11 superheroes with bipolar disorder

No speculative diagnoses here, the characters were all given bipolar disorder by their creators. Dastardly!

Aura
“Aura is the super-hero alias of a young woman named Alexis Pope.  Alexis has Bipolar Disorder and has survived a suicide attempt.  She also has migraine headaches (not uncommon in people with Bipolar Disorder) with visual aura – although Alexis’ auras are far from typical, as you’ll see in the story. Alexis’ narration conveys the struggles she’s faced not only as a direct result of her mental illness, but also through the indirect consequences of having a mental illness, i.e., the stigma associated with illnesses like Bipolar Disorder.  This narration is juxtaposed against various manifestations of prejudice and discrimination encountered by Alexis as she commutes to her appointment with her psychiatrist.”
Aura featured in Rise, comics against bullying.

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Mark Bouchard – Less Than Hero
“Less Then Hero is the story of Mark Bouchard, a manic depressive who tries to overcome his depression by becoming a super hero following a failed suicide attempt. He steals a costume and declares himself “the Punk”.” Interview.

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The next one is interesting, dude’s superpowers are suppressed by his meds. So much to psychoanalyse in that tharr clause. And the writer is Max Bemis outa Say Anything, who supplied a free track to download with each of the four comics in the series.

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Polarity
Tim is an artist living in Brooklyn. He suffers daily from the plague of hipsters that surround him. He also suffers from Bipolar Disorder. We discover this immediately when the story opens with him walking out of his building, wearing only a t-shirt, obviously disoriented and walks into the path of an oncoming car.

Bi-polar Bear (90s TV cartoon)
“A minor character in The Tick, Bi-Polar Bear is a superhero with bi-polar disorder. His first appearance is when he shouts “This looks like a job for Bi-Polar Bear! But I just can’t get out of bed this month…”” Appearances: The Tick vs. The Idea Men, The Tick vs. Dinosaur Neil, HEROES

DC Comics

William Magnus
“Doc Magnus is the creator of the Metal Men, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on robotic engineering. Throughout his career, he has also been an associate of the Doom Patrol, a member of the Science Squad, and an advisor on the White House presidential cabinet.”

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Sara Smart
“Sara spent a number of years fighting crime as Sally Sonic, befriending such creatures as Barnabus the Teddy Bear King, but when both her parents and Barnabus died, Sally, who never aged beyond her teens, was declared to be underage and lost her house, ending up at Madame Eva Martinette’s Bleakdale Home for Bereaved Children. Madame Martinette treated her cruelly, and so Sally broke out and ended up on the streets. She was taken in by Dennis (AKA Vitaman), a washed-up WWII hero who secretly held a grudge against Sally’s father for putting him and his brother in jail years earlier. He goaded her into entering the seedy world of superheroine porn, where he made money taking pictures of her and loaning her to various criminal interests (for instance, he once entered her into a “bare-knuckle, bare-naked fight to the death” for the Duke of Dulwich’s birthday party.)”

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James Jesse
“James Jesse was a member of the Rogues Gallery, a gathering of criminals in Central City aimed for the purpose of destroying the Flash, operating under the identity of the Trickster. In the Justice League Unlimited episode “Flash And Substance”, he teamed up with Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, and Mirror Master mostly as a tag-along rather than as a serious villain, since hardly anybody among them even listens to him or his ideas.”

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Aquarius
“Aquarius was a member of a group of near omnipotent living stars called the Council of Living Stars. He was convicted of heinous crimes by his peers and was stripped of most of his powers and banished from the Council. He found himself on Earth, where his presence attracted the attention of Starman, who tried to probe the anomalous star with his Cosmic Rod. Aquarius stripped Starman of his Cosmic Rod and regained his full powers. In spite of an attempt by the Justice Society of America to try and stop him, Aquarius attempted to destroy the universe — and succeeded in eliminating everything except for the assembled Justice Society.”

Marvel Comics

Jason Kimball
“Twenty-six-year-old fashion designer Jason Kimball, from New York City’s Harlem, saw his career end due to his compulsive gambling. To compensate for his gambling debts, Jason borrowed money from a loan shark. Unfortunately Jason was unable to pay back his debt to the loan shark, which in turn lead to an attempt on his life. Fortunately, Jason was saved by the Asgardian god Heimdall. Following this rescue, Jason was chosen by various goddesses of the pantheons of Earth to become the Young Gods’ artist, under the name of Genii.”

Hank Pym aka Ant Man, Goliath/Giant Man, Yellowjacket, Ultron.
“Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym, is an American biochemist with extensive knowledge in various scientific fields, married Maria Trovaya, a brave and beautiful young woman who had been a political dissident in her native Hungary, from which she had fled. Naively believing that his American citizenship would protect her, Henry and Maria Pym traveled to Hungary shortly after their marriage. The Pyms were confronted by agents of the secret police there. Henry Pym was knocked unconscious and Maria was murdered. Pym was greatly distraught by his wife’s death, and decided to do whatever he could in the future to battle injustice and inhumanity.”

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Calvin Rankin
“Rankin (also known as Mimic) first gained his mimicking abilities after a lab accident involving one of his father’s dangerous experiments. He was a villain-turned-hero-turned-villain who joined the X-Men, and for a short time, was the deputy leader of the team[7]. Mimic’s main quest had always been to find a way to make his abilities permanent. On this quest he had battled the X-Men, the Hulk, Super-Adaptoid, Puppet Master and Factor Three, as well as serving Onslaught and briefly joining Excalibur. He retained his powers after M-Day and was held prisoner by the Thunderbolts for his past crimes until being offered a place on Norman Osborn’s X-Men. After receiving help from the Jean Grey’s School X-Men, Calvin was offered a spot on their team which he accepted.”

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9 not so superheroes with bipolar disorder

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The Superhero Bipolar Squad: spoofed superheroes with bipolar disorder, by an indie film rabble in the UK. Hmmm.

Where are you going? We’re not done yet.

Superhero Therapy refers to incorporating characters from geek culture, including Superheroes and other characters from comic books, as well as characters from fantasy, science fiction, and video games into evidence-based therapy (such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy).
How X-Men helped me overcome PTSD (Chernobyl)
Dean Trippe – How superheroes helped heal childhood trauma. (podcast) Triggers everywhere, esp his graphic novel. I regretted clicking the link to that.
Psychiatric Times: superheroes impart life’s lessons.
Magneto: Diagnosing a Superhero
Anxiety Girl (Natalie Dee)
Comic Con on the Couch: Analyzing Superheroes Robin Rosenberg delves into the inner psyches of superheroes—and the people who dress like them.
Less than Heroes, David Yurkovich

Project UROK: comic books are good for mental health

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