Heather Douglas (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

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See also Heather Douglas, Moondragon for a complete list of references to distinguish between these closely named or closely related articles.

Real Name

Current Alias

Aliases

Madame MacEvil, H. D. Steckley, Sorceress

Identity

Secret

Alignment

Good

Affiliation

Infinity Watch; formerly Avengers reserve member, Defenders

Relatives

Arthur (aka Drax the Destroyer, father), Yvette Steckley (mother, deceased), Pamela Douglas (aka Sundragon, cousin)

Universe

Earth-616

Base Of Operations

Monster Isle; the Starship Sensia; formerly Avengers Mansion, New York City; Defenders Mansion, Colorado; Vaughn Security Systems, Four Freedoms Plaza

Characteristics

Gender

Height

Weight

Eyes

Hair

Unusual Features

Shaves her head bald

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Adventurer, priestess, philosopher, scientist and warrior; formerly ruler of the Ba-Bani, engineer and saleswoman for Vaughn Security Systems

Origin

Heather Douglas was taught by the Eternal monks of the Shao-Lom monastery on Titan after she was rescued by Mentor.

Place of Birth

Los Angeles, California

Creators

Bill Everett, Mike Friedrich, George Tuska

First appearance

Last appearance

Iron Man #54
(January, 1973)

Annihilation: Conquest #3

History

Heather Douglas was the daughter of Arthur Douglas, whose reanimated corpse was made into Drax the Destroyer. When Heather was still a girl, her father was driving her and her mother through the desert when they accidentally happened to see the spaceship of Thanos land; the space villain didn't want any witnesses, so he blew their car up. Heather was thrown clear off and survived, but her parents were killed. She was found by Thanos' father, Mentor, who took her to his home world, Titan, to be raised. While there, Heather studied the Titans' ways and gained her mental and physical powers. However, she came under the influence of a powerful entity called The Dragon of the Moon; she believed she had resisted it, which filled her with pride, and she took the name Moondragon as a result.

She first returned to Earth under the guise of "Madam McEvil" for the purpose of developing means to combat Thanos; this led to the creations of some villains, like Angar the Screamer. She then revealed her true identity and helped the Avengers in their first confrontation with Thanos. She met the heroine Hellcat and took her to Titan so she could train her.

Moondragon was one of the three candidates to be the "Celestial Madonna" who was prophesied to give birth to a universal savior, but she lost to Mantis.

Moondragon was present when the Avengers confronted Korvac; her powers allowed her to see into his mind while they fought, and she decided that his goal of saving the universe by ruling it was noble; she stayed out of the battle until Korvac, dejected, committed suicide.

Moondragon left Earth with her father (who was now Drax) and found a planet immersed in war, so she decided to take mental control of all its inhabitants to force them to live in peace. This caused her to believe herself to be like a goddess. When Drax confronted her, she killed him with her mental powers. The Avengers intervened, and Thor took her before a real god -- his father, Odin, to be judged. Odin perceived within Moondragon a stalwart but tainted spirit. He condemned her to wear a magical headband that would reduce her mental powers until she had overcome her arrogance. He also assigned The Valkyrie to be her guardian.

When Valkyrie rejoined the Defenders, Moondragon was forced to come along. She soon discovered that the Dragon of the Moon had been influencing her all along. She managed to reject it fully, and for the first time, started to gain friends in the team; eventually the headband came loose by itself. Unfortunately, soon after she was infected with mutated spores and started to die; the Dragon appeared again and told her it could save her life, but only if she agreed to be its host. She accepted, and, now an evil being, battled the Defenders, until four of them sacrificed themselves to kill both her and the Dragon.

Heather's soul managed to survive, and, now free from the Dragon again, contacted a cousin of hers; through her, she was able to obtain a new body for herself, a clone created on Titan. For a while, she and her cousin, who became the heroine Sundragon, adventured together in space.

Quasar and Heather in her dragon form

After Quasar was appointed Protector of the Universe, Moondragon insinuated herself into his life. She was convinced that in time, Quasar would realize they were eminently qualified to be the universe's most cosmic coupling. Quasar, however, asserted that qualifications have nothing to do with feelings and rebuffed her. She eventually got the message and lost interest in him.

When Adam Warlock sought people to help him safeguard the Infinity Gems, he chose Moondragon to keep the Mind Gem -- but only after erecting safeguards so Moondragon could not exploit the gem's full power. Still, she agreed to join his team, the Infinity Watch. She eventually lost the gem when it was stolen by Rune.

Moondragon later became an associate of Genis (the third Captain Marvel), determined to help him control his cosmic awareness. During this time, she fell in love with Marlo Chandler, the wife of Rick Jones (whom Captain Marvel was bonded to). The two eloped on a lesbian relationship (rare for a mainstream comic book, especially with two established characters) to the reluctant understanding of Rick. Some time later, Marlo got over her feelings for Moondragon, and decided to return to Rick. Moondragon told her she must have accidentally prodded her telepathically into the relationship, but this was a lie to make the break-up easier. In truth, Moondragon was heartbroken; she left shortly after with Phyla-Vell.

During the Annihilation War, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell have returned, visiting the graves of Mar-Vell and Genis-Vell. At that time though, Thanos appeared, and kidnapped Moondragon, using her as a hostage to draw out Drax the Destroyer for an unknown purpose.

Surviving the Annihilation Wave, Heather and Phyla (now Quasar) were travelling the universe when Phyla begins receiving telepathic messages saying she must go on a quest. During the adventure, Heather transforms into the 'Dragon of the Moon'. Despite the fact that she will never be able to return to human form, Phyla remains by her lover's side. Their time together is ultimately short as the leader of the Phalanx, Ultron, kills her by plunging his arm into her chest. Heather dies in Phyla's arms.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Telepathy: Moondragon possesses a number of psionic powers, released through her training by the Eternal monks on Titan. She has exhibited telepathy, mind-control, personality alteration, memory erasure and memory modification.

Telekinesis: she can levitate herself and others, and the project psionic energy as concussive blasts.

Abilities

Gifted Scientist: Heather is an expert in various advanced Titanian sciences.

Master Martial Artist: She is a superior alien hand-to-hand combatant, trained by the Titanian monks of Shao-Lom who are veteran practitioners in martial arts. She is well versed in pressure points; she was able to temporarily give Daredevil back his sight with her alien technique and even defeated Mantis in one on one combat.

Aviation: Heather is a skilled starship pilot.

Nervous System Control: Mental and physical disciplines give her improved control over her autonomic body functions, including those of heart beat, bleeding, breathing, and pain reception.

Strength level

Normal human female with intensive regular exercise.

Weaknesses

None Known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: The Infinity Gem known as the "mind gem" . The artifact enhances her psionic powers by an undefined degree.
Transportation: The Starship Sensia.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

No special notes.

Trivia

Moondragon is one of the few openly homosexual characters in the Marvel Universe.

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Links and References

Priestess
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Deluxe Edition #9
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Master Edition