10 Essential Relationship Tips We Learned From Superheroes

8. Blame Everything Else On Mind-Swapping

Sometimes, though, mind-control is beyond the realms of possibility. Sometimes your actions seem so out-of-character that blaming simple manipulation or recovery from a Yakuza battle just isn't going to cut it. In that case, you have our full authorisation to go the whole hog and play the Superior Spider-Man card: tell your partner that the reason you've been acting so strangely as of late is because you had your brain swapped with somebody else's. Preferably a supervillain's, or somebody else neither of you like, to foster a sense of mutual hate. A tactic that's used in classic cinema (Freaky Friday, The Change-Up) as much as comic books, the Otto Octavius defence is still the gold standard of this particular love lifehack. Whilst his body was inhabited by Doc Ock, Peter Parker broke up with his long-time girlfriend Mary Jane, alienated most of his friends and family, and ended up dating a totally new woman named Anna Maria. Since recovering the use of his own form he has used the "villain in my head" excuse on everybody, smoothing things over with MJ and his family and breaking up with Anna Maria, and things seem to be working out for him! If it worked for Spidey, it can work for you.