Avengers (vol. 3) #33
Tainted Love
After hiding out in her Las Vegas stronghold for years, using bio-duplicate proxies, Madame Masque (Whitney Frost) has been discovered by the Avengers and her father, Count Nefaria.[1] The situation quickly erupts in to a three was conflict between the Avengers, Nefaria and the mind controlled Wonder Man and Atlas, and Madame Masque’s robot army. As the fight rages, Madame Masque believes that this is all a deception created by the Avengers because she believes her father to be dead.
However, this is the real Count Nefaria and as be battles the Avengers he tells them how he got to this point. He reminds them how he was simply the leader of the European Maggia. Overtime, he couldn’t compete with the world’s superheroes until he gave himself ionic powers that made him more than a match for the Avengers. However, his schemes failed when he seemingly died. However, as an ionic being he soon was restored to life and began taking a more direct approach when it came to world domination.[2] To that end, he used his new power to enslave Wonder Man and Atlas, two “brothers” created from the same ionic power process.[3] Now he has come to take back what’s his and orders the Avengers to get out of his way. Inside, Masque — one of Madame Masque’s surviving bio-duplicates — pleads with her creator to help the Avengers before it is too late. Unfortunately, the real Madame Masque cannot bring herself to trust the heroes. Instead, she orders Benedict and the other robots to retreat as she initiates the “Nefaria Protocols”.
By this time, the enslaved Wonder Man and Atlas have pushed past the Avengers and begin smashing Madam Masque’s base of operations. When she tries escaping via a secret tunnel, Nefaria picks up the sound of her escape shuttle with his enhanced hearing. He is then able to rip open the ground to the tunnel and nab his daughter before she can escape. That’s when the Avengers pile on him all at once. While they have Nefaria pre-occupied, Iron Man orders Triathlon to carry Whitney as far away as possible as he is the fastest of them all. Wonder Man and Atlas try to follow by they are both knocked out by the Vision, who plumets from the sky at diamond density. Nefaria sees no point in continuing the battle while his target is gone, so he grabs his two slaves and flies off, vowing that he’ll be back. While the other Avengers are distracted, the Grim Reaper — who had been mostly forgotten during the battle — tries to escape in his ship. Unfortunately for him, Warbird sneaked inside and knocks him out before he can take off.
The Grim Reaper and Madame Masque are taken back to Avengers Mansion. There, the Reaper gloats that Nefaria is going to change the entire world, but won’t say much else. Needing to get Whitney to talk, Iron Man asks the other Avengers to give him some privacy with their prisoner. When they are alone, Iron Man is surprised that Whitney still remembers that he’s really Tony Stark, but it turns out she had a means of counteracting mental tampering when Tony wiped all memory of his double identity from the public.[4] Hearing all of the redundancies in place to protect her mind, Tony can’t understand how Whitney had become so reclusive and paranoid. She explains that it comes down to all the betrayals she has suffered over the years. Stark apologies for ever hurting her, as he never intended to do cause harm. Whitney says nothing as she thinks back to their relationship and how happy it was, and how it all changed when Tony seemingly killed her father.[5] When she finally speaks, she tells him that after so many years of isolation it has become hard to trust others. Tony promises her that the only thing the Avengers want to do right now is find a way to defeat her father.
Iron Man then takes her down to the com’s room where the other Avengers are learning that the Maggia — under Nefaria’s orders — have been stealing scientific equipment to build some kind of weapon.[6] There is a brief moment of awkward silence when SHIELD Jasper Sitwell witnesses Madame Masque enter the room, due to their own romantic past.[7] That’s when Warbird and the Vision radio in and report that Count Nefaria has removed his castle from its New Jersey location. They then get a call from the Black Widow and the Thunderbolts. They frantically explain how Nefaria has constructed a ionic bomb that he intends to use to irradiate the entire planet. Hearing this plan, Madame Masque decides that she can trust the Avengers and agrees to share with them her “Nefaria Protocols”.
Meanwhile, at the ruins of Madame Masque’s base in Nevada, someone digs themselves out of the rubble and and wanders into the evening darkness.[8]
… This story is continued in Thunderbolts #44.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Warbird, Triathlon), Count Nefaria, Grim Reaper, Madame Masque, Benedict, Masque, Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Atlas, Songbird, Mach-2, Charcoal), Black Widow, Jasper Sitwell
Continuity Notes
It was revealed last issue that Whitney Frost has been employing bio-duplicates since Iron Man #138. Whenever these duplicates failed, she had them killed and replaced. This explains why authorities fond three women who match Frost’s description in Iron Man #245 and (vol. 3) #11 and 20. The only surviving bio-duplicate is Masque who was active between Iron Man #320 and when she was re-captured by Whitney in Avengers #399.
Count Nefaria’s career began in Avengers #13. After a series of defeated he obtained ionic based powers in Avengers #164-166. However a side effect of these powers saw him rapidly age and he seemingly died in a battle with Iron Man in Iron Man #115-117. However, the ionic process that gave him his powers also allowed him to cheat death, returning to life in Iron Man (vol. 3) #8. We’ll get into that in a second.
Wonder Man and Atlas are referred to as “ionic brothers” because they got their powers through the process created by Baron Zemo in Avengers #9 and 21 respectively.
Like Nefaria after him, Wonder Man seemingly died for a period of time between Avengers #9 and 151. Avengers #164 revealed that people who undergo this process enter a death-like coma as their body is converted into pure ionic energy.
In addition to his ionic powers, Atlas was later given size-changing powers in Iron Man Annual #7 via Pym Particles. However, they have these additional abilities have become controlled by his ionic abilities since Thunderbolts Annual 1997.
Tony first revealed his identity to Madame Masque in Iron Man #104. More recently, Tony had used a machine to wipe all knowledge of his double-identity from the minds of everyone who knew, as seen in Iron Man/Captain America Annual 1998. However, those who knew would remember as soon as they learn a second time. So technically, if Madame Masque didn’t have a means of counteracting Tony’s mind wipe, all he would have had to do was reveal his face to her and she’d remember instantly.
During a conflict with Mordecai Midas, Tony Stark and Whitney had a brief romance, per Iron Man #17-19. Seeking to be near Tony, she disguised herself as Krissy Longfellow and got a job as Tony’s secretary in Iron Man #91. Her true identity was revealed in issue #99. Tony revealed his true identity to her in issue #104. Frost was roped back into her father’s life in Iron Man #115-116. When Tony seemingly killed Nefaria, she left him.
As unveiled over the course of Thunderbolts #42-44, the Maggia have been attempting to acquire Baron Zemo’s ionic energy technology. Next issue we’ll discover that it was needed to construct a bomb to transform everyone on Earth into ionic beings that Nefaria could then control.
Back in her early days as the Big M, Whitney sought to seduce Tony Stark. When Tony wasn’t around, she instead focused her attention to Jasper Sitwell, who was Stark Industries SHIELD liaison at the time. They dated until she was exposed as the Big M. For a while, Sitwell dedicated his life to capturing Whitney. See Tales of Suspense #97-99, Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner #1, and Iron Man #1, 7-8.
This mystery woman turns out to be Masque, the last of Whitney’s bio-duplicates, as we’ll learn next issue.
