Character: Karen Sutter; killed herself after meeting Dr. Doom for news story

Religion: not determined yet

Name: Karen Sutter

Classification: supporting character

Publisher(s):

First Appearance: Marvel Double-Shot #2 (Feb. 2003): "Masks"

Creators: Christopher Priest (as Priest), Paolo Rivera

Number of Appearances: 1

Ally: Hector

Occupation: reporter

Location: Stuttgart, Germany

Gender: female

Note: killed herself after meeting Dr. Doom for news story

Karen Sutter was an extremely dedicated reporter, but her career was going nowhere. A German citizen, she worked for a local newspaper based in Stuttgart, Germany. The big break she desperately wanted came when was sent to do a news story about Doctor Doom. A somewhat elaborate scheme was devised to allow her to get close to the secretive dictator. From the context of the story, it seems that most of this plan wasn't really her idea. She seems to have been recruited to play the key role in the plot, but she didn't think of it herself.

An interesting side note: In order to paint the illustrations for this story, artist Paolo Rivera enlisted a real-life woman he met at his gym to pose as a reference model.

In order to get closer to the Latverian despot, Karen Sutter had plastic surgery that made her look similar Doom's beloved beloved childhood sweetheart Valeria. Aside from his mother (who died when Doom was an infant), Valeria may be the only person Earth who Doom truly loved.

Sutter never claimed to actually be Valeria. She was simply hoping that her appearance would attract Doctor Dooms attention. Sutter actually entered Latveria by filling in as a viola player in a Russian orchestra which gave a command performance for Doctor Doom. In taking bows, Sutter made certain that Doom could see her face. But Doom had noticed her long before then.

Sutter did indeed accomplish her goal. She was able to get close to Doctor Doom and learn much about him. After the orchestra's concert, Doom canceled an appointment he had with a countess and had Karen Sutter brought to private chambers.

When Sutter first met Doom in person, privately, she originally tried to maintain her cover - that of a Russian viola player coming to Latveria with the orchestra. She even spoke Russian to Doctor Doom. The ruler told her not to bother. He told her to speak her native tongue - German. Sutter was surprised that Doom knew who she really was. Doom revealed that he knew a great deal. His intelligence and resources and technological infrastructure was so advanced that he knew all about her assignment, about where she loved, even the name and breed of her dog Hector.

Interestingly enough, before Doom revealed all the details he knew about Sutter's life, he accused her of being a spy recruited by NATO. Sutter protested that she wasn't a spy at all, that she was simply a reporter who wanted to get close to him in order to write a story. Sutter genuinely believed she was nothing but a reporter on assignment. It is possible that Doom originally accused her of being a NATO spy simply in order to see how she would react. It is also possible that NATO or some other Western organization was actually behind the newspaper story, but this fact had been kept so secretive that even Sutter herself didn't know who the true backers of her reporting assignment were.

Further discussion between Doom and Sutter makes it seem more likely that Sutter's mission really was backed by NATO or some other Western interest. Doom described Sutter as a "psychological assassin" whose purpose was to sow unrest in Latveria, a nation difficult to generate unrest within because Doom has made it into a "paradise" with no poverty, no disease, etc. Sutter seems to accept Doom's claim, as she proclaims, "I didn't know it was a set-up..." The certainty of a plot behind Sutter's reporting assignment - a plot she didn't know about - is further confirmed by further conversation.

To Doom's surprise, Sutter seems unafraid of him. She explains how terrible her life was going before she took this job, and points out that she only did this so she could earn some much-needed money and jump start her moribund journalistic career. Sutter pointedly draws a parallel between herself and Doom when she recalls how he used his mask to escape poverty and then asks why she can't use her "mask" (her plastic surgery to make her look like Valeria) to escape her own poverty.

There is much exquisite psychological tension between Sutter Doctor Doom. When he tells her she will be put to death for her crimes she challenges him to do his worst. He removes his mask to reveal the disfigured face underneath. This sight shocks Sutter so much she faints.

The next day she tells Doom she feels sorry for him and what he has gone through. Doom has had a change of heart as well. He no longer seems interested in punishing her or thwarting her assignment in any way. Doctor Doom basically just ignores her presence and dismisses her, saying: "You and your pitiable masters are of less concern to Doom than the sifting of leaves in the morning breeze. Doom shall not play the fool for your amusement. Stay -- go -- do what you will."

Karen Sutter apparently feels more sorry for Doom than ever. She feels that Doom misses Valeria tremendously, and that by coming to him with her face, she has done a terrible wrong. She tells him: "Wearing this face -- Valeria's face -- coming here -- I've ruined the last shred of humanity you had left... pierced right through that armor... and destroyed your smallest hope for redemption... you're right -- I am their weapon -- their assassin -- I swear, I meant you no harm--"

Karen Sutter replies, "I agree. I've taken something from you, Doom -- I have to give it back."

Karen Sutter then jumps off the cliff this conversation took place next to. She committed suicide entirely of her own free will. As the narration points out, "Of course, Doom could have saved her." But why would he? He had already dismissed her as being of no significance to him. Sutter believed otherwise. She believed she had hurt him deeply. She believed this so much, or she was apparently so unsettled by her encounter with Doom and by what she learned about him, that she took her own life.

Did Sutter kill herself because she felt guilt for hurting Doctor Doom psychologically? Did she kill herself because she felt distraught about the state her own life was in? Or did she simply become unhinged by spending so much time in the presence of one of the world's most enigmatic and ostensibly "evil" men? Did she genuinely hurt Doom (as she thought) or was he unaffected (as he claimed)? The answers to these questions about this unusual and somewhat cryptic story are left to individual readers to decide.

This character is in the following story which has been indexed by this website:

Marvel Double-Shot #2 (Feb. 2003): "Masks"

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