Karla Sofen

For the first Moonstone, Lloyd Bloch, see Nefarius.

Moonstone
Moonstone. Art by Simone Bianchi.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(as Karla Sofen) Captain America (vol. 1) #192 (as Moonstone) Incredible Hulk #228 (Oct 1978)
Created by	Marv Wolfman Frank Robbins
In-story information
Alter ego	Dr. Karla Sofen
Team affiliations	Dark Avengers Thunderbolts Masters of Evil The Corporation
Notable aliases	Ms. Marvel, Meteorite
Abilities	Gravity manipulation, flight, photon blasts, intangibility, light generation, minor molecular control, superhuman strength, speed, and durability

Moonstone (real name Dr. Karla Sofen) is a fictional character, both a supervillain and superheroine in Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe.

Publication history

The character first appeared as a psychologist in Captain America (vol. 1) #192. In Captain America #228-233, she manipulated a criminal named Moonstone into giving her his source of power, taking on the Moonstone identity for herself. She later appeared in issue #228 of The Incredible Hulk.

She appeared in Avengers as part of the supervillain team the Masters of Evil. During the disappearance of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (after the Onslaught crossover), the Masters of Evil, Moonstone (as "Meteorite") included, posed as the Thunderbolts. After 12 issues, their identities were revealed.

Moonstone was one of the Thunderbolts' characters that Brian Michael Bendis moved over to the Dark Avengers, where she takes on the identity of Ms. Marvel and she becomes the main character in the Ms. Marvel solo title in issue #38.

Moonstone will return to the Thunderbolts in issue 144, after the Dark Reign era. She is now part of a government program led by Luke Cage to reform villains. Joining her will be Juggernaut, Ghost, Crossbones, Man-Thing, and Luke Cage.

Fictional character biography

Origins

Karla Sofen was born in Van Nuys, California. She grew up in the mansion of Hollywood producer Charles Stockbridge, as the child of Stockbridge's butler Karl Sofen. After her father died, her mother Marion worked three jobs to put her daughter through college, and Karla vowed never to end up like her mother, to never put another's needs before her own. Despite building a successful practice as a psychologist and psychiatrist, Karla so disliked being dependent on her patients for income that she entered the super-criminal world as an aide to Doctor Faustus. Learning of the original Moonstone, Lloyd Bloch, she became his psychologist and manipulated him into rejecting the source of his powers, an extraterrestrial gem of considerable power, which she then acquired and absorbed to gain the powers of Moonstone. She then battled the Hulk.

It has been revealed that shortly before becoming a Thunderbolt, Karla murdered her mother Marion Sofen by suffocating her and then set her house on fire.

Ms. Marvel #38 revealed that during Sofen's career as a psychologist, she convinced depressed patients to kill themselves while she watched.

Masters of Evil

Karla worked briefly for the Corporation, controlling the Hulk and manipulating General Thunderbolt Ross into a nervous breakdown. She battled Captain America, Falcon, Hulk, and Quasar on behalf of the Corporation. She continued to pursue greater power, stealing Curt Connors' Enervator and searching the moon's surface for further moonstone fragments, but wound up fighting Spider-Man.

Egghead then recruited her for the third Masters of Evil, and she fought the Avengers. However, this tenure was short-lived and she surrendered after the Masters' defeat. However, it wasn't long before she broke out of Project: Pegasus confinement with Blackout, Rhino, and Electro. She battled the Avengers, and escaped from Pegasus. She escaped from the Avengers into the Darkforce dimension with Blackout. She traveled to Earth's Moon, where she battled Dazzler and the Inhumans, and was then returned to Pegasus.

Later, Baron Zemo recruited Moonstone for the fourth Masters of Evil. She participated in the Masters' takeover of Avengers Mansion. She battled Captain Marvel and became paralyzed for a time. She then had a rematch with Captain Marvel. Moonstone later battled Volcana. She was kidnapped by the original Moonstone, now calling himself Nefarius. She defeated Nefarius, but was recaptured. Eventually, she decided to serve out her prison term and give up her criminal life.

Thunderbolts

When Zemo formed a group of villains to masquerade as heroes, he broke Moonstone out of the Vault and she reluctantly returned to villainy as the Thunderbolt Meteorite.

Upon encountering a young victim of Arnim Zola's genetic manipulations, a youngster by the name of Jolt, Meteorite nudged Zemo into accepting her in the team. She soon became a mother figure to Jolt and used her enthusiasm to create a power-base inside the team, rallying the others behind her. Zemo exposed the true nature of the team, but Moonstone opposed him, followed by MACH-1, Songbird and Jolt. Zemo had brainwashed the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, but the small team of Thunderbolts, with the help of Iron Man, was able to defeat Zemo and Techno, his ally. After the battle the Thunderbolts had decided to pay for their crimes, but they were unwittingly teleported to an alternate dimension.

In this world, known as Kosmos, Moonstone led the team to safety from the Kosmosian army and eventually executed the Kosmosian Primotur to ensure their return to Earth. Inspired by Jolt, she made the Thunderbolts see that it would be preferable to work for their redemption as heroes, rather than to be in jail. After gaining fake identities for the team, she led them away from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Lightning Rods, and she managed to defeat Graviton using her psychological skills, making him see that he did not truly have a goal, that he lacked vision. However, the Thunderbolts disagreed with her, for she merely thought of the present and did not care for the future consequences of her actions. When the former Avenger known as Hawkeye joined the team, claiming they would be pardoned if they followed him, she stepped down as leader and allowed him to get the position.

Nightmares

Soon after the Thunderbolts fought the new Masters of Evil, a veritable army of supervillains, and Moonstone decided to betray the team. But something inside of her snapped, and she defeated Crimson Cowl and returned to the team.

Graviton returned weeks later, having pondered Karla's words. He took over the city of San Francisco, turning it into an island in the skies. The Thunderbolts attempted to stop him, but they were captured. Graviton offered Moonstone a place at his side, as his queen, but she laughed in his face. As the youngest members of the team saved them, Moonstone wondered why she didn't take Graviton's offer.

During a mission against the Secret Empire, she became romantically involved with Hawkeye. In Thunderbolts #30, Hawkeye invited Moonstone and Songbird to come train with him. Songbird refused, Karla accepted. During the fight, Hawkeye praises Karla for being a woman in athletic condition. Moonstone however turns the tables and compliments Clint on the fact that he trains four hours a day to maintain peak human physical performance. During the fight Moonstone gains the upper-hand, Karla acknowledges to herself that she originally wanted to seduce Clint Barton to gain leverage on the Thunderbolts team. Using her powers of psychological deduction, she picked up on Clint's attraction towards her, and then Karla admits she is attracted to him as well. At the end of the issue, Karla uses the powers of the Moonstone to slowly undresses herself as she and Clint begin to kiss. Songbird then walks in on their moment of intimacy.

But as time went by, she became haunted by nightmares of an ancient alien warrior woman, who whispered in her thoughts. Soon after, the team was targeted by Scourge, who killed Jolt. The death of the youngster hit Karla deeply. Subsequently, Citizen V asked for help against her own team, the V-Battalion, and the Thunderbolts agreed to do so, engaging the V-Battalion's operatives in battle. Karla was torn about fighting them, for they were heroes. She released a surge of her powers to stop the fight, making them all intangible, and fled, trying to find out what was wrong with her. Her first stop was Attilan, but the Inhumans were gone. She then searched the Fantastic Four's computers and found the answer she was looking for.

She flew under her own power to the Blue Area of the Moon, where she sought the Kree Supreme Intelligence and demanded the truth. The Supreme Intelligence revealed to her that the fragment she referred to as the "moonstone" was part of a Kree Lifestone, which was used to empower the Guardians of the Galaxy centuries ago. The alien warrior woman that haunted her dreams was the previous owner of the moonstone, whose memory was etched into it, and kept steering Karla into the path of heroism. The Thunderbolts managed to catch up with her, and so did Captain Marvel, who offered her help. Led by Captain Marvel, the Thunderbolts went to Titan, where Mentor and ISAAC attempted to remove the moonstone from Karla's body. After a serious discussion about Karla's potential to do good, Mentor allowed her to keep the gem but erased the memory of the previous owner, leaving Karla's mind, and by consequence, her decisions, to herself.

Uncertain loyalties

The team returned to Earth, only to find Jolt alive. She exposed Hawkeye, revealing that the pardons Hawkeye promised would not be honored. Soon, the Thunderbolts chased Scourge, who was being manipulated by Henry Peter Gyrich. The Thunderbolts fought the V-Battalion's Redeemers but eventually teamed up with them to defeat Gyrich, who was being manipulated as well. Valerie Cooper offered the Thunderbolts pardon for saving the world from her own people, with the condition that they would hang up their heroic identities forever.

Karla Sofen was soon contacted by Graviton, who hired her as a tutor. In the following weeks Karla helped Graviton understand and control his powers in ways he had not even dreamed, making him fall in love with her. Graviton soon attacked the Redeemers, slaughtering the team. He also managed to keep many of Earth's heroes unmoving in the sky, as he lifted hundreds of cities all over the world as well, for he wanted to reshape the face of Earth into a semblance of his face. The Thunderbolts re-formed to stop him, only to find Karla at his side. In the end, she hesitated fighting them and helped them stop Graviton. However, his power imploded, sending most of the Thunderbolts to Counter-Earth.

While trapped on Counter-Earth, the Thunderbolts became true heroes at last, rescuing thousands in their flying city, Attilan. Karla was given the task of reshaping the minds of the world's leaders, creating a new way of thought to ensure the survival of all. Soon after, Karla removed a second moonstone from that world's Lloyd Bloch (known there as the Phantom Eagle), dramatically increasing her own powers. The Thunderbolts eventually returned to Earth, leaving Jolt and the Young Allies to complete their task of saving Counter-Earth.

"The Best Intentions"

See also: Avengers/Thunderbolts: The Best Intentions

When the Avengers later interfered in the Thunderbolts' plan to control the world's "transnormal energy," a failsafe was triggered; a device that Karla had planted in her private plot against Zemo. The stolen energy was funneled into her moonstones, further increasing her powers. Karla attempted to use this energy to flee, but the Thunderbolts and Avengers combined forces to stop her. In the end, Zemo ended up in possession of both moonstones and Karla was left comatose.

Since then, Zemo occasionally used her link to the moonstones to puppeteer her, but her mind remained shut down.

Return

Later the Commission on Superhuman Activities brought her body to their facility, where she and Songbird became mentally linked through the moonstones' power. Karla came out of her coma, and now has the moonstones in her possession again.

Moonstone next became the field leader of the revamped Thunderbolts, sponsored by the government. The Director of this team, the semi-insane Norman Osborn, eventually turned to blackmail to force her to join, threatening that he would remove her moonstone and put her in a coma if she refused. Moonstone is seen as a ruthless if less-than-capable leader of the Thunderbolts- Songbird describing her as someone who simply tells people what to do rather than coordinating them as a group-; on one of their first missions (capturing the renegade Jack Flag), she preferred to have the mission finish early so that she could have sex with one of the government agents, a point stressed by Songbird at their next briefing. She is fully behind the Thunderbolts' new role and that they must rely on public approval to stay employed, but clashes with her teammate Songbird and her employer, Osborn. She revealed that she had been influencing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to give Norman Osborn placebos rather than his usual medication, and also that when Osborn was gone she planned to 'accidentally' kill Songbird in the field and take over as leader. She is shot through the wrist by a crossbow bolt by American Eagle, pinning her to their jet and tearing some of her wrist away. Blinded by rage, she subsequently orders Bullseye to cripple the Eagle.

The Thunderbolts encountered Nova, who had just returned to Earth after Annihilation and had a tangle with Diamondhead. Moonstone advised her team not to underestimate his high power level, which they did, when Nova singlehandedly held his own against the Thunderbolts and even survived Penance's hyperkinetic shockwave. Iron Man and SHIELD arrived just in time to diffuse the situation before federal and galactic authority could conflict any further.

When the psychic supervillains, Mind-Wave, Caprice, Bluestreak and Mirage, are imprisoned in the Thunderbolt's base, they use their powers to alter the Thunderbolts' minds. They force Moonstone to attack Doc Samson and Penance. Penance manages to repel her with a powerful energy blast. It is later mentioned that Moonstone survived, but her body needs a fortnight to stabilize before she can be submitted to nanosurgery.

Secret Invasion

Main article: Secret Invasion

Moonstone is among four Thunderbolts members present during an attack on Thunderbolts Mountain by a renegade Skrull sleeper agent Khn'nr who has taken the form of Captain Marvel but has refused to follow his programming and has pledged to defend the human race. During the battle, Khn'nr reveals that her stone is of Kree origin, and uses his energy-controlling abilities to shut it down. When the Thunderbolts attack and board a Skrull ship, Swordsman confronts a group of them with his newly-returned sister. Moonstone painfully immobilizes the Swordsman, and suggests an alliance to the Skrulls and Andrea. Andrea turns out not to be a Skrull, however, and attacks Moonstone, although Bullseye kills Andrea from behind. He tries to kill Moonstone as well, although she becomes intangible, and she threatens him in order to keep him in line.

Later, Bullseye tries to kill Songbird under Osborn's orders. Songbird manages to get into the Zeus aircraft, and blows up part of the Thunderbolts' mountain headquarters. Moonstone survives because Bullseye had warned her to go intangible, and walks away saying "to Hell with this team."

Dark Reign

Moonstone as Ms. Marvel. Variant cover to Dark Avengers #2. Art by Mike Choi.

See also: Dark Reign (comics)

Norman Osborn approaches Moonstone while she is meditating and offers her a spot on the Dark Avengers. She is given the codename of Ms. Marvel as well as her original costume (reclaimed from Ultra Girl) after Carol Danvers refuses to follow Osborn. The costume is also scratched heavily by Tigra causing an embarrassing exposure in front of the press. On the Dark Avenger's first mission, the new Ms. Marvel is seen attacking Morgana le Fay by blasting her off her dragon causing her to die in the present. After defeating Morgana, Moonstone flirts with Noh-Varr and then eventually seduces and sleeps with him. While watching a televised interview that Norman Osborn is conducting, Karla tells Noh-Varr that the Dark Avengers are all criminals. This prompts Noh-Varr to leave the group.

As Karla takes on the mantle of Ms. Marvel, she goes out patrolling and comes across some men robbing an armored car. After killing the men, Karla goes back to the Avengers Tower where Osborn informs her the Dark Avengers all have to undergo psychiatric evaluations and he wants her to go first, wanting her professional opinion of Dr. Gerald Wright's skills. After going through some of Karla's memories psychically, Dr. Wright reveals the memories of her mother's death are locked behind a "Hulk shaped door" and he came to kill the Dark Avengers because they are all made up of criminals and makes Karla start to choke herself to death. As Karla is choking herself, she tricks him by getting him to go back into her head where she reveals she killed her mother and hated being seen as a criminal and a failure. After Karla breaks free, she asks him if he is prepared to do what she did and shoots his right arm off leaving him begging for mercy. Off panel it appears she chokes him to death. Fuming, Karla then storms off past Osborn.

After being told by Norman Osborn to find A.I.M., Karla sorts through the original Ms. Marvel's A.I.M. leads and takes out an A.I.M. cell in Atlanta, Georgia. There she finds baby M.O.D.O.C.'s, enhanced to warp reality. They communicate with her telepathically, telling her that they need Ms. Marvel to save them. It is unclear if they are controlling her, or if she genuinely cares about them, but Karla takes them back to her room in the Avengers Tower for safe keeping. Almost immediately her room is blown apart by a strange yellow being, provoking Karla's rage. With the aid of Venom, Noh-Varr and Iron Patriot, Karla manages to defeat the mysterious being and after a meeting with the Dark Avengers, the babies are moved to Thunderbolt's Mountain where they are stolen by Deadpool on behalf of A.I.M.

Later while flying through the city, Karla comes across a green version of Ms Marvel's lightning bolt on the side of a building. Karla goes back to the Avengers Tower where Osborn informs her Deadpool stole the baby M.O.D.O.C.'s. Karla goes to confront him in Los Angeles. After defeating him, Karla comes across the New Avengers and four of the mysterious beings, each one a different color in an underground A.I.M. base. Trying to save the babies, Karla is too late to reach them as Spider-Man hooks them up to a machine. The four mysterious beings then merge and reform Carol Danvers, the original Ms Marvel. Refusing to let her title be taken away, Karla attempts to pound Danvers, but strangely, no matter what she hits her with, Danvers survived each and every blow. Eventually, it is discovered that Danvers has a counterpart named Catherine Donovan, who, in close proximity, allows Danvers to be invulnerable. Donovan is subsequently killed by Osborn and is revealed to be a creation of the Storyteller whose persona then habits Karla's body as she is fighting Carol Danvers. While trapped in her own body, Sofen is forced confront her own identity and retakes the mantle of Moonstone. As Moonstone, Sofen is able to expel Donovan's consciousness which merges with Danvers upon exit thus making Ms. Marvel whole again. However, during their battle, Carol uses her powers to remove the moonstone from Sofen, depowering her in the process. She tells Sofen that she learned a great deal about her while in her mind and offers her a chance at redemption. Knowing she will die in 72 hours without the moonstone's support, Carol hides it at the gravesite of Sofen's mother and gives her the opportunity to reexamine her life and stand against Osborn. Sofen finds the moonstone at her mother's grave, in a fury she smashes the headstone marking it and leaves.

Karla is sent out by Osborn to help quell the riots in San Francisco along with the other Dark Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R. Outside the Castro Theatre, she takes out Nekra and Frenzy much to the surprise of Karma, Armor, and Bling. Later she comes into conflict with Rogue, accusing her of attacking an unconscious H.A.M.M.E.R. agent and viciously attacks her, though Rogue manages to trick her and escape. Karla is later informed of Trance's situation by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents and goes to confront her. After taking out Gambit and Danger, she gets into another fight with Rogue. Trance pulls herself together and attacks Karla. Under Rogue's orders, Trance and Gambit manage to successfully take down Karla before teleporting off with Pixie. During the final fight on Utopia, Karla takes on Nekra, Frenzy and Bling. She comes to Osborn's side telling him if they want to win, they'll have to kill them all but the whole world is watching and if they kill one, they'll have to kill them all and nobody comes back from committing genocide live on TV.

Molecule Man turns Moonstone into pure energy, then undoes this at the demand of the Sentry.

Moonstone in her Ms. Marvel guise joins the Dark Avengers in a battle with the Mighty Avengers at the time when the Absorbing Man has harnessed the powers of the Cosmic Cube.

In Dark Avengers #10, Moonstone is flirting with Bullseye stating that she is finding him attractive as Hawkeye. Karla is caught having sex with Bullseye in the Avengers Tower meeting room in front of H.A.M.M.E.R agents as Victoria Hand and Norman Osborn watch on a security camera. This act is perceived as an act of rebellion from Karla against Norman Osborn's rule over the Dark Avengers. Norman sends Victoria Hand to deal with the situation. Hand confronts Moonstone and Bullseye with a group of H.A.M.M.E.R agents. Moonstone disobeys Hand's orders, which prompts Hand to take out an alien weapon to shoot Moonstone, knocking her unconscious.

Prior to the attack on Asgard, Moonstone is approached by Venom who tells Karla that he has been waking up 'sticky' after dreams and was wondering if she could help him. At first she looks disgusted at Mac Gargan's attempts to approach her. While this is happening, Daken walks up to her and calls her 'sweetheart.' Karla wraps her arm around Venom's arm and spurns Daken in the process.

During the siege of Asgard, Moonstone is seen helping Osborn defeat Thor. She is seen being chased away from the scene by Maria Hill. Moonstone turns intangible to avoid the bullets. Moonstone is one of the on-lookers when Sentry tears Ares in half. Moonstone is standing besides Norman Osborn when the New Avengers, Young Avengers, and Nick Fury led by Steve Rogers arrive to assist the Asgardians. Captain America hits Osborn with his shield as Karla retreats back, prompting her to say "Well, I sure as @#$% saw this coming!" Karla engages in personal combat with Ms. Marvel. Karla wins the exchange when Osborn interferes into the fight by blasting Ms. Marvel with an energy beam in the back. When Osborn reverts back to his Green Goblin persona after being defeated by Iron Man and Captain America, Karla and Bullseye are seen in the distance. Both of them come to the realization that it would be a good time to leave the battle.

In Siege #4 and Dark Avengers #16, Moonstone, along with the other members of the Dark Avengers, are arrested by the Avengers. After Captain America does away with Norman Osborn, Moonstone and Bullseye take the opportunity to attempt an escape. Carol Danvers gives chase to Moonstone, only to have Karla fire on her with an energy blast. When it seems she has escaped, Iron Man appears and punches her, knocking her out. At the same time, Bullseye is struck down by Luke Cage, sending the two villains falling unconscious to the ground, thus ending Moonstone's involvement in Dark Reign.

Return to the Thunderbolts

Moonstone has been confirmed to be a member of the new Thunderbolts team formed in the aftermath of Siege.

Luke Cage visits the women's section of the Vault, where he recruits Moonstone to become a member of the Thunderbolts. Moonstone claims that "It is about time" someone came by to recruit her for the Thunderbolts, and that her "costume should be pressed" Moonstone's recruitment upsets Songbird. Moonstone appears with the rest of the Thunderbolts at their first training session on the beach shores of the Vault. Moonstone makes a comment regarding the poor scenary of the training field.

Powers and abilities

Moonstone's powers are derived from a Kree gravity stone (found on Earth's moon) which is charged with unknown energy and bonded to her nervous system.

She can use the stone to fly, and to become intangible so as to pass through solid objects (while intangible she is immune even to some magic-based attacks). She can project laser-like energy beams from her hands (able to penetrate steel plate), and has also shown the ability to discharge non-coherent light omni-directionally in a blinding flash. Additionally, her bond with the stone grants her superhuman strength, stamina, speed and reflexes.

During the period when Moonstone had absorbed a second gravity stone, she displayed the ability to control gravitational forces, enabling her to move and otherwise manipulate matter, to create force fields, to increase gravity around a target and crush it, to generate miniature black holes, and even to transport objects through dimensional rifts. She no longer possesses the second stone, and is currently at her original power level.

Moonstone is vulnerable to astrally-projected beings and energy forms even while in her intangible state. It was revealed that Moonstone's gravity stone is also connected to her own life-force. If she is separated from it for more than a period of 72 hours, she would die without its support.

In addition to the powers she wields by virtue of her bond with the gravity stone, Karla Sofen has extensive knowledge of psychology and psychiatry, and has an M.D. in psychiatry. She often uses this expertise to manipulate those around her for personal gain.

Other versions

Marvel Zombies

Moonstone appears alongside the Thunderbolts in the "Dead Days" one-shot of the Marvel Zombies mini-series using her alias of Meteorite. She attacks Thor, pouncing on him but is stunned with a blast of lightning and then destroyed when Thor smashes her head.

In other media

Television

• Moonstone appears in The Avengers: United They Stand episode "Command Decision" voiced by Susan Roman. She is shown as a member of Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil.

Film

• Prior to deciding to play the Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson said she'd been interested in playing Moonstone for Iron Man 2.

Video games

• Moonstone appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Tessa Auberjonois. She is encountered twice in Prison 42. The first encounter has her and Bullseye guarding Firestar who they are trying to infect with nanites. The next time is when Whirlwind attacks and all of the nanite-infected characters revive themselves and lend him a hand. In the PSP, PS2, and Wii versions, she attacks the heroes alongside Songbird.

Bibliography

• Thunderbolts #1-75, 109-127, 144-Present, Annual '97, '00
• Dark Avengers #1-16, Annual #1
• Ms. Marvel Vol. 2 #36-46
• Avengers/Thunderbolts #1-6
• Avengers Vol. 1 #228-230, 236-238, 270, 273-277, 279
• Avengers Vol. 3 #12
• Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #228-230, 449
• Moon Knight Vol. 3 #22-25
• Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #61
• Spider-Man Team-Up #7
• Thunderbolts: Life Sentences #1
• Thunderbolts: Desperate Measures #1
• Thunderbolts: Breaking Point #1
• Thunderbolts: International Incident #1
• Thunderbolts: Reason in Madness #1
• Amazing Spider-Man #569-574, 595-599

External links

• Moonstone at Marvel.com