oHOTmu or NOT Ep.79: Molecule Man to Moonstone

A powerful loser. A bald Avenger. The Fist of Khonshu. A devious psychiatrist. Which are Hot? Which are Not? Find out, as the Hot Squad takes on OHOTMU's 9th issue!

Featuring permanent panelists Elyse, Isabel, Nathalie, Josée, Shotgun, and Amélie

Listen to Episode 79 below (the usual mature language warnings apply), or subscribe to oHOTmu OR NOT? on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Relevant images and further credits at: oHOTmu or NOT ep.79 Supplemental

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11 responses to “oHOTmu or NOT Ep.79: Molecule Man to Moonstone

  1. Let me make sure I’ve got this straight: Molecule Man is a frustrated florist, Moondragon is the hot mean girl from high school, Moon Knight is Marvin the Martian’s hot brother, and Moonstone looks like a drunk bug. I’ll never look at these characters the same way again. Thank you.

  2. My wife would probably tell you, for some men at least, boobs do fix everything. Or at least make them less grumpy.

    Anyone find it odd that Volcana isn’t depicted in any of the images in Molecule Man’s entry? Those two were inseperable around this time. Although Jim Shooter was often fond of having not-so-nice people refer to her as “cow”, which was wrong then, as now.

    Siskoid will find this funny: I used to think Moondragon had to be the same character as Ilia from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Bald women were extremely rare in the 70s/early 80s!

    I never cared for the gold bling on Moon Knight, personally. I much prefer the sleeker look. Although I have never understood how all that black shadowing works on a white costume. Only in comics!

    Moonstone looks a bit like the Japanese hero Ultraman.

    Oh, and if the FF were plants, I think The Thing would have to be a pineapple. Heck, he turned into one for a few years!

  3. In Molecule Man’s defense, he had really already turned over a new leaf by the time he showed up in Secret Wars. He checked himself into therapy and everything. He and Volcana were both very supportive of each other – she encouraged Owen to stand up for himself, and he helped boost her self-esteem over being overweight. They had a surprisingly healthy relationship!

    Moondragon is just the WORST. One time she just up and rewrote Quicksilver’s brain when he was angry about his sister getting married to Vision, which was a massive invasion of privacy. She was also always trying to get Thor to quit the Avengers and be with her because they were both so “superior” to the “mere mortals”. She did get better later though – she came out as bi and started dating another woman, and also gained the power to turn into an actual dragon.

  4. With all the talk about the Fantastic Four being turned into potted plants, I couldn’t help but remember the all-comedy issue of What If (issue #34), which included a Fred Hembeck panel of a world where Reed Richards and company sent up fruit in the rocketship instead of going up themselves: “What If The Fantastic Four Were Bananas?”

    http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/earthffbananas.htm

    It’s a good thing that Molecule Man went to a GOOD therapist to help him work through his issues, rather than Moonstone. There was a storyline in Thunderbolts where Moonstone used her psychiatric training to “help” Graviton (if the ladies remember him from the G’s) overcome his self-doubts and limitations, with disatrous results. Molecule Man and Graviton had similar power levels and psychological issues, but while Molecule Man’s therapy helped him become a better person, Moonstone’s manipulation just helped Graviton to be more effective at being evil.

  5. Well done, everyone! This was lot of fun, mostly for the potted plant talk. Side question; what potted plant would everyone be? I feel like I would be a cactus. Spiky, dry, and socially award.

    Molecule Man – All I know of him is from Secret Wars and he really seemed like a mort, but I guess anyone would when you hang out with Doctor Doom. It’s great to hear he actually turned out not too bad and was in a healthy relationship with Volcana. Everyone can aspire to be Molecule Man!

    Moondragon – I know this is incredibly shallow of me but, as a kid, bald women really, really confused me and they seemed untrustworthy. Women are supposed to have long, flowing hair, not look like Telly Savalas. At least that’s what those old commercials told me (How does she get it so manageable?). Luckily I have grown out of that attitude but now I find out Moondragon is just a terribly mean person? My original attitude was right! Bald women are evil!

    Moon Knight – Though I didn’t read a lot of earlier stories, I’ve really enjoyed the newer stories (specially by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood). They really dive into MK’s mental health and talk about mental health in general. So good!

    Moonstone – Everything seems so….. pointy?

    Super fun as always, everyone! Keep up the great work!

  6. My wife and I saw the Moon Knight trailer the other night, and I was excited about the upcoming series. She thought it looked cool, but she thought Moon Knight seemed derivative — like Marvel’s version of some DC heroes. I admitted that was true. Moon Knight is really a mix of Batman, Dr. Fate, and a delusional homeless person.

    It’s interesting to me that Moondragon became so irritating that Odin restrained her power. He doesn’t often interfere with mortals like that. I assume Odin figured,”If you’re going to call yourself a God, then you’re practically volunteering to come under my authority.” Gene, if you’re reading, I’d be interested in your take.

    That’s all for now. Thank you for a great show as always!

  7. There was an awful lot of potted plant talk this month. Nice of the group to branch out, I suppose Reed would be a rubber plant. Spider-Man would be a spider plant?

    Molecule Man – I am pretty certain he was a major force for Dr. Doom in Jonathan Hickman’s overly long, overly drawn out Avengers run. As a ‘mostly DC’ guy, I never knew his power level was this big. I did find the lightning bolt scars on his face interesting. But I wondered why he didn’t just power them away. I think this is part of his ‘internal limit’ issues. Like he has to be scarred in some way.

    Moondragon – She always seems nefarious in some ways and that feeling is often shown to be true. She just isn’t nice. Pretty sure she is in a romantic relationship why Phyla Vell these days. Surprised Siskoid didn’t show the infamous ‘Thing spanking Moondragon’ panel which shows up now and then in social media.

    Moon Knight – I like the idea of him being Marvel’s Batman, albeit with more psychological baggage. That seems like plenty of fodder for stories. So I always found the gold trimming, ‘super-powers increasing in stronger moonlight’ stuff to be superfluous. How interesting to see the girls all seem to like different personalities. Would they/could they share him as a romantic partner if each was only with one aspect? Hmmm …

    Moonstone – I don’t know if I can pinpoint why, but Moonstone has always been mega-hot for me. This page certainly does her justice. I was definitely happy when she got a bigger part to play in the marvel universe in Dark Avengers. But still … steamy!

    1. Anj, thanks to you, I now have the Spider-Plant song in my head (“Can he swing on a web? No, he can’t! ‘Cause he’s a plant!”)

      If I remember correctly, the unscarred picture of Molecule Man is from after he got rid of the organic matter limitation, but it may be from one of the times he was depowered. The latter doesn’t make sense if they’re real scars, though. I don’t lose stretch marks when I lose muscle mass.

  8. Impressive podcast most impressive.This is Liz Anne Oswalt. Not the best looking custom, but he does fit the lovable loser type character. I wouldn’t call volcana the strong woman type. She was kind of justice average girl who hung around with her goofy friend Skeeter whom became Titania. Though for real the giant musclebound woman that fights she Hulk on a regular basis was a skinny little woman named Skeeter. Well she was called Skeeter more of a nicknamed her birth name. When she got her powers she became powerful. But, until then she was just kind of the average woman who was a bit mousy and hung around with her friend Skeeter. And they were both kind of outcasts. They worked as cashiers at basically Walmart or something.

    Skeeter had red hair and used to pretend to be the secret identity of spider woman. She told us to her friend the woman that would become volcana. And for whatever reason she told other people. When they were both seen together this embarrassed her. So though neither of these two ladies were the strong woman type. For whatever reason doom randomly picked them out to give them powers so he could use them in the secret war. Marsha Rosenberg though drawn differently by Mike Zeck. Is supposed to be Francine Peters with superpowers. Oh wait I see by looking at the file she had originally been a day care center employee. I think she got wrecked conned into being a Walmart style clerk in the third she Hulk series. In fact we find out later she only went to battle world to come along for the ride with her friend Titania. So her and Owen were just too introverts that found each other. Mary MacPherran AKA Titania 2, was the one about the super villain life.

    So basically they were to dorks who fell in love. Molecule man and Volcana. Other than being 6’5 ft. she is just kind of the average gal. She has a slight weight problem, she’s kind of the beta two of all people Titania. And other than fighting crime a few times and her brief time as a super villain in secret wars. She just kind of stays at home and goes to work.. Molecule man mostly live a normal life. But yeah molecule man is definitely dressed more for shopping at Walmart than being on the cover of GQ.
    Moving on to moon Dragon. First it’s not a bad costume. She looks good in both versions though I prefer the green one. It’s kind of iconic for her. Though she would deftly want to invest in double stick tape. As for the
    yeah this would be easy to throw together. Black ballet tights, or a black workout outfit. Or something that was skintight and black. Maybe thermal underwear if it’s cold. Some sort of white robe with a hood. Cut it to where only the middle part is left. Slap it over you get a white belt around your waist. Then get a white caped. From a costume shop. Or Amazon. And get a bald cap. To hide your hair and you’re done.

    But definitely a good look. Maybe some black slippers are ballet shoes. Since you are going to be going somewhere you don’t want to be walking on sock feet. Still as big of a jerk as moon Dragon is Heather has always had good taste in clothes. Though apparently the MCU she would have to be a green alien. Since her father now starts out as an alien.

    Moon night has always had a good look to him. Though he’s more of a shadow inspired character than Batman ripoff. Though I am glad they Oscar Isaac as moon night. One because he is a good actor. And because an all white costume with a mask is not a good look for white man. It’s supposed to be silver since the original reason he wore this outfit was to fight werewolf by night. But, everyone is always drawn it as white. I too had a phase where I was really into Egypt stuff. Mainly because an issue of Thor that had Horus in it and he seemed pretty cool. After all he was able to fight for one-on-one. Him and Toth were my favorite from that mythology. Though it is weird that attractive women want to be called Toth. So you want to be called after the smart guy with the bird head? I don’t get it. . Moonstone costume looks like it does because she basically got a female version of the original Moonstone costume. She gets better ones later.

    And briefly she becomes a hero even dating HAWKEYE. Though later still she becomes an on-again and joins the dark avengers as Ms. Marvel. Just like the Carol Danvers version. But goes to a new costume. I’m sure at some point when you do the revisits of these characters Siskoid will have them to show y’all. The look has definitely been improved upon over the years. But, I can’t give it and objectives thought since I’m just so used to having seen it. I didn’t even discover the mail Moonstone till later. And was shocked when I saw a man in the Moonstone costume and using the name. I have to time thought he had taken over her identity. Not knowing that he had first of this was a back issue of Capt. America. Lloyd Bloch had been even weirder costume then Dr. Karla Sofen does.

    http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/commitca.htm#moonstone
    so luckily they had been changed whom moonstone was real have to look at that eyesore. Any rate can’t wait to hear the next podcast.

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