Madame Masque
Madame Masque is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Giulietta Nefaria was a female human born in the modern age where she was born the daughter of infamous Maggia crime lord Count Nefaria. (Iron Man v1 #8)
She was then given to Byron Frost who was ordered to raise her as his daughter named Whitney Frost who was secretly employed by the Maggia to divert their illegal funds to Wall Street investments. (Iron Man v1 #8)
After her graduation, her father Byron Frost decided to reward her with a summer vacation in Monaco. (Iron Man v1 #8)
In this time, she fell in love with Roger Vane who was the son of one of society's most wealthiest and politically prominent families where the two spoke about marriage. Around this time, her father died where after the funeral she returned home to mourn only to learn that Byron Frost was not her biological father. At first, she did not believe these words but then heard a taped confession from the man revealing his past and that Whitney was simply raised by him. (Iron Man v1 #8)
Madame Masque
Whilst at her safehouse, she was approached by the Hood who had escaped prison and was on a quest to acquire the Infinity Gems. He used the power of the Reality Gem to restore Whitney's face thus making her beautiful again. (Avengers v4 #9)
Quest for Magic
Masque then began to seek a new source of power through mystical relics an began scouring the world for such items. (Invincible Iron Man v3 #2) She then established an underground black market in another dimensional world where she managed the Infinite Bazaar. The place served as a site for the sale of illegal magical artifacts whose use was damaging to reality itself. Her activities drew the attention of Doctor Strange and Doctor Druid both of whom were hunting down the mysterious sales of 'black artifacts' to various individuals. Masque came to discover Doctor Druid attempting to infiltrate her weapon sale and had him captured though Strange himself remained missing. (Dr. Strange v1 #5)
Afterwards, Mayor Fisk was deposed and seemingly killed with Tombstone taking over as the new Kingpin of Crime. (Amazing Spider-Man v6 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Whilst growing up, she was raised as the daughter of Byron Frost and went by the name of Whitney Frost. Initially, she came to operate as a mysterious crime lord known as Big M. (Iron Man v1 #8)
Newspaper columns used to run articles on her in her youth where they called her the 'girl who has everything'. (Iron Man v1 #8)
Whilst growing up, she came to believe her father was wealthy wall street financier Byron Frost. He had been an indulgent father who looked to give her all the advantages in life and sent her to the best schools. (Iron Man v1 #8)
In reality, she was the daughter of crime lord Count Nefaria who wanted her as an heir to succeed him on his throne as leader of the Maggia. However, Whitney Frost had no desire to be a criminal and initially rejected this role for her. (Iron Man v1 #8)
When she was young, she became involved with a man named Roger Vane who was the son of one of society's most wealthiest and politically prominent families. The two spoke of marriage and after learning about her biological father Whitney confessed to Roger thinking he would remain by her side. However, he came to seemingly abandon her as it would damage his own political career and standing in society for being involved with the daughter of a notorious crime boss. This left her heartbroken and led to Whitney embracing the life of crime offered by her father. (Iron Man v1 #8)
As such, she claimed to had been far more than a friend to Tony Stark. (Tales of Suspense v1 #98)
Powers and abilities
After embracing a life of crime, she fell under her father's tutelage and trained to be a fighter. (Iron Man v1 #8)
Notes
- Whitney Frost was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan where she made her first appearance in Tales of Suspense v1 #98 (February, 1968).
- She later took on the identity of Madame Masque in Iron Man v1 #17 (September, 1969).
Alternate Versions
- In Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer v1 #1 (2018), an alternate world was created when Gamora using the Infinity Stones used its powers to merge various individuals with one another leading to Hela along with Madame Masque combined into a single entity that had her own unique backstory called the Madame Hel.
- In Old Man Quill v1 # (2019), an alternate version of Madame Masque was shown to inhabit the world of the Wastelands located on Earth-807128. She lived through the supervillain takeover of the planet that killed most of its heroes where she continued to operate fifty years as Doctor Doom second in command. In reality, she managed his empire from behind his throne and ensured no one rose to be a threat to him. This changed when Star-Lord came to Earth and Madame Masque ordered him eliminated after he began inspiring people by being the Hero of Horse Creek. After capturing Peter Quill, she prepared for his public execution but this was interrupted by the arrival of Galactus with Doctor Doom being killed by the World Devourer. During this time, Masque battled Viv Vision who brought her resistance forces to the Mutant Forbidden Quarter with Giuletta being killed by the synthoid.
In other media
Television
- In Iron Man, Madame Masque appeared in the 1990s animated series in the episode "Beauty Knows No Pain" where she was voiced by actress Lisa Zane. At some point, she met and fell in love with Tony Stark. However, things did not go well and they broke up. Eventually, her face was scarred and she lost her beauty. She became devastated and covered her face taking on the name Madame Masque. She then got involved with the Maggia. She eventually learned about the Golden Sepulcher of Isis, which she believed could restore her beauty. She used some Maggia henchmen to help achieve it. They captured Julia Carpenter, an employee at Stark Enterprises and Tony's love interest. Masque used Carpenter to lure Iron Man to her. She then forced Iron Man to retrieve the sepulcher for her or she would kill Carpenter. Iron Man went through a series of deadly traps until he got the sepulcher. It restored her beauty but she became possessed by the spirit of Isis. As Isis, she fought Iron Man, Spider-Woman, and War Machine. Eventually the sepulcher was destroyed and Masque was freed but again lost her beauty. Iron Man told her that he had loved her for her personality, but that died along with her physical beauty.
- In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Madame Masque appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Kristie Marsden. This version was Whitney Julietta Stane and reimagined as the neglected daughter of Obadiah Stane as well as a romantic interest of Tony Stark. She used a golden prototype disguise mask made by Howard Stark that lets her take on the appearance of anyone, but also emits unchecked radiation that eventually drives her insane. As Madame Masque, Whitney is a skilled acrobat and fighter, and uses other Stark International weapons and equipment in battle. After several fights with Iron Man, she is apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D., but switches places with one of their agents and escapes.
- In Agent Carter, an adaptation of Madame Masque appeared in the live-action television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where she was portrayed by actress Wynn Everett. During her youth, she was Agnes Cully, a math and engineering prodigy whose mother insisted that a woman's only worth to the world is her beauty. Despite this, Cully used her engineering skills for Isodyne Energy under the stage name 'Whitney Frost' while in Hollywood. In the present, she manipulates her husband Calvin Chadwick into researching Zero Matter before running afoul of the substance herself, which gives her the ability to absorb anything into her body. As a result, she comes into conflict with Peggy Carter and the Strategic Scientific Reserve despite her friendship with mob boss Joseph Manfredi. Whitney is ultimately deprived of her Zero Matter abilities and committed to an asylum.
- In Avengers Assemble, Madame Masque appeared in the setting of the animated television series where she was voiced again by actor Wynn Everett.
Video games
- In Iron Man, Whitney Nefaria appeared in the video game adaptation where she was voiced by actor Courtenay Taylor. Whitney Nefaria was a Maggia member with a past romantic history with Tony Stark. After engaging Iron Man in battle, she was killed by a falling wall.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Madame Masque appeared as a boss villain in the Facebook video game.
Appearances
- Tales of Suspense v1: (1968)
- Iron Man v1: (1969)
- New Avengers v1:
- Avengers v4:
- Invincible Iron Man v3:
- Old Man Quill v1:
- Dr. Strange v1: (2020)
External Links
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