A study of Marvel and DC comic book characters found no correlation between adverse childhood experiences and heroism or villainy. While the subject may seem unserious on its face, the authors point out that these characters can have real-world impacts on readers, especially children. Previous studies have shown that "The complex depictions of superheroes' trauma responses have the potential to influence the perceptions of children who are also experiencing trauma."
The researchers limited the heroes and villains in the study to characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Expanded Universe because the comics offer "different and inconsistent iterations and origin stories." They also noted, "No superheroes or villains were involved in this research study. If anyone could connect us with them, we would be happy to conduct a follow up study to overcome this limitation."
The study sought to answer three questions: Are adverse childhood experiences associated with villains? Are there differences between MCU and DCEU outcomes? Are there differences between female and male characters?
They concluded that the answer to the first question was no. Black Widow is mentioned as an example of a character who suffered extreme childhood trauma but ultimately rejected villainy and became an Avenger. They found no significant difference between MCU versus DCEU or between male and female characters, although the small number of female characters complicates the latter conclusion.
Pedantic side note: the authors incorrectly refer to the DCEU as the Detective Comics Expanded Universe; however, the name Detective Comics was officially changed to DC Comics in 1977.
Previously: Fans of comic book weirdness rejoice: Krypto the Superdog might be making his live-action debut
