Maggia (Marvel)
The Maggia are a crime family that feature in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Many years ago, a young Ernesto Karnelli spearheaded a doomsday initiative for the Maggia to blackmail the city of New York. This involved them commissioning a statue made in his younger likeness with it costing millions of dollars. The statue was actually constructed from an incredibly rare element called Tritium that was unbelievably explosive if exposed to a special charge. It was built in the vicinity of City Hall and the criminal courts to be used as leverage against New York if it ever targeted him. A cover story was later made over the statue stating that it commemorated a lesser known battle in the American Civil War over an area known as Blood Creek though no such conflict took place. Thus, the statue remained undetected for years and became a closely guarded secret with the contractors that built it suffering a loss in its construction. Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds discovered a the secret conspiracy and began an investigation into the nature of the Blood Creek statue. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #42)
After the formation of the Avengers, the superheroes began targeting the Maggia's operations leading to the combined assault from both them and the police meaning that their profits in American was down in the fiscal year. This attracted the attention of Count Nefaria who punished his underling and proceeded with his plot to take down the team of heroes. (Avengers v1 #13)
The organization later attempted to regroup with all five families gathering their manpower with a big meeting being called at an Italian restaurant named Durante in Boston. However, this proved to be a trick orchestrated by the Controller who used his mind control discs to take over their bodies. The meeting was interrupted by the Avengers with the Controller sending his Maggia henchmen against them and managed to take over some of the superheroes but the villain was defeated. (Avengers v7 #1.MU)
Overview
They were noted for being a world-wide criminal cartel. (Avengers v1 #13)
Members
- Bruno Karnelli :
- Ernesto Karnelli : black haired male who was the long-hidden leader of the shadow arm of the Maggia undermob. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #42)
- Caesar Cicero : the 'Big C' was once of the head of the Maggia and used to own the Excelsior Club. (Defenders v5 #7)
- Hammerhead :
Notes
- The Maggia were created by Stan Lee and Don Heck where they made their first appearance in Avengers v1 #13 (February, 1965).
Alternate Versions
- In House of M: Masters of Evil v1 #3, the Maggia were shown to had existed in the alternate reality known as the House of M. They were destroyed by Magneto's Sentinels for plotting against him.
In other media
Television
- In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, the Maggia appeared as antagonists who were a rival crime syndicate to the Tong and were led by Count Nefaria. The Mandarin made strikes against their leadership leading to them retaliating by sending Killer Shrike and Unicorn to abduct Gene Khan, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. This was done so to use them as hostages and to send a message to the Tong leader Xin Zhang. They were defeated when seemingly Iron Man arrived leading to the Maggia being arrested. One mistreated member of the Maggia named Arthur Parks stole an experimental vest from Stark International leading to him becoming the Living Laser. The Mandarin later attempted to broker a peace with Count Nefaria but the presence of Pepper Potts disrupted the talks leading to renewed hostilities. When the police arrived, half the Maggia managed to escape but Nefaria and Black Knight were both arrested. When Iron Man seemingly disappeared, Maggia with Killer Shrike and Unicorn were robbing a jewelry store but were stopped by the arrival of War Machine.
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Maggia were mentioned in the episode "Everything's Wonderful". A.I.M. were involved in a weapons sale with the Maggia that was interrupted by Wasp and Thor.
- In Agent Carter, the Maggia appeared in the live-action series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where they appeared in the shows second season. They were operating in the 1940s with their Los Angeles branch being led by Joseph Manfredi who was the former boyfriend of Agnes Culley who went by the stage name of Whitney Frost. Manfredi led the Maggia in supporting his former flame's experiments in the use of Zero Matter.
Video games
- In Iron Man, the Maggia appeared as antagonists in the video-game tie-in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. They were shown to had been clients of Stark Industries where they purchased weapons from them. When Tony Stark returned, he stopped the production and sale of weapons leading to Maggia soldiers striking at one of his warehouses in order to take the armaments. Iron Man managed to stop them and destroyed the weapon crates to prevent Stark technology from falling into their hands.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the Maggia appeared as antagonists in the setting of the Facebook video game. A Dossier provided information on them stating that they had influence Europe particularly in Italy and the United States where they were concentrated in the five boroughs of New York City. They consisted of a number of prominent 'Families' that historically were the Karnellis, the Manfredis, and the Nefarias.
- In Marvel Heroes, the Maggia were mentioned as a crime syndicate controlling Hell's Kitchen that were controlled by various families until the Kingpin took over the organization.
Appearances
- Avengers:
External Links
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