Super Grief and Loss: The Presence (and Absence) of Therapy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Grief and loss are frequently viewed with dread and are subject to denial in Western culture. In comic books and superhero movies, happy endings and the “retcon,” or narrative erasure of the demise of characters, render death not-so-final and infinitely more deniable. Further, loss serves as a cinematic trope to move the plot line forward. This article explores the way that grief, and therapy, are and are not represented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and focuses on two notable exceptions, a support group in Avengers: Endgame, and relationship therapy in the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Through a feminist lens, the authors investigate the ways in which relational therapy is portrayed in the MCU with superheroes struggling with grief and loss up on the screen and how this translates to viewers here in the real world. Therapeutic use of curated video clips depicting superheroes’ struggles in order to facilitate clients’ processing of grief and loss as well as a training tool for clinicians is discussed.