The 10 Most Tortured Comic Book Characters

When Tony Soprano sat down on his psychiatrist’s couch, it was a television and pop cultural milestone. Here was a big time gangster—the epitome of toughness and criminally cultured masculinity—airing out his dirty laundry, childhood fears, and insecurities to a shrink. Talk about shifting societal norms. HBO’s The Sopranos changed the landscape for Hollywood tough guys. Jimmy Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, or Al Pacino getting psych advice in front of millions? James Gandolfini pioneered Tony Soprano into a figure which allowed many to think: “Going to a therapist is no shame.”

Tony Soprano isn’t Bruce Wayne, but they both have those wacky dual identities. Respected businessman by day, debt collecting strong arm or superhero at night. Superheroes aren’t mob bosses or gangsters, though many would observe their tactics and approach are similar, at least in spirit. The Avengers or Justice League or X-Men aren’t gangs, but what exactly are they? Law enforcement organizations? Masked vigilantes? Protection groups?

All that crime fighting and crime doing—and all the fun overlap which goes back and forth between the two worlds—insists the people involved have issues, especially our pulp fiction icons. They wear cool costumes—even capes—go by hip handles, and cloak themselves in secret identities. The entire world knows them—at least by codename. They are bad asses who fight the bad guys and gals with powers far beyond normal humankind. They are also high strung, neurotic and tortured. They are pop culture icons—they are superheroes.

Batman is a psychopath. Deadpool eats and breathes revenge. Professor X reads minds; he sees and feels the secret dark side of all around him. Bruce Banner morphs into pure rage. Jessica Jones is an alcoholic. Heroes and heroines pulled from our comic books and films are tortured souls. Superheroes, like their loyal normal human fans, have issues.

Batman 

He’s the Bat. He’s the Billionaire. He’s the Bruce Wayne of Gotham. Above all, he’s the avenging crime fighter we love to see get the bad guys. Is he all together? Not so much.

Batman’s less than balanced mind and his noble, vigilante attitude is legendary and even admired in the pulp fiction fandom he calls home. Of course some would argue Bruce Wayne is simply doing what any responsible billionaire would do—take his vast family fortune and run around his crime ridden city at night wearing a costume, mask and cape. I wonder what color tights Mark Zuckerberg is wearing?

Batman’s long running struggle against The Joker, his arch enemy, provides quite a pair in conflict, but also in similarity. Both men are obsessed to the point of mental illness. Their never ending back and forth makes you wonder who will drive whom totally batty first?

Informed fans remember Bruce Wayne has a counselor at his beck and call 24/7. Butler Alfred does more than just dust the bric a brac or make brunch, the very British caretaker is also Mr. Wayne’s confident and advisor. Who needs Dr. Phil when you have Alfred in your batcave?

Deadpool 

Before Ryan Reynolds gave us his fan pleasing turn in the 2016 box office shattering film, Deadpool was a character who was beloved by his comic book fans. The fan adoration is rooted in lots of reasons, but above all, Deadpool is a lovable lunatic.

If you were disfigured, tortured, and basically left for dead, how would your mind survive the torturous onslaught? Many people would crack under the pressure and become a basket case. Others would choose to end it all by ending their lives. Wade Wilson—Merc With a Mouth—chose to do all he could to exact revenge, and also leave all around him who get in his way, sarcastically savaged by his wicked tongue.

Deadpool is a wonderfully tortured soul for many reasons, but above it all he’s ability to break the fourth wall—or speak directly to the reader, by way of the writer’s jokes/observations—makes him one of the most fascinating mental cases of all time.

Wolverine

I’ve got claws! I can use em! Yes, yes you can, Logan. As a kid, I owned a Wolverine action figure that screamed that phrase when you pushed the buttons on his back. How fitting for the most psychologically complex X-Men to boast of his unbreakable finger knives.

Logan was born a mutant with healing ability, but it took far more to turn him into Weapon X. Wolvie is a wild one to be sure, and as far as rage goes, he’s probably nearly as raging as our hulking green buddy, Bruce.

Of course being angry is just the tip of that huge mental iceberg. Logan’s inner demons plague him. They almost paralyze him. By becoming Wolverine and fighting crime by slashing everything in sight, it must afford a kind of mental or even spiritual healing to help him with his life balance. Say, what about that mutant powered healing factor that he has?

Hmmmm.

Professor X

When you own an enormous, lavish mansion set upon a gloriously beautiful estate and you are the mentor and caretaker of hundreds of young, super powered people, what are you called? Philanthropist? Warden? Weirdo? For Professor X—Xavier or Charles to his really close, dear friends—it’s all about reaching out and connecting with the youth. Today, they’re called millennials. When the X-Men were created in the 1960’s, they were called hippies. Bottom line: Professor X likes to take young, mutant minds and help to shape them.

Does this mean he has a screw loose?

Indeed, he utilizes a supercomputer with an ESP complex—Cerebro. This allows him to scope out and bring new mutants into his fold. More power to you, Charles Xavier! Recruit! Be all that you can be in the X-Men!

All that recruiting and mentoring means Charles Xavier must relax when he can. But how can you stay calm and relaxed, when you hear the thoughts and the inner voices of all those around you? Sure, he can turn off impressions and block them, however, if a person is mentally suffering around him, it’s a sure bet Professor X will be influenced and burdened.

Bruce Banner (Hulk)

"Mr. McGee, don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry."

That famous line from the landmark TV series, The Incredible Hulk, puts it neatly in a nutshell. Bruce Banner—David in the Kenneth Johnson created show—was an angry young man who had to keep his temper on a short leash. Indeed, if you got as angry as Dr. Banner, how would you control the raging demon that dwelled within you?

Anger management just goes so far. In The Avengers feature films, Black Widow gives Bruce his lullaby—a kind of sexy talk and stroke of the big, jade guy to calm him down. When you have a therapist who looks as good as Scarlett Johansson's Avenger character, it’s probably a safe bet that you wouldn’t go elsewhere for mental help.

Raven (Teen Titans)

Harry Potter has absolutely no problems when you compare that little snotty wizard to Raven of DC’s Teen Titans.

Emerging onto the comic book scene in 1980, Raven’s parentage gives her a unique perspective on reality. Her mother is human, while her father is a planet destroying Demon named Trigon. Imagine what family reunions must be like?

Raven has become well known to fans of the animated shows Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go! Although for the most part, she’s fairly well adjusted—for a Demon spawn child anyway—there are times when her cool, self control wavers. It’s okay though, Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg always manage to support and motivate their friend and colleague to try to look on the bright side of life.

And also to help avoid Raven basically destroying all of reality on a whim. Now that’s an example of exercising real psychological control.

Silver Surfer

Dig this awesome scene: You are romancing a beautiful woman, everything in your life is going just peachy. Life is pretty darn good. Then suddenly, out of the blue, an enormous, ravenous alien lands on your planet and decides to eat it. To prevent the big bad from swallowing your world, you decide to enter into a deal. You’ll become his advance man—going forward and scoping out other planetary buffets for the big glutton. Nice job, right? For this silvery, cosmic powered dude, it’s no wonder he’s not behind padded walls somewhere.

Norrin Radd comes from the planet Zenn-La, and when the eater of planets, Galactus, came calling, Radd agreed to work for him. In return for his service, Galactus spared his home world, granted Radd with a new, silvery body and awesome cosmic powers of creation and destruction. When his herald betrayed him, assisted by the super powered quartet, The Fantastic Four, Galactus imprisoned the Silver Surfer on Earth by using a powerful force field to prevent escape. Doing hard time on a backwater planet, while your home world misses you—it’s enough to drive anyone to therapy.

The Thing (Ben Grimm)

Every inch of your body is covered by a thick, orange mineral substance. In other words: You are basically encased in rock. Every move your make, although super powered, reminds you that you are a creaky rock dude. Call Ben Grimm Rocky? Yeah, see how that goes. Would you have some issues if you were suddenly a rolling stone?

Ben is the muscle of Marvel’s Fantastic Four. He may not be as powerful as Thor or as strong as Hulk, but he gets the job done—and then some. Despite his great strength and his invaluable position in one of Earth’s mightiest super hero teams, he’s the classic outsider. His physical abnormality precludes him from ever living a truly normal life. His pain may be alleviated by his beloved hero reputation and fame, but he’s one for the doctor’s couch for sure.

Rom—Spaceknight

Your planet is being overrun by vampire like alien beings—Dire Wraiths. Aside from the really ugly, icky name, these things can shape shift and basically take over people. What’s your choice? Strip yourself of your physical body—basically throw it away—and be encased in advanced cybernetic armor. This high tech devil's bargain will enable you to become Rom: Spaceknight—perfectly suited to fight the evil plague which threatens to overrun the galaxy.

Anyone think about what it would do to him psychologically?

Rom was first conceptualized and released as a child’s toy by Mattel. Marvel was contracted to write a comic book around him, and the toy morphed into one of the more poignant comic book heroes of his time.

Concrete

One day, you wake up and your humanity as you knew it has fully vanished. You’ve been encased in a lumbering rock body made of a kind of massively thick concrete. Much like Rom or Silver Surfer, Concrete is a man who’s been transformed and must live life in a whole new way. His other life is now gone—or at least completely changed forever.

From Dark Horse Comics and the mind of creator Paul Chadwick, the enigmatic hero was to be given a big screen movie treatment with Bill Murray starring as Concrete, but it never materialized. Last year, it was announced a TV show would be produced around the character.