Chapter 6: Leadership During Crisis and Stress: Leadership During Stressful Times Like Thanos’ “One Snap”

Marvel heroes often have to fight for the fate of the world while putting themselves in potential mortal risk. While our heroes triumph in the end, their superhero battles have significant stress and negative consequences on them. Heroes suffer from extreme stress and strain, with Iron Man showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (Scarlet & Busch, 2016).

In our own world, crises and extreme situations can and do happen. The COVID-19 pandemic is a recent example of a situation of unanticipated crisis where the actions of leaders had a huge impact on how it was reacted to. When a crisis hits, we need leaders who can best respond to the situation and navigate it as needed. And there are still many stressful events, big and small, that happen in our lives.