Learning from Endgame’s mistake with Fat Thor, the Eternals depicted Thena and her battle with Mahd Wy’ry without reducing her sanity to comedy.
Before eternalHowever, the MCU hadn’t done much to address trauma and mental illness in its characters, and much of what it had addressed was done for laughs. There have been alcoholics who misbehaved for comic effect and an entire civil war caused by the inability to communicate effectively about grief. Perhaps the most obvious example of this trend was the Thor story arc in avengers endgame.
In the eternalsdirector and screenwriter Chloé Zhao put Thena’s fight with Mahd Wy’ry (pronounced “crazy tired“) front and center. Thena and the other Eternals initially believe that her illness is caused by the weight of too many memories over the course of their millennial lives. However, it is eventually revealed that she is remembering previous missions on other planets that ended in the destruction of the people the Eternals had spent thousands of years protecting. Mahd Wy’ry is the MCU equivalent of immortal PTSD, and Thena’s struggles with him are handled beautifully in eternal.
Before Phase 4, the most obvious battle with mental illness was End of the gameThe Fat Thor Dealand while there was plenty of laughter at Thor’s expense, his sorrow and pain were only mocked by the rest. avengers. It’s obvious to viewers that Thor is suffering. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and probably an eating disorder are weighing him down, and his friends, the heroes who will save the universe, treat him like a joke. Thor had seen his parents die, his home fall, his murderous sister destroyed, his brother and best friend murdered, and half the population of the universe disappeared. When he had the chance to undo it, he reacted in anger, losing the only chance the Avengers thought they had to undo Thanos’ destruction. He carried the weight of the world and needed help, and his friends treated him as if his pain was weakness. Only Frigga, her mother long deadHe addressed the truth of his pain at all, saying, “They all fail at what they’re supposed to be, Thor. One measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they manage to be who they are.“It is only when love is shown to him and his pain is acknowledged that he begins to recover.
Thena, however, is treated delicately from the first moment Mahd Wy’ry began to affect her. Although she poses a danger to herself and others, the fact that Gilgamesh swears to stay with her always, to keep her safe and protect others from her, changes everything for Thena. Her illness is not something to be ashamed of, it is part of who she is. Those who love her, accept her and accommodate her for her. Thena’s relationship with Gilgamesh it gives her the strength she needs to come back when the team needs her. Even better, her Eternals allow her to be the one making jokes about her condition, laughing with her, not at her. By changing the narrative of her mental illness, her Eternals gave her the time and healing she needed.
The MCU has so many intertwined stories and characters, and each character has a lifetime of trauma that they have experienced, witnessed, and overcome. The likelihood that the characters will continue to go through difficult times, including dealing with mental health issues, is high. Phase 4 has already shown a different approach to dueling in Wanda Vision and the will to create female superhero stories in black widow Thankfully, Marvel has also turned the corner from the mocking disregard of the mental illness of avengers endgame to the loving empathy of eternal.
