Early in their history, the Avengers spent much time attacking and shutting down Maggia operations in the United States. They became such a nuisance that Nefaria decided to get involved personally. He had his ancestral Italian castle disassembled stone by stone and rebuilt atop the New Jersey Palisades. Announcing that the castle would be opened to the public and that all profits would be given to charity, he invited the Avengers to the grand opening. Quickly rendering his foes helpless and unconscious, he framed them by having lifelike holograms of the Avengers proclaim that they would take control of the United States. Upon their revival, the Avengers found themselves in conflict with the U.S. Army. In the end, the Avengers managed to clear their name and Nefaria was exposed as a criminal and deported to Italy (Avengers #13.)

Shortly after, Byron Frost passed away and Nefaria revealed her true origin to his daughter. He also told her that he was planning to train her so she could become his eventual successor at the head of the Maggia. After the loss of her fiancé, the broken hearted Frost began her training under Nefaria and became his second-in-command.

His criminal endeavours only became more ambitious and dangerous over time, but in the end he was always defeated. His use of a “nightmare machine” and his recruiting Morgan Stark to destroy Iron Man proved to be a failure (in the wacky, seemingly unrelated TOS #s 67-68). Nefaria and his Ani-Men were later defeated by the X-Men (Uncanny X-Men #95). He later enlisted the services of Professor Kenneth Sturdy, former chief assistant to Baron Heinrich Zemo, who endowed the count with superhuman powers (Avengers #164). Realising that the process had also accelerated his aging, Nefaria went into a frenzied rage and tried to destroy New York City, only to be stopped by the Avengers (Avengers #166). Now a dying old man, Nefaria was kept alive artificially at Avengers’ mansion until a cure could be found.

Whitney Frost, now in her identity of Madame Masque, believing that her father was not receiving proper care at the mansion, had the Ani-Men break in and kidnap her father. He in turn demanded that the Ani-Men bring Tony Stark to him so that he could be persuaded to find a cure for him. Masque, who has become Stark’s lover, agreed reluctantly on the condition that he not be harmed. Nefaria accepted her terms but had no intention of keeping his word. Stark, as Iron Man, ended up fighting the Ani-Men in his own study. During the battle, Iron Man accidentally caused Stark’s gigantic Jupiter Landing Vehicle to crush Nefaria’s frail body, apparently killing him. Masque was traumatised by these events and returned to the leadership of the Maggia (IM #116).

Of course, no good villain (or hero, for that matter) ever really dies, and this was the case with the Count. Early in volume 3 issues of Iron Man and Avengers, we witnessed some intrigue with a shooting of a "Madame Masque," as well as various people dying mysteriously. It was revealed that the Count was now a vampiric entity, needing to occassionally leech ionic energy from various so-powered beings (like Wonder Man, for instance). (See IM Annual 1999.) He grew so powerful that even all of the Avengers could not stop him, and it took his daughter, Whitney, to eventually bring him down (Avengers vol. 3 #34).

First ever appearance: Avengers #13.
First IM Appearance: Tales of Suspense #67 (as the Dream-Maker).