It's kind of interesting that many comic book heroes and villains have experienced trauma and appear to have some symptoms of PTSD.

Bruce Wayne (Batman) is the one I relate to the most, as he witnessed the murder of his family and then became a recluse, obsessed with caves and darkness. He's only able to be outgoing when he wears a mask and is disguised as Batman. He continues to suffer from nightmares, flashbacks and hallucinations, and has trouble getting close to anyone.

The Punisher was a Marine in Vietnam, and witnessed the murders of his wife and children at the hands of the Mafia. He has frequent flashbacks and nightmares of his family's murders and has trouble controlling his rage.

Magneto (X-Men) is a Jewish Holocaust survivor. His entire family was murdered by the Nazis, and he was tortured while in camp. He married a Gypsy woman who he met in the concentration camp and had a daughter with her. His infant daughter is later murdered by a mob, which causes Magneto to lose his sanity. He has many symptoms of trauma which effect how he acts as a supervillain.

Wolverine (X-Men) witnesses the murder of family members and his mother's suicide. He loses all memory of his childhood, his family and his name, due to his trauma.

V (V for Vendetta) is held captive in a concentration camp in a dystopian future. He spends years there, tortured and experimented on. He finally escapes and becomes a recluse, wipes out his former identity entirely and exacts revenge on those who harmed him.

That's just a few characters I can think of off the top of my head but there are many more.

This is a very interesting insight. It looks like one could write a really cool article on this subject. . . the choices one makes in the wake of trauma, as reflected in popular comic book characters . . . using the experience for good or ill, etc. And I just saw the thread about your new job -- congratulations!

It is an odd thing, but oh so very true.

Even down to Rogue (x-men) who refuses to let anyone close to her because she might hurt them.

Okay, so hers is an actual problem, but she pushes peoiple away emotionally as well as physically.

meant to add in

I associate a lot with Rogue

Wow! I never realised that these characters really do have PTSD type trauma.

It is as if trauma gives them their drive, their passion - what a cool way to think about this!

Rogue had a bit of trauma too... her mum disappeared under suspcious circumstances, and that led to her being raised by her older sister who was unaccepting and harsh in a lot of ways. Not to mention, I think having a power that makes you able to genuinely hurt and kill people (without meaning to) must be traumatic all in itself.

Hodge, I agree, I think it would make a good article. Many "traditional" comics are morality plays. The main characters go through horrible circumstances in their lives, and then at some point they are given a choice, to use their experiences for good or for evil.

Magneto is one of my favourite characters in this regard because he is more complex than most comic book characters. There were times (in the comics, not the movies) where he was on the side of "good" and was a hero, but his traumatic experiences kept pulling him towards being a villain, he couldn't control his rage and his desire for revenge against "normal" people.

Yeah it's kind of strange... how trauma basically makes them heroes or villains... I guess it makes for a much more interesting story. There are some superheroes who haven't had trauma however. Superman, for example. He was adopted, but he had a very normal childhood.

Aaah, but Superman grew up alienated from everyone, never able to let anyone in, never allowed to live to his true potential. Even though Mr and Mrs Kent loved him dearly, it could be construed that by being forced to contain his 'natural' behaviour, they were in fact using a form of child hood abuse.

That is kinda harsh cass, behave.

LOL. Yeah that's all true about Clark Kent, definitely. But none of that would be considered bad enough trauma to have PTSD, at least not in my opinion. ;)

Lol, I had noticed the same thing, but, since do not know a lot of modern movies, could not give specific examples.
However, I do remember some examples from literature, again, not too many specisic ones.
In "East from Edem" by John Steinbeck, Adam Trask is having trouble talking about his time in the army, specifically about the war with Indians.
In "Singing in the trees" by Colin McCallow (sorry for possible mistranslation and misspelling), James, Patrick, and Leon Hartgeim have clear PTSD symptoms, like avoiding close relationship with their families.
In "Nobody writes to the Colonel" and "100 years of solitude"by Gabrial Garsia Marques the cherachters have noghmares and frequent memories about the war.
And just it was a number of times whan the character of some book woul tell something like this, refering to their traumatic events:
-I still see that in dreams, and wake up scared...
or
-I still remember that and will remember to my last day...
I also remember the examples from Russian literature, probably, that will not tell you much.
For instance, that was a beautiful poem, written by the Russian lady who had been through the WWII as a combat medic:

Just ones I had seen a real one-to-one fight.
Just ones in the real life, and countless times in the dream.
Whoever says that the war is not scary
Does not know anything about the war.

In all her poems, even those written in late 80s, you can see the memories about the war.

Another poem, written in early 40s, about the civil war:
Night after nignt, no sleep for me.
The gun is in my hand,
And I am ready to fight,
As 20 years ago during the war.

Finally, there is a movie, also the Russian one, which I would advise you never to watch. It is called "Come and see", and it is the most realistic war movie ever made. I had seen it twice, first as a kid (probably a mistake of my parents), and then in my teens. Second time I could not watch it to the end.
You can see the young guy is simply loosing his mind from all the brutality he is witnessing.

Well, I must say this is an interesting topic actually... quite insightful Evie. So if you want a little mental torture, then here is a thought for you. As these characters are fictional, though the characters where derived from humans, and their words also derived by someone behind the character. What does that mean about the people creating these fictional characters? Are these characters a reflection of their lives maybe? The real PTSD behind the fictional mask?