Divine Inspiration

This is the first in a string of posts foreshadowing Moondragon's involvement with the New Defenders.

I'm sure I wasn't the only reader initially taken aback by Moondragon's off-the-cuff references to being a god (without any mythological pantheons to back her up).

Not until reading Avengers #149 did I understand that "Goddess of the Mind" was her self-appointed designation.

With the rest of the Avengers captured that issue, only Thor and prospective-member Moondragon remained to face the Atlantean conquerer called Orka. Yet when Moondragon fell to the ground in battle, Thor was both concerned and relieved.

Thor: By Asgard's gleaming gates! Moondragon is down! Tis my misfortune though, that she must rise again--to bedevil me further with her delusions of--superiority--?

No sooner did the thunder god singlehandedly defeat the giant opponent than Moondragon confidently stood up.

Moondragon: Yes, Thor! I have not been unconscious all this while! You had to let yourself see--that you alone are equal to all your fellow Avengers.

In forcing Thor to acknowledge his own superior strength, Moondragon confirmed—to herself at least—that she had the superior judgment worthy of a god. And with that biting sense of entitlement, Moondragon would have no qualms doing whatever she pleased, dismissing the rest of humanity as beneath her.

The Avengers. Vol. 1. No. 149. July 1976. "The Gods and the Gang!" Steve Englehart (story), George Pérez (art), Sam Grainger (inks), Tom Crzechowski (lettering), Hugh Paley (coloring), Marv Wolfman (editor).