Count Nefaria, the employer

Count Nefaria, the employer Nefaria is the man paying for the operation and giving the orders. He has transformed the Ani-Men into his assault force, taken control of a military installation and made the X-Men race against the threat of a missile launch. He is also perfectly willing to leave his people behind when the job goes wrong. While the fight continues inside Valhalla, he heads for an aircraft and tries to escape. Thunderbird and Banshee go after him. John climbs onto the plane and refuses to let go. Banshee pleads with him to get clear, but John keeps tearing into the aircraft until it explodes. The team can stop Nefaria's immediate plan without being able to save their teammate. His leverage extends in two directions. Nations are meant to pay because he controls their danger; his own operatives are meant to obey because he controls the possibility of changing them back. The whole plan depends on placing somebody else in an intolerable situation and charging for relief. Meanwhile, the Doomsmith system gives the heroes a problem that cannot be solved by catching its owner. Scott stays with the controls while the pursuit heads outside. The team is split between preventing a catastrophe and stopping the man who started it. That division matters when John puts himself beyond the reach of the people trying to help him. That is why this particular group of hired villains belongs in the early history of the new X-Men. Their mission becomes the team's first terrible loss together. Nefaria wants leverage, money and a way out. The people he sends into the fight, and the people trying to stop him, are left to pay for it.