The Story of Whitney Frost And The Woman Called Masque

• For anyone interested in this kind of thing, this is my version of the story behind the shootings of Madame Masque/identity of Masque (a combination of the officials stories as well as speculation that fills in the gaps left unanwered...)
• Madame Masque is a woman named Whitney Frost. She was raised by a rich financier named Byron Frost. After her father’s death, Whitney learned that she had been adopted by Byron Frost and was actually the daughter of Count Nefaria, a European criminal mastermind who headed a branch of the Maggia. After the revelation, her fiancé left her because her origins were incompatible with his political career. She then returned to her true father, who trained her so he would replace her as the head of the Maggia. Betrayed by her own men, she attempted to flee the authorities and Iron Man, who had been investigating her activities. But, in her haste, her escape vehicle crashed (which occurred IRON MAN Vol.1#9). Her face now horribly scarred, she was rescued by the crime-lord known as Midas, who gave her the golden mask that she now always wears. She also took the name Madame Masque. This occurred in IRON MAN Vol.1#17-19.
• Under his direction, Whitney disguised herself as a young woman named Krissy Longfellow and went to work for her former enemy Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man. The feelings that she had developed for him earlier in Iron Man Vol. 1#17-19, 23, and 35 grew into love and she became romantically involved with Tony, leading her to betray Midas. However, this relationship eventually came to a tragic end in IRON MAN Vol.1#116 because of what happened between Tony and her father.
• As a result of an attempt to give himself superhuman powers, Count Nefaria rapidly aged into a feeble, wizened old man who had to be kept alive with special life support systems. Nefaria was put in the custody of the hero team Avengers, his most recent opponents, while they sought a cure for him. Whitney, believing that he was not receiving proper care at Avengers Mansion, had Nefaria's henchmen at the time, the Ani-Men, break into the mansion and bring Nefaria back to her. Nefaria then demanded that the Ani-Men bring Anthony Stark to him so that he could be persuaded to find a cure for him. Whitney agreed very reluctantly, on the condition that Stark not be harmed. Nefaria accepted her terms, but had no intention of keeping his word. Stark, as Iron Man, ended up battling the Ani-Men in his own study. Whitney fled with Nefaria to one of Stark's labs, where she was forced to choose between her duty to her father and her love for Stark.
• Deciding to choose her father, Whitney used one of Stark’s Jupiter Landing Vehicles to try and hold him at bay so that he could not recapture her father. Iron Man's battle against the vehicle caused it to fall so that not only did it sever part of Count Nefaria's life support system, but it also crushed Nefaria's body, seemingly killing him. Iron Man had not intended Nefaria's death, but Whitney was adversely traumatized by witnessing what she thought was the accidental killing of her father through her lover's actions. This story took place in IRON MAN Vol.1#115-116.
• Still in love with Stark but in utter anguish over her father's death, Whitney left Stark. She went insane, obsessed with paranoia that the men in her life will always betray her. Whitney built and sequestered herself inside a giant refuge in a butte in the Nevada desert. There, she constructed cloned “bio-duplicates” of herself to send out into the world in her stead in order to never put herself in a position of being betrayed again by someone she loved. These clones had certain shape-shifting abilities so no one could tell them from the real Whitney Frost.
• The first bio-duplicate went out into the world and became the head of the Las Vegas branch of the Maggia, taking the title, The Director. This Madame Masque bio-duplicate, who now believed herself to be the original Whitney Frost, sought to kill Tony Stark for his role in her Nefaria’s death by sending a Dreadnaught against him in IRON MAN Vol.1#129. She even attempted to kill him again, as well as his current paramour, Bethany Cabe, in IRON MAN Vol.1#137-139. At the end of the tale, the duplicate Madame Masque revealed to Bethany that Tony Stark and Iron Man were one in the same, but Bethany reversed it on her by saying that she had already figured this out, which foiled the bio-duplicate Madame Masque’s revenge plot and infuriated her even further.
• The first Madame Masque duplicate eventually allied herself with Obadiah Stane, a corporate enemy of Tony Stark's. Stane had the scientist Dr. Theron Atlanta transfer Madame Masque's mind directly into the body of Bethany Cabe and Cabe's mind into Madame Masque's body. Madame Masque nearly killed Stark as Bethany, but she was stopped by Bethany (in Madame Masque's body). Stark used Atlanta's machine to reverse the mind exchange. However, Madame Masque, her mind restored to her true body, somehow escaped. This story took place in IRON MAN Vol.1#199-204.
• For a time, the first Madame Masque bio-duplicate concentrated on running the Maggia. But then, one afternoon, a shadowy figure disabled her personal guards, broke into the office, and gunned down Madame Masque in cold blood, after which she claimed her identity. This story took place in IRON MAN Vol.1#238. This shadowy killer turned out to be a second bio-duplicate of Whitney Frost/Madame Masque, who was sent by the original to track down and kill her first bio-duplicate because she had brought too much attention upon herself during her repeated attempts to kill Tony.
• The first bio-duplicate’s murderer, who now believed herself to be the original Whitney Frost, resumed running the Maggia. She formed an alliance with rogue FBI agents in hopes of wiping out not only rival crime families, but also other divisions of the Maggia. This entire affair ended up attracting the attention of both Iron Man himself as well as the Incredible Hulk, who kidnapped her for a coalition made up of AIM and Hydra members. During Iron Man’s battle to free her, he had the chance to unmask Whitney Frost’s supposed killer twice, but the new Madame Masque escaped both times. All of this occurred in IRON MAN Vol.1#245-247. Tony subsequently searched for Whitney’s “killer” in IRON MAN Vol.1#254, but he failed to find her.
• The second Madame Masque bio-duplicate later showed up at the AIM Island Expo, along with various other criminals, to acquire some of their weaponry that they were trying to sell off to the highest bidder. This occurred in QUASAR#9, and this was the last time the second bio-duplicate showed her face in public. She squirreled herself away in a secret compound built a hundred yards deep into the bedrock below the floor of the Potomac River, away from the compound she took over after she killed the original bio-duplicate. She resumed running the Maggia, but this time from behind the scenes, having succumbed to the same kind of rampant paranoia that had consumed the original Whitney Frost.
• Months later, one of Whitney’s bio-duplicates developed a free will of her own and escaped the secret Nevada compound before the imprinting process was completed. She wandered around for a time, unsure of who she was or why she could change her face to those others thought of, faces they loved. She was taken in by a young woman named Kris DeGann, a transfer student from London who was preparing to attended Columbia University in Manhattan in the fall. They became friends and this bio-duplicate, calling herself Masque, tried to live in relative peace.
• However, Masque was eventually tracked down by a powerful robot named Benedict, whom the original Whitney Frost had sent to retrieve her errant replica. During the battle, Benedict killed Kris DeGann. A horrified Masque fled before the robot could capture her.
• With nowhere else to turn, Masque decided to seek protection from Tony Stark, a man whom she had developed some rather confusing feelings for thanks to the fact that, even though the imprinting process hadn’t been fully completed, she was technically a replica of the original Whitney Frost. Tracking him down, Masque spied on him for a while until she could find the right moment to insert herself into his life.
• During this time, Masque started to become very suspicious of his activities, unaware that he was being influenced by one of his old enemies, Immortus, who had disguised himself as his temporal counterpart, Kang the Conqueror. She decided that she needed to be closer to Stark so she could keep a better eye on him. On New Year’s Eve, Masque spied on Stark as he was enjoying a private celebration with his old paramour and current head of security, Bethany Cabe, which took place in IRON MAN Vol.1#313. After Bethany left Stark’s house, Masque approached her and rendered Bethany unconscious. She then took on Bethany’s appearance and assumed her role in Tony’s life. Stark nearly became suspicious of her when she kept too close of an eye on him during a party thrown by him in honor of being awarded a contract by Starcore to help build a communications and research satellite. This happened in IRON MAN Vol.1#319. Hoping to deflect suspicion off of herself, Masque (as Bethany) ended their platonic relationship and made it a more intimate one when he came to her apartment after the party looking for some companionship. This also happened in IRON MAN Vol.1#319.
• As she became more and more suspicious of Tony Stark’s behavior, Masque decided that she needed to find someone who could help her figure out what was going on inside his head. Since her telepathic abilities were extremely limited, Masque chose to find someone else with similar powers to assist her, someone who knew and cared enough about Stark to want to help her find out what was going on. Probing through images from Stark’s mind of people that he knew, Masque came across the face of one of Stark’s previous girlfriends, Marianne Rodgers. Unfortunately, Marianne’s mental abilities had driven her crazy, a situation exploited by Immortus, who had used his power to influence Marianne into believing that she had gone mad because she had discovered Tony’s duplicity and couldn’t handle it.
• During one dark, stormy night, Masque found Marianne Rodgers at the Stark Center Private Hospital in California. She witnessed the woman’s violent escape (as seen in IRON MAN Vol. 1#320) but was unable to catch up to her. Assuming that Marianne would go after Stark, Masque returned to Tony to keep an eye on him. During this period, she once again became suspicious of Stark’s behavior when she caught him making a call to Henry Gyrich, the United States government liaison to the Starcore Project, that bypassed the security board (also seen in IRON MAN Vol.1#320).
• A short time later, Tony left California without telling “Bethany” so he could to tend to business at Avengers Mansion. Once again suspicious of him, Masque (as Bethany) booked a flight on a Stark Enterprise private jet (as Stark himself discovered in IRON MAN Vol.1#322) and flew to the East Coast, where she found the crazed Marianne Rodgers stalking Stark with the intent of killing him. Masque quickly took action and saved Tony before Marianne could follow through with her murderous plans. Afterward, Tony promptly took custody of both Marianne and Masque spirited them away to his secret arctic bunker. This took place in IRON MAN Vol.1#321.
• During this time, unbeknownst to Masque, the robot that Whitney Frost had sent to retrieve her, Benedict, had finally tracked her down and discovered the identity of the woman whom she was currently posing as. He went to Bethany Cabe’s apartment to find her and destroyed the place while he searched for her, unaware that she had left California. Tony Stark later returned to Bethany’s apartment and discovered the carnage that Benedict had left behind. He jumped to the conclusion that Marianne Rodgers had wrecked the place and, fearing for Bethany’s safety, immediately started an investigation. These events took place in IRON MAN Vol.1#322.
• However, Stark’s search came to an abrupt end as the business with Immortus spiraled out of control. Meanwhile, Masque plotted with a now seemingly sane Marianne Rodgers to escape Stark’s secret arctic bunker, which was being guarded by Machinesmith, a robot under Stark’s control. While Machinesmith was out of the compound, Masque shape-changed her face into that of Bethany and took off her golden helmet, revealing herself to a surprised Marianne Rodgers. After the women traded clothes, Masque changed her face to look like Marianne. When he returned to the bunker, Machinesmith saw what he thought was Marianne Rodgers, with the device negating her powers missing. He was thrown off-balance just long enough for Masque (looking like Marianne) to beat him up.
• During the fight, the real Marianne got stunned by Machinesmith in the battle before he was defeated. Masque put her costume back on and escaped Stark's bunker, leaving Marianne in the process. This all occurred in the pages of IRON MAN Vol.1#323. She finally made her way back to civilization, stole a plane, and then crashed it right into Avengers Mansion in AVENGERS Vol.1#393. She spent the remainder of her time with them, trying to help them defeat both Tony Stark and Immortus (who was posing as Kang). These events happened in IRON MAN Vol.1#324-325 as well as AVENGERS Vol.1#394-395.
• During this final battle, the Avengers retrieved an alternate teenage version of Stark to help defeat him (in AVENGERS: TIMESLIDE). The teenage Stark ended up getting his heart severely damaged by his older self at this time. Masque visited young Stark in the Avengers compound so she could remind him of the loves his older self lost. This happened in IRON MAN: AGE OF INNOCENCE. She left afterwards, intending not to see him again since he wasn’t the Tony that she actually knew. However, before she fled, Masque released the real Bethany Cabe from her lengthy confinement without ever talling her why she did what she did. Fortunately for her, Bethany kept silent since the Tony Stark she knew was now dead and couldn't be informed of her kidnapping.

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