Polite Dissent

Dr. Karla Sofen was a brillaint psychiatrist* whose mother had to scrimp and save and work three jobs to put food on the table. Karla decided that she wasn’t going to end up that way and had no intention of working hard to make ends meet; she wanted all the finer things of life, and she wanted them NOW. She left her private practice and took up with another evil psychiatrist, Dr. Faustus, and helped him with his crimes. At one point, she became the therapist of Lloyd Bloch, the original Moonstone. Using her evil psychiatric skills, she convinced him that the stone was turning him into a monster. He handed the stone over to her and she took it to become the villainess Moonstone.

She worked for some time with the Masters of Evil, but when the majority of Earth’s heroes disappeared, she joined with Zemo in forming the “hero team” the Thunderbolts. As a Thunderbolt, she took the name Meteorite. After the Thunderbolts were exposed, she received a pardon for her past crimes and returned to her original name of Moonstone. Currenlty, in addition to her own Moonstone, she has taken possession of the moonstone from an alternate dimension which has dramatically increased her powers. Except she’s in a coma and Zemo controls the stones now. Or at least that’s what she wants him to think.

Dr. Sofen may be evil, but you have to admire her for actually using her medical/psychiatric skills. Her med school training and residency didn’t go to waste. I’m sure her actions violate the Hippocratic Oath somewhere, but at least she’s doing it in style.

*There is some debate whether Sofen is a psychiatrist or psychologist. Most sources state the former, but quite a few name the latter (and many are wishy-washy and list both). Marvel.com lists her as a psychologist, but the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists her as a psychiatrist — so that’s what I’m going with since it is, after all, official.

• The Wikipedia entry on Moonstone.
• Marvel.com entry on Moonstone.
• The Moonstone HeroClix.
• Who would win? Danny Phantom vs. Moonstone.
• The Moonstone Homepage fansite.
• Thunderbolt micro-heroes, including Moonstone and Meteorite.
• Information on the real world gem “Moonstone”.
• And of course Moonstone Comics, home of Buckaroo Banzai, Kolchak, and the Phantom.