Kulturkampf

[Eric Cartman]

Miles Morales' Broken Spider-Sense is a Powerful Message About Mental Heath

Miles Morales’ most recent battle has been made all the more deadly thanks to the young Spider-Man’s classic Spider-Sense being on the fritz. Not only does this make him more vulnerable in a fight, but its impact on Miles serves as a powerful metaphor for mental health struggles.

In Miles Morales: Spider-Man #9 by writer Cody Ziglar, artists Federico Vicentini and Federico Sabbatini, colorist Bryan Valenza and letterer Cory Petit, the Hobgoblin has broken into the Beyond Corporation’s abandoned warehouse. As he attempts to steal a device that erases memories, Miles and his girlfriend Tiana Toomes aka Starling fight to stop him. This is tough for Spider-Man, whose Spider-Sense has been misfiring since last issue. It has either been not alerting him to danger, or warning him that there is danger everywhere all the time. As a result, he nearly loses the battle and his life, and comes to the realization that he needs professional help dealing with all of his recent trauma.

In psychology, hypervigilance is a common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. Someone experiencing hypervigilance will often feel a sense of increasing danger, causing them to be on high alert and fearful of potential threats. While this is a difficult condition to deal with for regular people, for someone with a Spider-Sense that is designed to warn them of danger, the symptoms would be intensified to a frightening degree. These constant feelings of distress have clearly gotten to Miles, as he falls to his knees and begins sobbing once Hobgoblin flees the scene. He asks Starling, “What’s wrong with me? What’s going on? My Spider-Sense not working almost got us both killed!” Realizing that this is not a problem he can punch or web his way out of, Miles decides that he needs to get some real help.

The idea of Miles seeking therapy was first brought up last issue when he confessed to Tiana that his Spider-Sense has been alerting him to danger, even when there’s nothing there. He agrees to think on it, and in this most recent issue he admits that he needs to talk to somebody. Miles has certainly been through a lot recently, from being tortured and experimented on by the Assessor to fighting his own clones to stopping a symbiote attack on New York from Carnage host Cletus Kasady. These are incredibly stressful and traumatic events to deal with for anyone, especially a high school student. Naturally, Miles would be experiencing some pretty heavy PTSD, so it’s good that he’s decided to finally seek treatment.

For all the constant battles, deaths, resurrections and crises that superheroes in the Marvel Universe have to contend with, few of them ever acknowledge the toll it takes on their mental health. If left unmanaged, Miles’ PTSD could get even worse, putting himself and the people around him in danger. It’s encouraging that he’s not only recognizing that he can benefit from therapy, but that he’s approaching the subject with an open mind. Miles is not treating the need for therapy as a weakness or something to be ashamed of, and his girlfriend Tiana is supportive and validates his feelings without judgment. Since his introduction in 2011, Miles Morales has been an inspiration to a whole generation of comic readers, and the young Spider-Man continues to set an example for his fans by recognizing the importance of self-care and mental health.