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Luchino Nefaria (Earth-616)

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Real Name
Count Luchino Nefaria
Current Alias

Aliases
Stox, the Dream Maker, the Dream Master

Identity

Alignment

Affiliation
Leader of the Nefaria Family of the Maggia and unofficial leader of the entire Maggia organization; Former employer of the Ani-Men, leader of the second Lethal Legion, Legion of the Unliving, leader of the Death Squad

Relatives
Reneta Nefaria (wife, deceased), Guilietta Nefaria (daughter)

Universe

Base Of Operations
Mobile; Formerly a casino in Monte Carlo, and a castle in Sicily

Characteristics
Gender

Height


Eyes

Hair

Status
Citizenship

Marital Status

Occupation
Criminal Mastermind

Origin
Origin

Place of Birth


First appearance

Avengers #13 (February 1965)


History


Count Luchino Nefaria was the descendant of a long line of Italian noblemen, and had inherited a vast fortune. Nefaria was also a man of unusual contradictions. He was conservative in many of his tastes and attitudes, and therefore dressed in the fashions Italian noblemen wore much earlier in the century. On the other hand, Nefaria was fascinated with technological advances, and throughout his life commissioned scientists to create inventions that were far in advance of contemporary science.

Contents


Nefaria also greatly valued his family tradition of utter respectability, yet his lust for even greater wealth and power led him to become a powerful figure in the Maggia, the notorious international crime syndicate which has its origins in southern Europe, but included no noblemen. As a young man, Nefaria quickly made himself a powerful force in the Maggia through the offering of large sums of money to established Maggiosi, the financing of major criminal operations for the Maggia in return for shares of power, the advanced weaponry his scientists devised for him, and his own immense talent for criminal strategy.

The newly formed Avengers devoted much of their time to the capturing of Maggia criminals and causing the shutdown of many profitable Maggia criminal operations. Count Nefaria decided to deal with the Avengers himself. Having planned to move to America anyway, Nefaria had his ancestral castle in Italy disassembled stone by stone and re-assembled atop the New Jersey Palisades. He announced that he was opening the castle to the public and that profits from admission fees would be donated to charity. He invited the Avengers to the opening day ceremonies.

From left to right: Erik Josten, Count Nefaria, and Wonder Man
From left to right: Erik Josten, Count Nefaria, and Wonder Man

Once the Avengers were inside the castle, however, Nefaria trapped them under so-called "time transcender beams" which, in effect, put them into suspended animation. Nefaria then created life-size hologram-like images of the Avengers which he could project over great distances, which he could cause to move like living humans, and through which he could project recreations of the real Avengers’ voices. Nefaria caused the images to publicly proclaim that the Avengers were going to seize control of the United States.

As a result, the real Avengers, once they were set free, found themselves in conflict with the United States Army. The Avengers finally defeated Nefaria, who confessed his guilt in framing them. The Avengers were cleared and Nefaria was publicly exposed as a criminal and deported to Italy. Many of Nefaria’s criminal allies and employees deserted him and he was now no more than one among many Maggia "family" heads.

Months later, Nefaria tried to hold Washington DC to ransom, although he was defeated by the X-Men and Professor X.

He clashed with the X-Men again when he, together with the Ani-Men, took control of Valhalla Base and the Doomsmith computer. The Doomsmith was capable of launching the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States. The X-Men defeated the Ani-Men, but Nefaria escaped in a stolen Harrier Jump Jet. Thunderbird leapt onto the aircraft in an attempt to stop the Count but was killed when the plane exploded.

By now, Nefaria was virtually destitute. He decided he would have himself given superhuman powers greater than those of virtually any other human being. Nefaria formed the second Lethal Legion, consisting of the Living Laser, the original, criminal Power Man, and the Whirlwind. Nefaria then had Profally Klaus Sturdy, former chief assistant to Baron Heinrich Zemo, increase these three criminals’ powers for roughly an hour, and sent them to battle their old enemies, the Avengers.

But Sturdy and his assistants had also analyzed the cellular and genetic structure of the three superhumanly powerful criminals, and used their findings to duplicate their powers in Count Nefaria, but magnified a hundredfold. Once empowered, Nefaria mortally wounded Sturdy so that he could never give equal powers to someone else. But the dying Sturdy told Nefaria that his new powers were causing the Count to age at incredible speed, so that Nefaria would be dead in two days. (Actually, Sturdy was lying, and Nefaria lived beyond the two day limit.) Sturdy said that only he himself could control the aging process, but now he could not because he himself would be dead. Crazed with fear and rage, Nefaria attempted to destroy New York City, but was stopped and captured by the Avengers.

It was revealed the the power gain was killing him due to causing rapid aging. Treatments were found to restore him to normal, but Madame Masque distrusted the Avengers. She and the Ani-Men attacked them to free her father and gain revenge on Iron Man. In the process Nefaria's weakened form was crushed and appeared to have died.

Years later he resurfaced as an ionic being seeking revenge against the Avengers. It seems that he received enough treatment so that his subordinates could eventually revive him. He revealed to Iron Man that he was now pure ionic energy but needed to drain others of their energy to maintain himself.

Captain America and Ka-Zar managed to capture the Count in the Savage Land while he was conducting experiments to create a race of ionic beings. He was still in a weakened state and was prevented from using a ship with a special cybernetic link to escape. It is unclear how he escaped but he claimed they could never hold him and it is likely that the Maggia came to free him.

Nefaria's new master plan was to bombard the Earth with ionic energy using an ionic bomb; the survivors would become ionic beings that he could control and drain at his leisure. He attacked and gained control of Wonder Man and Atlas to assist him. The combined efforts of the Avengers, Thunderbolts, and Madame Masque were barely able to stop him.

He again appeared to have been killed when the ionic bomb went off and only Wonder Man and Atlas remained. It seems that he was captured by SHIELD. However, he was recently revealed to be in 'The Raft' and subsequently freed along with a number of other superpowered criminals by Electro.


Powers and Abilities

Powers

  • Ionic Energy Form: Count Nefaria is currently a being of ionic energy similar to Wonder Man and Atlas. He has no need for air, food, or water and is virtually immortal. Most recently he has also been able to use ionic energy for simple constructs such as a lasso.
  • Superhuman Strength: Count Nefaria possesses great strength rivaling the likes of Thor and the Hulk. He is capable of lifting well in excess of 100 tons.
  • Superhuman Speed:Nefaria is able to run, leap, and fly at tremendous speeds. Nefaria has been clocked at being able to fly at speeds of 5,000 miles per hour.
  • Superhuman Stamina: Nefaria's ionic body produces considerably less lactic acids than the bodies of ordinary humans. He can exert himself at peak capacity for several days before fatigue begins to affect him.
  • Superhuman Durability: Nefaria's body is highly resistant to physical injury. He is capable of withstanding high caliber bullets, falls from tremendous heights, tremendous concussive forces, and temperature extremes without sustaining injury.
  • Superhuman Agility: Count Nefaria's agility and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels beyond the human body's natural limits.
  • Laser Generation: Nefaria is able to fire powerful lasers from his eyes.
  • Ionic Vampirism: Count Nefaria must drain other ionic beings in order to maintain his power. He is able to influence those he has drained from. In a sense, he has become an 'ionic vampire.'

Abilities

Nefaria is a criminal scientist. He is also a formidable combatant with a good deal of experience in using his powers in combat situations.

Strength level

Unknown.

Weaknesses

None known.


Paraphernalia

Equipment: Technological Achievements
Transportation: Flight under his power, formerly conventional aircraft and Harrier Jump Jets
Weapons: Formerly various conventional firearms, energy weapons and strategic nuclear ordnance controlled by Doomsmith


Notes

  • An 'ionic lock' weapon Masque designed for use against ionic energy beings did not work on Nefaria without an intensifier.


Trivia

  • No trivia.



See Also


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Links and References





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