COUNT NEFARIA: Page 4 of 4

BIOGRAPHY - page 4

Through unrevealed circumstances, Count Nefaria was captured (presumably by S.H.I.E.L.D.) and imprisoned on the island prison known as the Raft. During a prison break initiated by Electro, all the prisoners were freed from their cells. Nefaria took a passing shot at Spider-Man before flying away to freedom. [New Avengers (1st series) #2] Count Nefaria remained largely off the radar after his escape, besides a brief conflict in New York. [Deadpool (4th series) Annual #1]

Some months later, however, he was contacted by his daughter, Madame Masque. She had thrown in with Parker Robbins, an up-and-coming super-villain gang leader who became part of Norman Osborn's cabal after the Skrull invasion. Sitting high for a time, they lost significantly after Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. were brought down during the siege of Asgard. Parker had lost his Asgardian mystical powers, and Count Nefaria offered to imbue him with ionic energies in exchange for all his remaining capital. Before Robbins could make a decision, however, the Avengers tracked their location and burst in. Despite Count Nefaria's considerable power, he was overwhelmed by a coordinated attack with Ms. Marvel and Wolverine. Nefaria, the Hood and Madame Masque were all taken into custody. [New Avengers Finale #1]

As he often did, Count Nefaria managed to extricate himself from prison. Seeking new ventures, Nefaria sought to avoid the congestion of super-heroes in Manhattan and moved out west to establish himself as the Kingpin of Los Angeles. He took many steps to avoid drawing attention to his activities, such as paying off the local police captain and hiring an underboss, Sheoke Sanada a.k.a. Snapdragon, to run the day-to-day activities for him. One pretender to his throne tried to assume the mantle of kingpin, but burned out quickly and left Los Angeles after a failed assassination attempt. [Daken: Dark Wolverine #20] The next trespasser was not so easily dealt with.

The trouble began when Nefaria became interested in acquiring a deactivated Ultron unit from Mister Hyde. Hyde started a fight over the money with Nefaria's henchmen and also drew the attention of a newly local hero, Moon Knight. Count Nefaria intervened directly in order to get the property he paid for, but Moon Knight managed to escape with the head of Ultron, leaving the count with just the inert body. Shortly after, Moon Knight attempted to infiltrate one of Nefaria's low-level businesses, and the count knew he now had a problem. Snapdragon hired the villain gang the Night Shift to deal with Moon Knight and his partner Echo, but they flubbed the job considerably and had to be bailed out of jail. Count Nefaria appeared personally to chastise the Night Shift and incinerated them for their colossal failures. He warned Snapdragon to make better choices when hiring out in the future. [Moon Knight (6th series) #1-6]

A man named Buck Lime entered Snapdragon's club and claimed to be an associate of Moon Knight's. He wanted to be paid to betray Moon Knight and turn over the Ultron head to Nefaria, but only if the boss himself made the meeting. Count Nefaria and Snapdragon suspected a trap, but the prize was still worthwhile. When Lime showed up at the meet with a fake Ultron head, Nefaria crushed it with displeasure. This was what the heroes had counted on, however -- Echo caught Nefaria on camera, active in Los Angeles and trying to buy illegal technology. The fake Ultron head also released a chemical agent that temporarily neutralized Nefaria's powers. Normally strong enough to battle an entire team of Avengers, the count was nearly brought down by two street-level heroes and an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He was forced to flee empty-handed, leaving Snapdragon in their custody. [Moon Knight (6th series) #7]

After he recovered, Count Nefaria was furious and sought out Moon Knight and Echo. A running battle over the rooftops of Los Angeles began, where Nefaria toyed with his opponents. Nefaria felt like he had lost face in being tricked by such a low-level hero, and needed to regain the respect of his peers by making an example of Moon Knight. During the struggle, Nefaria fired his laser vision through Echo's chest, killing her. A fighting mad Moon Knight launched full force at Nefaria and somehow deflected his next killing blow back at him. Moon Knight was injured but survived, while Count Nefaria was harmed by his own power and again had to retreat when the police arrived. [Moon Knight (6th series) #8-10]

With the evidence in the hands of the authorities, a contingent of LAPD arrived at Nefaria's address to take him into custody. Recovered from his injuries, Count Nefaria was livid that all his plans had come crashing down around him. He easily broke through the police lines and traveled to the LAPD precinct to express his rage at the captain he had bought off. Nefaria killed the captain and turned his fury on Snapdragon, who had turned evidence against him when he didn't secure her release from custody. Moon Knight arrived and fought with Count Nefaria until the Avengers arrived as backup. Battered and exhausted, Nefaria went down quickly under the hammer of Thor. His time as Los Angeles' crimelord was at a close. [Moon Knight (6th series) #11-12]

Count Nefaria has yet to fully recover his support network and crime family since his losses in California. He attempted to rebuild his power base in Puglia, Italy, imposing his mighty will on the local populace through intimidation and feats of god-like power. However, he was unprepared to face Victor von Doom. The good doctor had been convinced to perform more acts of good will by his god-daughter Valeria Richards, and disposing of Nefaria was an easy one for Doom. Doctor Doom used his knowledge of the ionic bombardment process to actively drain Nefaria of his powers, reducing him to his wizened old form so that the local authorities were more than enough to restrain and arrest Count Nefaria. [Fantastic Four (5th series) #5]

Next, he threw his support behind the alternate Steve Rogers as Hydra Supreme. Count Nefaria appeared with Hydra's Army of Evil in their attack on New York but, like most of these criminals, was probably betrayed and held in stasis by Hydra for the majority of their time in control of the United States. [Secret Empire #0]

He was last seen back in America, still declaring himself the Kingpin of Los Angeles (however true that may still be). Count Nefaria tried to expand his criminal empire up into San Francisco, but found himself opposed by the Superior Octopus. Like Doom and others before him, Octavius knew enough about Nefaria's powers to engineer his mechanical arms so they disrupted ionic energy fields. Unable to rely on his raw power for victory, Count Nefaria turned towards threatening the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge and all the innocents on it. However, the Superior Octopus anticipated this as well, and had planted Octobots near members of Nefaria's extended family. Luchino Nefaria cared about few things other than himself, but the survival of the ancient and venerated Nefaria family line was one of them. Count Nefaria respected Octavius for this tactic and agreed to withdraw his claim on northern California for now. For indeed, what is time to an immortal? [Spider-Geddon #1]