4-year-old suddenly refuses to sleep in his room, months later, sleuthing mother finds out the cause: a Marvel poster: 'Evil face is gone!'

Author image for Ely Bulnes
Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Aug 28, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

Kids have a funny way of convincing moms and dads that they've finally got this whole parenting figured out, only to rip the rug right out from under them in an instant. This 4-year-old went from happily snoozing in his Mario Kart bed to refusing to step foot in his room seemingly overnight. At first, mom and dad suspected that he might be having nightmares or that some animal on the roof was making noises late at night, but things didn't get better. Months of bedtime battles and tears every evening became the new normal until this mom's sleuthing skills finally figured it all out. The real culprit behind her son's boycott was a terrifying "evil face" lurking in plain sight. She's not sure which superhero or super villain of the hundreds pictured on the Marvel poster actually spooked her son, but she got rid of the whole thing anyway.

Kids' fears are finnicky in this way. When I was around that age, my favorite movie ever was The Mummy. By all accounts, that CGI mummy Imhotep should have given me nightmares, but I didn't think he was too bad. You know what did scare me enough to make me cry, though? Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Everything from the Cheshire cat to the pencil birds that erase Alice's path home made me want to cry. This just goes to show that you can baby-proof your home, but you can't stop a kid's imagination!

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  • 01

    My son suddenly won't go in his room but won't tell us why

    Cheezburger Image 10547428864
    via Pressmaster

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    We moved into a new house about a year ago so that my son (who turns 4 next month) can have his own room. We thought the transition would be rough but he took to his room almost immediately and have had no issues. He loved his room, has all his toys in there, bedtime routines went smoothly.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 03
    Most nights he dozes off after a couple of stories and a smooch on the head. He has his nightlights and we keep his door open, even though he never mentioned being scared of the dark.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 04
    Something changed on July 4th. He spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing in his room, even refusing to come downstairs for a bit. That same night and every night since,
    via u/bananaburps
  • 05
    he refuses to go into his room at all, insisting on sleeping in our room. He won't go in with us holding hands, and if we're able to get him in for a second to retrieve a specific toy, he won't go all the way in and then immediately run away back down the hall.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 06
    He has no problem taking a bath in his bathroom across the hall, but he insists we keep the bathroom door closed. Then he runs straight from the bathroom to our room.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 07
    We have asked him in all sorts of ways why he doesn't want to go in his room, and he'll deflect either by screaming COW BOY HAT (a la muffin) or giggle while naming every animal he can think of. We're guessing he
    via u/bananaburps
  • 08
    had a nightmare at some point, but he did spend the afternoon in his room with no problem on the day this started. We're not getting anywhere here, and as a result I've been sleeping in his room while he shares our bed with my husband.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 09
    Maybe I'm looking for someone who had a similar experience with their child that can offer up some fresh ideas, or maybe I'm just venting because I miss my bed. Argh.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 10
    When he was a preschooler, I bought him pajamas that had a polar bear face on them and its eyes were angled and fierce looking. He was scared of it. I took a sharpie and rounded the polar bear's eyes and brought his eyebrows out and down to look kinder. I was proud of myself for that one.
    via u/bananaburps

  • Because kids aren't so good at articulating what's going on their heads and bodies, parenting does kind of feel like you're playing Sherlock Holmes all the time!

  • 11

    At my wit's end. My son suddenly won't go in his room but won't tell us why

    Cheezburger Image 10547427840
    via esthermoreno

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 12
    After exactly one month, I finally figured it out! I've been busy but wanted to update because I still am so stoked he's back in his room.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 13
    A few days ago, I got my son to acknowledge a couple of his toys from the doorway, and he stepped in a little bit with encouragement. I then took the opportunity to point at objects in his room and he had a huge reaction to a marvel poster that had been hanging over his bed since we moved
    via u/bananaburps
  • 14
    in a year ago. He ran to our bedroom and hid under our covers, so I took it off the wall and walked it through the hallway. I stopped at our room for confirmation and he freaked out when he saw I was holding it. I told him that it's going in the garbage and he's never going to see it ever again. I hid it downstairs for later disposal, came back upstairs and told him it was gone. He leapt out of our bed
    via u/bananaburps
  • 15
    and hurried down the hall to his room and jumped in excitement that "EVIL FACE IS GONE!!!" He then screamed in excitement about his Mario kart bed, tossed my pillow off, threw his Mario pillow on and tucked himself in! I was so ecstatic I danced around
    via u/bananaburps
  • 16
    with him the rest of the night singing "NO MORE EVIL FACE". We played with all the toys he missed He slept in his room that night and has since been spending even more time in his room playing by himself. He brings up nightly that evil face is gone and his room is fun.
    via u/bananaburps
  • 17
    To those who are curious, it was a marvel framed poster with like 100+ superheroes and villains. He had always named even some of the more obscure characters (my husband is a comic book guy and passed on this knowledge). Im not sure which character scared him in particular but I theorize it was either m.o.d.o.k. Or ego the living planet. I didn't stop to have him point out which was the evil face.
    via u/bananaburps

  • Something similar happened to me with a Harry Potter poster. I wasn't exactly scared of it, but it kind of bothered me as a kid that Daniel Radcliffe was constantly watching me. 

  • 18
    Cheezburger Image 10547428096
    via pinstock from Getty Images Signature

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 19
    AllTheThingsTheyLove It's funny how their little brains develop. He probably had a major cognitive leap and became aware of something that he had no concept of before. Glad you got it figured out!
    via u/AllTheThingsTheyLove
  • 20
    DueEntertainero I'm glad you solved the case! Now if you could help me get the monster from behind the chair in my toddler's room that would be super helpful haha
    via u/DueEntertainero
  • 21
    monday-next We once had a kid staying with us who suddenly got scared of "the draft" (he overheard the adults talking about keeping a draft out of the room or something and assumed it was a monster. My Dad acted out a big fight with the draft, wrestled it down, threw it out the back door and locked it out. Kid was never scared of it again.
    via u/monday-next
  • 22
    Ekyou My 4 year old is a big fan of Spidey and Friends. We found a cheap Spider-Man clock at Walmart and he asked if he could have it. When we got home and hung it up in his room, he told us to take it down because it was scary! The real Spider-Man has scarier looking eyes than Spidey. They're surprisingly sensitive to stuff like that at this age!
    via u/Ekyou
  • 23
    ISSUE! A LEGEND REBORNE ww FAST MUTANT MILE STONE $1.50 US ост wwww
    via Erik Mclean from Pexels

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  • 24
    beebeebeeBe Yea my son is 7 and begged for a venom poster and I've already taken it down because he was side eyeing it and didn't want to sleep in his bed. ◉forgot about that one, and definitely should have known better personally lol
    via u/beebeebeeBe
  • 25
    cokakatta When my son was a baby I put mickey mouse and friends wall stickers near his changing table. He got terrified of their eyes or something and I had to remove them.
    via u/cokakatta
  • 26
    When he was a preschooler, I bought him pajamas that had a polar bear face on them and its eyes were angled and fierce looking. He was scared of it. I took a sharpie and rounded the polar bear's eyes and brought his eyebrows out and down to look kinder. I was proud of myself for that one.
    via u/cokakatta

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