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samasmith23 · 7 months

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Thunderbolt's Moonstone: A Case Study in Psychiatric Villainy...

Throughout my read-through of Kurt Busiek & Mark Bagley's classic run on the Thunderbolts so far, easily one of the most uniquely fascinating yet terrifying members of this team of supervillains disguised as superheroes has undoubtedly been Meteorite, aka Dr. Karla Sofen, aka Moonstone!

Essentially serving as the team's second-in-command underneath Citizen V (aka, Baron Helmut Zemo), Moonstone was formerly a renowned psychiatrist who frequently engaged in unethical practices with her patients in order to gain power over others while advancing her own career. For instance in the Thunderbolts (1997) #-1 as part of Marvel's "Flashback Month" (wherein all of the company's titles released a special "-1" issue which flashed back to the early history of the Marvel Universe), its revealed that while Dr. Sofen was working with a woman suffering from low self-esteem due to her husband cheating on her, Dr. Sofen was secretly the one sleeping with said-patient's adulterous husband. In addition to citing the expansion of her psychiatric business as the motivation for manipulating her patient, Dr. Sofen also implies that she feels a sense of power through manipulating her patients, that it "just feels wonderful" to "make enormous changes in this woman's life -- in the way she sees the world.... with just words and suggestions."

Part of what makes Karla Sofen especially terrifying as a character to me is that in addition to being an expert psychological manipulator, she's able to easily deceive others by presenting herself as a kindhearted and benevolent figure who merely wants to use her expertise to understand and help others. But this benevolent facade underlies Dr. Sofen’s desire to possess power over others, obtaining said-power through her keen understanding of the human mind and how to exploit it. It was this willingness to violate ethical medical boundaries for her own personal gain which eventually led to Dr. Sofen becoming the assistant of the notorious Captain America villain and HYDRA leader Dr. Faustus. It was during this time that Dr. Sofen became even more skilled as a psychological manipulator, and she utilized Dr. Faustus' techniques in order to trick the original Moonstone (aka Lloyd Bloch) into surrendering the Kree device which granted him his super-strength, flight & energy projection abilities to her.

Moonstone plays an incredibly fascinating role as the Thunderbolts' member "Meteorite." Its revealed in Thunderbolts Annual 1997, Moonstone was the last member that Zemo "recruited" into his new Masters of Evil. During a mass-prison breakout at the the Vault (a maximum security prison specifically designed for supervillains), the Thunderbolts made their public debut by recapturing the majority of the escapees. Unbeknownst to the the prison guards however, the Thunderbolts secretly abducted Moonstone, and Zemo blackmailed the former psychiatrist turned supervillain into joining the group in exchange for her freedom. And if Moonstone refused Zemo's officer, the Thunderbolts would have turned her back to the Vault where she would undoubtedly receive an increased prison sentence for participating in the escape attempt (Moonstone was previously close to finishing her sentence).

But while Zemo recruited Moonstone due to her psychological expertise and ability to help her fellow Masters of Evil in successfully fooling the general public with their superhero disguises, writer Kurt Busiek portrays Moonstone as having her own secret agenda which threatens to undermine Zemo's master plan with the Thunderbolts. Staying true to her background as a psychological manipulator, Moonstone is portrayed as an opportunistic schemer who's "nature is to watch, and think, and consider."

This observant and manipulative behavior is effectively demonstrated through Moonstone's interactions with her fellow Masters of Evil, whom she quickly recognizes are becoming too accustomed to their new disguises as superheroes. As early as the first issue of Thunderbolts, Moonstone is shown to be secretly monitoring and observing her teammates behavior when she witnesses the developing romantic relationship between fellow teammates M.A.C.H.-1/Beetle & Songbird/Screaming-Mimi. Its through their romance that Songbird is able to gradually overcome her own personal insecurities which have made her susceptible to Zemo's manipulation, while M.A.C.H.-1 begins to enjoy the public recognition and appreciation that being a hero grants him. Similarly at the end of Issue #2 , Moonstone notices that Atlas/Goliath is developing feelings for the Thunderbolt's city liaison for New York's mayor's office, Dallas Riordan. As the Thunderbolts become more widely embraced by New York City, Atlas continues to get closer to Riordan, even though he recognizes that pursuing a relationship with her would easily risk exposing the team's status as the Masters of Evil in disguise.

The relationships between M.A.C.H.-1 & Songbird and Atlas & Dallas respectively help to expose a growing rift between Baron Zemo & Moonstone's in-relation to their individual goals. As the son of the notorious Nazi war criminal of the same name, Zemo views his subordinates purely as mere tools which can help him fulfill his ultimate plan for world domination. And as such, Baron Zemo begins to fear that the Thunderbolts are "enjoying their roles too much," that their relationships are "softening them -- making them more human," which in-turn weakens them as living weapons that he can easily exploit. Conversely, Moonstone allows M.A.C.H.-1, Songbird, and Atlas' relationships to continue naturally developing, even actively encouraging said-relationships under the guise of fulfilling her responsibilities of "keeping the team functioning and convincing in their roles" as superheroes.

The tension between Moonstone & Baron Zemo's is further increased through the Thunderbolts' recruitment of the newly empowered meta-human, Jolt (aka, Hallie Takahama). An orphan whose parents were killed during the Onslaught incident, Hallie ended up becoming a surrogate big sister figure to several other fellow orphan children who were forced to survive on the streets following the disaster. Hallie and the other orphans were then kidnapped by Captain America villain and Hitler's chief-scientist in the Marvel Universe, Arnim Zola, whose experiments resulted in Hallie being granted electrical superpowers while the other children were sadly mutated into monsters who were then killed. Hallie managed to escape captivity and assisted the Thunderbolts in putting a stop to Zola's barbaric experiments.

However, due to Baron Zemo live-broadcasting the battle in order to increase the Thunderbolts' positive PR, Hallie was seen fighting alongside the team as the new super heroine Jolt. Realizing that the public loved Jolt and that it would make the team look bad if they turned her away, Moonstone encouraged Zemo into recruiting Jolt into the Thunderbolts. Consequently, this forced the Thunderbolts to continue acting like superheroes 24/7 and to hide their past lives as supervillains in front of Jolt, much to Zemo's dismay and to Moonstone's satisfaction.

Moonstone's interactions with Jolt in particular also serve to highlight the unsettling ambiguity behind the former's schemes and manipulations. For instance, in their civilian identities Dr. Sofen not only tries to get some insight into Hallie's recent traumatic experiences while offering her emotional support (just like a therapist would), but even makes significant strides to help make the Thunderbolts' headquarters a new home for Hallie.

What I find so unnerving about these interactions however is that Busiek leaves it intentionally vague as to whether or not Moonstone is being sincere in her actions. Is she telling Jolt that she views her like a daughter because she genuinely means it, or is she saying it just because she views Jolt as yet another individual to manipulate and take advantage of? Or is it a little bit of both? I ask this because while Busiek clearly portrays Moonstone's as seeing Jolt's recruitment as an opportunity to undermine Zemo's plans, the narration at the end of Issue #2 indicates that similar to M.A.C.H.-1, Songbird & Atlas, Moonstone is similarly beginning to feel a sense satisfaction at playing the hero:

"It's a heady feeling to play hero -- and to be accepted. She felt it herself -- in the heat of of battle, she forgot the role she was playing, forgot everything but the need to save the boy -- and the rush that came with victory. It feels good that rush. Maybe too good."

Its the combination these various factors that easily make Moonstone one of the most disturbingly intriguing members of the Thunderbolts. From her characterization as a manipulative and conniving psychiatrist who's willing to unethically exploit others for her own agendas, to the ambiguity surrounding her embracement of being a "superhero," to the nature of relationships with her fellow teammates, and her efforts to subtly undermine Baron Zemo, Dr. Karla Sofen is easily one of the most compelling and scary supervillainesses that I've recently encountered in superhero comics. And I am very curious to witness how Moonstone's arc progresses throughout the rest of Kurt Busiek & Mark Bagley's original Thunderbolts run!

#thunderbolts #meteorite #moonstone #karla sofen #citizen v #baron helmut zemo #mach 1 #beetle #songbird #screaming mimi #atlas #goliath #kurt busiek #mark bagley #90s comics #marvel comics #jolt #hallie takahama #mini essay

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samasmith23 · 8 months

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Thunderbolts (1997) #1 Review

I just read the first issue of Kurt Busiek & Mark Bagley’s classic run on Thunderbolts collected in an omnibus that I just bought and dang! This was certainly an incredibly strong start to this series!

Even though I already knew the big plot twist about the supposed new team of superheroes actually being Baron Zeno’s supervillain team the Masters of Evil in disguise, it was incredibly fun to see how the twist was subtly foreshadowed all throughout the issue! Not only are Zemo and the Masters of Evil name dropped during the opening news announcer’s list of threats following the disappearance and apparent death of the Avengers & Fantastic Four during the Onslaught crossover, but one of the villain groups that the Thunderbolts fight in their big superhero debut are the Wrecking Crew, with whom the Fixer/Techno had previous connections with back during his time as a member of the Frightful Four, nearly stating that he can’t fight them because of said associations before Citizen V (aka, Baron Zemo) quickly vocally assumes his reasoning to instead be that its because the Wrecking Crew are too powerful (effectively preventing their cover from being blown during the middle of a fight).

Additionally, knowing the twist in hindsight made reading the Thunderbolt’s dialogue even more enjoyable for me since it was fun noticing the double-meanings and lies behind their words in scenes such as their first interview with mainstream news outlets, as Baron Zemo as Citizen V paints his team as merely “volunteers who don’t consider themselves to be heroes” and don’t seek to “usurp the Avenger’s name and record, but rather to gain their own reputation through their actions.”

While on the surface “Citizen V’s” words make the Thunderbolts appear to the public as benign and humble concerned citizens who simply seek to help others after the disappearance of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, in actuality they allude to Baron Zeno’s ultimate plan of gradually gaining the trust of the general public and media in order to be eventually sanctioned by the US government just like the Avengers previously were, bringing the Masters of Evil one step closer to world domination.

And even in the first issue we’re already witnessing the seeds of Zemo’s plan beginning to bear fruit, as the Thunderbolt’s opening fights against both the Wrecking Crew and the Rat-Pack (who respectively attempt to destroy the Statue of Liberty and steal property and valuables from civilians who were tragically killed in the Onslaught incident; latter of which is excellent world-building continuity-wise) ends up winning the team even higher approval numbers in the polls than even the Avengers had during their initial debut during the Silver Age (likely due to the public still mourning the recent loss of the Avengers and fearing future supervillain attacks), as well as the team being contacted by an official liaison from the Mayor of New York.

To the citizens of New York who just suffered a severe tragedy that caused immense property damage and killed countless civilians and even seemingly their mightiest heroes, the Thunderbolts suddenly arrive on the scene to re-inspire a sense of hope and optimism that now seems to be disappearing in the Marvel Universe. The Post-Onslaught atmosphere honestly gives me a similar vibe to the feelings of despair and sense of unity which defined the post-9/11 era, even though the first issue of Thunderbolts came out in 1997, 5-years BEFORE the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

But just like the Post-9/11 era, said-newfound reassurance and strength that the Thunderbolts promise to the public is ultimately proven too good to be true, and is in actuality nothing more than a hollow sham designed to advance evil agendas (in that sense, Baron Zemo’s evil agenda with the Thunderbolts to take over the world in response to the Avenger’s absence bears some unintentional parallels to the George W. Bush Administration using the 9/11 tragedy as an excuse to perpetuate war crimes in the Middle East).

Like I said, the parallels are definitely NOT intentional since this came out before then, but it’s a feeling that I still I couldn’t help but notice while reading and made Thunderbolts (1997) #1 feel even more poignant and intriguing (especially for a book about a team of supervillains disguising themselves as superheroes)!

So overall, definitely a strong opening for Busiek & Bagley’s Thunderbolts run! One which expertly and subtly fleshes out its creative and unique premise in the span of just a single issue, and makes the reader invested in wanting to see more of how the Thunderbolts will continue to manipulate the public to their favor, as well as explore the interpersonal characterizations and dynamics of the individual supervillains who comprise the team! And I’m particularly excited to see what I think of the individual Thunderbolts members because aside from Baron Zemo this is my first ever exposure to these characters! The one that interests me the most so far is Moonstone/Meteorite (aka, Dr. Karla Sofen), a former psychiatrist turned-supervillain who possesses Danny Phantom-like powers and is a master manipulator of other people’s emotions who first fought Captain America and the Hulk, and according to Anne Carol from the ComicsCollective podcast Moonstone is originally Zemo’s second-in-command before she plays a major role in-relation to many of the other Thunderbolts member’s redemption arcs!

To hear more of Anne's analysis alongside her colleagues Dallas & Alexis, check out their episode discussing the Thunderbolts on the The Comics Collective! Link's below:

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