Count Nefaria

Count Nefaria is a European noble and crime lord in Monte Carlo, and former leader of the Maggia. Known for his cruelty and greed, Nefaria nonetheless prides himself on not doing direct harm to anyone, instead putting them into positions where they are likely to have harm done to them by others or themselves.

Biography

Defeated by the Avengers

In 1965, Nefaria grew frustrated with the Maggia's repeated failures at the hands of the Avengers, and decided to take matters into his own hands. He had his castle transported from Europe to New Jersey, brick by brick, and invited the heroes to a charity event commemorating its grand opening. The Avengers went along with Rick Jones and the rest of the Teen Brigade, who were to wait outside until the event began. Each of the Avengers were seen to individual rooms, where they were subtly blasted with "time transcender beams," causing them to perceive time as though it were not moving at all. Nefaria created lifelike electro-images of the team and had them declare war on the United States. As soon as public opinion was thoroughly against the Avengers, Nefaria released them, and they became subject to virulent American military attacks. Nefaria believed that the Avengers would surely be destroyed under the combined might of American forces.

The Teen Brigade waited several hours for the Avengers to show before investigating the castle for themselves. They soon fell into one of Nefaria's many traps throughout the castle, one in which they were stuck in a perilously thin gap between walls that would plunge them into suspended animation if touched. Meanwhile, the Avengers soon deduced what had happened to them, and conducted an assault on Nefaria's castle. Captain America managed to breach the castle's walls and rescue the Teen Brigade. He also saw a Navy destroyer offshore, and signaled to it for help. Soon, the Avengers managed to corner Nefaria, who on his own was no match for them. A Navy general arrived in time for Nefaria's confession, and he took him into custody and pardoned the Avengers.

Seeking vengeance

Nefaria lost all influence within the Maggia, and sought to get back at the Avengers for his fall from grace. He developed a machine that allowed him to influence someone's dreams, such that if they die in the dream, they die in reality. The prime benefit of this device was that it kept his identity perfectly concealed. He first set his sights on Iron Man, planting some of his old foes in his dreams to try to defeat him. After an initial test run, Nefaria assaulted Iron Man's dream a second time, employing a rogue's gallery of villains to try to defeat him in his sleep. Nefaria hoped that the dream Iron Man would take the easy way out and accept death just to wake up, and thereby unwittingly kill himself—but Iron Man in fact felt the urge to fight and defeated the villains, who were substantially weaker than their real-world counterparts. A frustrated Nefaria tried to push his machine to a greater output, causing it to malfunction and explode. Recognizing Iron Man's connection to Tony Stark (but not his secret identity thereof), Nefaria enlisted Tony's estranged cousin Morgan Stark to bring him down. Nefaria gave Morgan a sophisticated projection device that created various realistic images of strange things, like spaceships and aliens. His plan was to discredit Tony Stark's mental stability in front of the public, and thereby bring down his organization. Morgan succeeded at doing this for a time, until Iron Man repelled a small, real incursion from aliens: Morgan was present for this, and his projection device was destroyed, leaving him no choice but to corroborate Iron Man's story and vindicate Tony in the eyes of the press. Morgan returned to Monte Carlo and answered to Nefaria for his failure.