superhero

The irony of Pepper saying "your going to kill yourself, Im not going to be apart of it" and in endgame, fighting alongside him in her own suit and watching him "kill himself" for teh greater good.

you two work so well together

I Love everything you guys do... Even to the little details and funny edits (Get help was just right... uff). The way you guys hit the crux of the theme, the anecdotes you use to explain, and the general presentation of your analysis. Simply Impeccable and nothing like this is out there as far as I know. I aspire to be as clear and articulate about my interests and strives, and live to build something greater than me as an individual. Thank You!

When Tony's on the border of a panic attack but keeps the snark it fits, it seems like trying to protect himself to me. Using the snark as a sort of defense mechanism

I love how his narcissism and sarcasm was just a coping mechanism to stop people from getting close to him. 🥺

So glad you all covered Tony Stark! I love it when people react to different marvel characters and determine if they have real symptoms or if it's overdramatic for the case of the movie. I'd like to recommend anything Loki related because it covers a different side of trauma in my eyes, unwanted by a parent, wanting to prove himself, and in turn becoming what he feared deep down

I think the whole coming out of a panic attack from memory or just the right words is real It could be something more common in intelligent people but I feel like coming to a realization about something is very calming, so when Tony doesn't know what to do and the kid tells him to make something, he starts to immediately get creative since he always feels more safe with gadgets, the same reason he runs to his suit

Ah man, this is going to be good. It is crazy that I was just thinking about how I'd love to see the break down of the PTSD of the Hunger Games movies and the performances of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson of Katniss and Peeta throughout the three movies and their development. Probably my favourite cinematic evolution of characters amidst such interesting movies. (It's also really cool for the different pyschological behaviour of dystopian society in many different ways; dictators, dillusions, war, loss/grief, propaganda, torture) 🤞Maybe next time.

"[trauma occurs] when you think your world is safe. . . but it's not." - Jonathan Decker I loved this. It captures perfectly the essence of PTSD. With reference to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, safety is near the foundation. So, I think as far as therapists go, Decker is brilliant.

This is my favorite episode! I was hoping you would cover Tony Stark one day and you did a perfect job. I can relate pretty well since I developed my own personal trauma after almost getting killed in a car crash 4 months ago. Plus you smuggled a Hamitlon reference into this wich makes it even more perfect. Tank you!

Thanks for the vid! I want all the Mavel-related content!!! I related to Tony as someone who is in a STEM-profession. He probs got PTSD because that was the first time he realized "I cannot engineer my way out of this." He could not, nor could he finesse the situation. A lot of the time, in STEM, or when you're regarded as the smartest person in the room, you need to be the one with the answers, and when you don't have them, it can be very foreboding. What he feels are all of his biggest strengths were not enough, now and for a long time. And he used to tinker to cope. When he reached a stage where he not anymore, that's when I realized that yeh... this has turned into a long-haul mental issue for him, and I'm happy they treated his entire journey over the series of films with care and respect. Thanks for talking about his growth from becoming a narcissisc, to egotist, to ... self-absorbed ... to dad. I will admit, he was not a fave of mine, and I had to take a second look at him for him to grow on me. A lot of peers around me liked him because of his "confidence" when I simply saw a lot of it as puffery, it was based on insecurity, and insecurity is a lot of what I feel drives narcissism. "Was Cap right?" They were two sides of the same coin, and they HAD to have that confrontation. It saved the world, because Tony was the one there that did end up making the sacrifice play in that film. And they lost in Infinity War becasue they were not on the same page metaphorically [or planet, literally]. They say in friend groups there are assumed roles, Tony and Cap had assumed the Mum and Dad role. Whenever they fought, my anxiety-triggering divorce hairs on my arms raised up. Civil War was difficul to look at, in a good way because of that. And when they reconciled in Endgame, I started crying.

I’m so excited for this! I’m obsessed with Tony Stark, his growth as a character is phenomenal. Can’t wait to watch!!

This is why I love Iron Man 3 so much, and oh boy, is the next episode going to break me

Oh my god! You two get me every time! The moment you mentioned getting real help for trauma and you were creating a program/center/resources to help people I started to cry... but then you added in that damn clip from Thor and I started laughing at that perfect, impeccable timing! I appreciate your channel, your honesty and your vulnerability so much. Keep this up, you two are made for this.