The worst part about believing you are a superhero is finding out that you're not.

I'm six years old, in my backyard, learning that it takes more than a cape and self-determination to fly when I fall down, somehow not breaking bones, tearing tendons, or mangling muscles. For every time I "flew with Superman", I received brush burns, garnered hurt hands when "battling with Batman", and was forced to lead countless raids for Band-Aids after my latest attempt at wall-crawling with Spider-Man. Simply put: Thank God for modern medicine. No matter how many times I would be placed in a cast, or a sling, and even a wheelchair at one point(long story), health services would have me back up and running like the Flash in no time.

But you can't put your brain in a cast to heal.

Mental illnesses are quite unlike physical injuries, in that they're not something to just "get over" or rest and let heal. They are a growing facet in our lives not due to their coming emergence, but because mainstream society is now becoming aware of such a prevalent issue: Differences. Mental disorders are not something to be feared, but to be understood, shown empathy to, and normalized so as to reduce the stigma that surrounds them today.

First of all, understand that a mental disorder acts as a blanket term for a subject that many do not fully comprehend. As something so complex and varying with each new piece of information, the schema we have proposed is constantly evolving. In short, mental illnesses include schizophrenia, depressive, bipolar, dissociate, and personality disorders among a multitude of others. Another preceding fact: While some people are born with them, not everyone is; in fact, these sicknesses in the brain can result from events known as traumas, with continued associations linking said victim with the event labelled trauma triggers. Traumas can range from bullying, abuse(sexually/emotionally), to even wartime PTSD(post-traumatic stress disorder). Note, while examples might seem different in extremity, as they say, "perception is reality", and many survivors see what happened to them differently than an outsider would.

Superheroes, despite their colorful capes and crime-fighting crusades, are among the darkest individuals I've come to know(despite them being fictional characters). Take Batman, forever haunted by the covered-in-every-film death of his parents that he dons a flying rodent costume and battles an endless war against criminals. Spider-Man, content to let a burglar walk away until realizing said thief murders his Uncle Ben, immediately changed his ways to be there in ways that no one was for his paternal figure. Even Superman, raised simply and easy-going on the Kent Farm, grew up orphaned-then-adopted after losing his entire home world and biological family. Summarily, superheroes only became superheroes after a severe trauma, scarring their psyche permanently and placing them on an obsessive-compulsive pathway of fighting a fight they can never truly win: Battling crime itself, the ideal, not the individuals criminals, is one that will never go. Men can, and will, die, but ideologies last far longer than the ones who instilled them in others.Batman himself even states in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight:

"If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely".

Secondly, examine your favorite superhero's powers for further proof the Avengers, Justice League, and especially X-Men exemplify the stigma surrounding mental illness, and offer ways to combat it. When we see the origins of our favorite premier cirmefighters, you'll find most of their powers result from accidents. In said freak explosions of sci-fi/fantasy proportions, the hero is given their abilities in a manner eerily reminiscent of their villains(often a mirror image of them). These powers, and the identities subsequently associated with them, fall under the umbrella of their secret identities. The similarities are obvious: Much like a majority of the populace suffering from mental illness, this factor of their lives is kept secret, shared only with their trusted few, and greatly impacting when it is made public. The heroes are often afraid of how the general populace will react, how their family will or won't accept this change, and how those who seek to do them harm might use it against them. One freed, as shown in the Marvel Cinematic Universe(the movies), they are able to flaunt what makes them such amazing people, and that their differences are praiseworthy, not detriments.

Finally, but by no means least importantly, we are shown the supervillains. In your mind, picture the Joker, with all his chaotic ways, or Lex Luthor, a rich and powerful man with negative ulterior motives. Often stated, a great villain makes a good hero seem better, more adept, and more capable to handle threats. When concerning mental illnesses, villains express the darkest elements we wish not to see; they express what the media unfortunately seems to equate a mental disorder to: Crazy, delusional behavior and all-around dangerous to any and all in sight. This only reinforces the false stigma that those with "powers", in fact those suffering from mental illness, are not to be trusted, Thankfully, comic book movies often show the hero as a mirror image, a good compared to the bad, and the hero using a combination of natural skills and super powered abilities to overcome the villain with allies.

In conclusion, I won't lie, "mental disorders" is a hard topic to cover when facts are still becoming common knowledge. I admit I am not as cognizant on the matter as I want to be, and use a subject I am comfortable on, superheroes, to help illustrate some of the finer details of a harder affair. Thankfully, comic book characters are utilized today for the same purposes as the Greek myths and Medieval fairytales: to explain the world around us. In modern society, superheroes signify that what makes us different doesn't make us outcasts, who we are should not be hidden, and while some members of a group we associate with place a stigma on the group as a whole, we can work together to combat further negative influence. Naturally, fighting a hate-filled ideology will be harder than fighting one man, but it is not impossible. You are as much an Avenger as anyone, with skills the world desperately needs right now. Express sympathy, understanding, and a caring nature towards those superheroes down on their luck. Let them know they are not alone, they are accepted, and help get their capes flying high again.