Comic Con on the Couch: Psychoanalyzing Superheroes

Robin Rosenberg explores the inner lives of masked crime-fighters and the civilians who dress like them.

(Illustration by Norm Breyfogle)

April 23, 2012 • By Spencer Ackerman • No Comments and 12 Reactions

The shrink wants to know how Batman is feeling.

In this case, Batman is a husky mid-40s native of uptown Manhattan’s working-class Washington Heights neighborhood, his own personal Gotham. Under his thick black rubber mask, he grunts in his best Christian Bale, “The person that’s under the mask doesn’t exist.”

But the woman he’s talking to wants to get deep under that mask. She’sRobin Rosenberg, a middle-aged Palo Alto psychologist in private practice who specializes in an unusual clinical cohort: superheroes. Rosenberg, a columnist for Psychology Today and the author and editor of several books, including the anthology The Psychology of Superheroes, wants to know what motivates Batman. Yes, Robin is questioning Batman.

For more of this article in Pacific Standard Magazine, go to...

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