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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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magicalmonsterhero · 11 months

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Doc Samson Synopsis

A synopsis for my Doc Samson Disney+ series idea Notes: -If anyone has any ideas regarding casting, please post them in the comments. -This takes place at the same time as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (assuming you are willing to consider that show to be MCU canon).

Episode 1: Leonard Samson is called to testify in the trial of Tony Masterson, accused of murdering several people who supported the repeal of the Sokovia Accords. During Samson’s testimony, however, Masterson uses a supposedly unarmed gun to shoot him, along with security guard Craig Saunders, defense attorney Diane Davids, prosecutor Kyle Barker, and NYPD officer Benjamin Tibbets before he is shot and killed by NYPD detective Clay Quartermain. Samson is rushed to the hospital, where Dr. Angela Lipscombe unwittingly gives him blood synthesized from that of Bruce Banner. As a result, Samson is turned into a green-haired superhuman with greatly enhanced strength. Quartermain meets with Samson and Angela to discuss the shooting, and the three decide to work together to solve the mystery.

Mid-Credits Scene: General John Ryker visits Philip Sterns in prison, and offers him a way to take revenge on the man who put him in there.

Episode 2: While going over his sessions with Masterson, Samson discovers that Saunders was present each time, and that he gave Masterson orders on behalf of an unidentified source telling him to kill Samson, Davids, and Barker. Further investigation reveals that the gun Masterson used was armed by a woman impersonating a court clerk, and the same woman also disguised herself as a nurse and swapped a regular blood bag with the gamma-irradiated blood that Samson received. A gamma-mutated Sterns, calling himself Madman, goes on a rampage, only to be fought and defeated by Samson. Quartermain, believing there is a connection to Bruce Banner’s work, calls in ESU physics professor Dr. Walter Langowski and his teacher’s aide Delilah ‘Dee Dee’ Dearborn to help.

Mid-Credits Scene: Samson works on adapting to his new strength.

Episode 3: Quartermain arranges a meeting with Michael Berengetti, a retired mobster who claims to have information about the victims. Berengetti reveals that he was contacted about making sure Davids (who normally took mob-related cases) would be Masterson’s defense attorney, but before he can say who asked him to do so, he is killed by two of his underlings Jessie Harrison and Louis Lembert, both of whom have received gamma-derived powers. Samson, Quartermain, and Dee Dee are able to subdue Harrison and Lembert, and the two confess they were convinced to betray Berengetti by Dr. Karla Sofen, who is identified as the woman impersonating the court clerk and nurse.

Mid-Credits Scene: Sofen makes a recording in which she describes several “experiments” she conducted, including psychologically manipulating convicted criminal Lloyd Bloch into giving her an unusual gem he stole, which she refers to as a Moonstone.

Episode 4: Continuing their investigation into Saunders and Davids, the group finds out the former was involved in the same mission to capture Banner that led to Emil Blonsky becoming Enhanced. Samson recalls his part in the events leading up to the fight in Harlem, and the group discusses Ross’s potential involvement. A former colleague of Langowski arrives in New York and tries to kill him, taking on the form of the Wendigo to do so, but is stopped by Samson with aid from Langowski and Dee Dee. Though it is determined that Ross was not part of the conspiracy, it is revealed that Ryker was also involved with the project that created the Hulk and that he has similar ambitions to create super soldiers.

Mid-Credits Scene: Sofen decides that Ryker is getting in the way of her plans, and decides to get rid of him.

Episode 5: In order to make sure there are no loose ends, Samson and Quartermain go over footage from Masterson’s visits, and learn that Davids gave him the order to kill Saunders on Ryker’s behalf. The group accompanies the police to arrest Ryker, but are ambushed by the electrical monster Zzzax, and are forced to take it down. Meanwhile, Ryker confronts Sofen and accuses her of having her own agenda. Sofen fatally shoots Ryker, leaving behind enough evidence to expose his part in the conspiracy and other illicit activities before fleeing.

Mid-Credits Scene: The FBI is contacted about Ryker and Sofen, with instructions to not allow the Department of Damage Control to interfere, as a number of their higher-ranking staff are are under investigation for abuse of power, brutality, corruption, and/or similar crimes.

Episode 6: No longer held back by Ryker, Sofen bonds with the Moonstone and abducts Langowski and Dee Dee. Samson, Quartermain, and Angela rescue them, though not before both are exposed to gamma radiation. An enraged Sofen goes on a rampage, but is stopped by Samson, as the latter fully embraces his Enhanced status, and Sofen is taken into custody. During the following celebration, Samson calls Bruce to say hello and ask if he’d like to join him in catching up with Betty.

Post-Credits Scene 1: Samson and Dee Dee discuss what they’re going to do now that they are Enhanced, and Dee Dee reveals that she had an ulterior motive for meeting Samson—she suspects that the two of them have the same father.

Post-Credits Scene 2: Langowski, now possessing the ability to transform into a superstrong beast he calls Sasquatch, receives a call asking him to return to Canada and join a new team being formed there. He rudely declines.

#Marvel Cinematic Universe #Doc Samson #tv series idea #disney plus series idea

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marvelman901 · 1 year

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Avengers Unplugged vol 1 1 (1995) . Unchain My Heart! . Written by Glenn Herdling Penciled by M C Wyman Inked by Sandu Florea Colors by Ashley Posella Lettered by C.D.B. Wells Edited by Ralph Macchio Cover by M C Wyman and Al Milgrom . Nefarius (Lloyd Bloch) wanted to kill Moonstone (Karla Sofen) and had let himself be taken to the Vault to do so. Luckily, the Avengers were there to stop him... . See more relevant content here: #marvelman901avengers #marvelman901pym #marvelman901vision #marvelman901blackwidow #marvelman901hercules #marvelman901nefarius #marvelman901moonstone . #avengers #mcwyman #almilgrom #moonstone #90s #hercules #vision #pym #giantman #blackwidow #nefarius (på/i The Vault) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnVBeqRMpfC/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#marvelman901avengers #marvelman901pym #marvelman901vision #marvelman901blackwidow #marvelman901hercules #marvelman901nefarius #marvelman901moonstone #avengers #mcwyman #almilgrom #moonstone #90s #hercules #vision #pym #giantman #blackwidow #nefarius

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justdealingwithsomeissues · 2 years

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Yup, this is Lloyd Bloch aka the original Moonstone, and he is still as stupid as he ever was as it takes Moonstone literally seconds to trick him into letting his guard down and to stop trying to kill her and instead transform into her more powerful form...

#Marvel #Captain America #Steve Rogers ~ Captain America #Wendell Vaughn ~ Quasar #Karla Sofen ~ Moonstone

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moviesandmania · 3 months

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THE CAT CREATURE (1973) Reviews of fun TV movie - free to watch online

The Cat Creature is a 1973 American supernatural horror film made for television and directed by Curtis Harrington (Ruby; The Dead Don’t Die; The Killing Kind; Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?; Night Tide; et al) from a screenplay by Robert Bloch, based on a story by producer Douglas S. Cramer and Wilford Lloyd Baumes. The TV movie stars Meredith Baxter, David Hedison and Gale Sondergaard. Composer…

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#Curtis Harrington #David Hedison #free to watch on YouTube #free to watch online #Gale Sondergaard #John Carradine #Meredith Baxter #movie film #review reviews #Robert Bloch #stuart whitman #The Cat Creature

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jasonblaze72 · 1 year

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#Halloween #Movies

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evilhorse · 9 months

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Captain America #170

#captain america #steve rogers #moonstone #Lloyd Bloch #police #arrest #framed #uh oh #gil kane #john romita sr #marvel comics #comics #70s comics #bronze age comics

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nitpickrider · 7 months

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I'd almost feel bad for Moonstone in this situation if I didn't know for a fact she was a manipulating, violent, toxic little weasel. Again, I recommend letting them kill each other. Captain America #379

#marvel #marvel comics #marvel universe #marvel heroes #superhero #comics #nefarious #lloyd bloch #moonstone #karla sofen

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elgaberino-mcoc · 3 years

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You know the Infinity Stones, but do you know the gems of the LIFESTONE TREE? Hint: you probably already have one on your roster.

Characters will be linked to this post as they are discussed:

Moonstone (Lloyd Bloch)

Moonstone

Ulysses Bloodstone

Elsa Bloodstone

Cullen Bloodstone

Basilisk (Basil Elks)

Doctor Spectrum (Kinji Ubatu)

Doctor Spectrum

Kid Spectrum

Blue Diamond

Sphinx

Sphinx (Meryet Karim)

Man-Wolf

Stargod

Behemoth (Manfred Haller)

Jazinda

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randomrecordreview · 4 years

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#1439 Various Artists – Cello Adagios The Cello has been my favourite instrument since hearing Elgar’s Cello Concerto for the first time as a young child.

#autobiography #Cello #Classical #compilation #Dvorak #Edward Elgar #Ernest Bloch #Julian Lloyd-Webber #Lynn Harrell #Maria Theresia von Paradis #Max Bruch #women composers

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rockislandadultreads · 4 years

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Short Story Collections: Horror edition

In the Shadow of Frankenstein: Tales of the Modern Prometheus by Stephen Jones, Neil Gaiman

Frankenstein... His very name conjures up images of plundered graves, secret laboratories, electrical experiments, and reviving the dead.

Within these pages, the maddest doctor of them all and his demented disciples once again delve into the Secrets of Life, as science fiction meets horror when the world's most famous creature lives again.

Here are collected together for the first time twenty-four electrifying tales of cursed creation that are guaranteed to spark your interest—with classics from the pulp magazines by Robert Bloch and Manly Wade Wellman, modern masterpieces from Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison, Karl Edward Wagner, David J. Schow, and R. Chetwynd-Hayes, and new contributions from Graham Masterton, Basil Copper, John Brunner, Guy N. Smith, Kim Newman, Paul J. McAuley, Roberta Lannes, Michael Marshall Smith, Daniel Fox, Adrian Cole, Nancy Kilpatrick, Brian Mooney and Lisa Morton.

Plus, you're sure to get a charge from three complete novels: The Hound of Frankenstein by Peter Tremayne, The Dead End by David Case, and Mary W. Shelley's original masterpiece Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

As an electrical storm rages overhead, the generators are charged up, and beneath the sheet a cold form awaits its miraculous rebirth. Now it's time to throw that switch and discover all that Man Was Never Meant to Know.

She Said Destroy by Nadia Bulkin

A dictator craves love--and horrifying sacrifice--from his subjects; a mother raised in a decaying warren fights to reclaim her stolen daughter; a ghost haunts a luxury hotel in a bloodstained land; a new babysitter uncovers a family curse; a final girl confronts a broken-winged monster... Word Horde presents the debut collection from critically-acclaimed Weird Fiction author Nadia Bulkin. Dreamlike, poignant, and unabashedly socio-political, She Said Destroy includes three stories nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award, four included in Year's Best anthologies, and one original tale, with an Introduction by Paul Tremblay.

His Hideous Heart by Dahlia Adler, Kendare Blake, Rin Chupeco, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Stephanie Kuehn, Amanda Lovelace, Marieke Nijkamp, Emily Lloyd-Jones, Hillary Monahan, Caleb Roehrig, Fran Wilde

Thirteen of YA’s most celebrated names reimagine Edgar Allan Poe’s most surprising, unsettling, and popular tales for a new generation.

Edgar Allan Poe may be a hundred and fifty years beyond this world, but the themes of his beloved works have much in common with modern young adult fiction. Whether the stories are familiar to readers or discovered for the first time, readers will revel in Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tales, and how they’ve been brought to life in 13 unique and unforgettable ways.

The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror by Joyce Carol Oates

From one of our most important contemporary writers, The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror is a bold, haunting collection of six stories.

In the title story, a young boy becomes obsessed with his cousin’s doll after she tragically passes away from leukemia. As he grows older, he begins to collect “found dolls” from the surrounding neighborhoods and stores his treasures in the abandoned carriage house on his family's estate. But just what kind of dolls are they? In “Gun Accident,” a teenage girl is thrilled when her favorite teacher asks her to house-sit, even on short notice. But when an intruder forces his way into the house while the girl is there, the fate of more than one life is changed forever. In “Equatorial,” set in the exotic Galapagos, an affluent American wife experiences disorienting assaults upon her sense of who her charismatic husband really is, and what his plans may be for her.

In The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror, Joyce Carol Oates evokes the “fascination of the abomination” that is at the core of the most profound, the most unsettling, and the most memorable of dark mystery fiction.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger..." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922." the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

In "Big Driver," a cozy-mystery writer named Tess encounters the stranger along a back road in Massachusetts when she takes a shortcut home after a book-club engagement. Violated and left for dead, Tess plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.

"Fair Extension," the shortest of these tales, is perhaps the nastiest and certainly the funniest. Making a deal with the devil not only saves Dave Streeter from a fatal cancer but provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.

When her husband of more than twenty years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It's a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitely ends a good marriage.

Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, Full Dark, No Stars proves Stephen King a master of the long story form.

The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories by Jeff VanderMeer, Ann VanderMeer, George R.R. Martin, Bob Leman, Haruki Murakami, Mervyn Peake, Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, Franz Kafka, Stephen King, Kelly Link

From Lovecraft to Borges to Gaiman, a century of intrepid literary experimentation has created a corpus of dark and strange stories that transcend all known genre boundaries. Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature.

Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wizards here...but you will find the biggest, boldest, and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled. The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon.

#horror #short stories #horror stories #reading recs #book recs #reading recommendations #Book Recommendations #library #public library #reading list #tbr #currently reading #booklist #booklr #scary stories

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