Marvel fans, have you heard? The fifth issue of The Unstoppable Wasp, penned by Jeremy Whitley, is another reflection of the writer’s consistent goal in abolishing taboos while bringing proper representation through the comics. The series stars Nadia Van Dyne, the Unstoppable Wasp, who got her active thinking tanks and size-changing abilities from her father Henry Pym (also the former Ant-Man, now Hank).
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Picking up from The New York Times, one of the scenes in the issue discloses the eponymous hero in a rather deep introspection or a self-discovery-turned-revelation: “I need help. I think I’m bipolar… and I don’t think I can handle this alone.” According to The Mighty, Nadia has exhibited some symptoms like “mania, depression and ‘bipolar rage,’ which may cause someone to lash out at their loved ones.”
Bipolar disorder, as defined by The National Institute of Mental Health, is a brain disorder that elicits unusual shifts from mood to energy. This is why day-to-day tasks are often disrupted. “It was something my editor, Alanna Smith, and I discussed a great deal. We felt it was an opportunity to present a representation of mental illness that we don’t frequently see in comics,” Jeremy explained, when asked why he decided to make Nadia a character with BPD.
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What we can take out of this initiative is whatever illness people may have, they are always more than that. As Marvel puts it, “While these characteristics are what help make our heroes human, they do not define them or weaken them; they’re simply a part of who they are.”
Header from Marvel comics