Nefarius (Lloyd Bloch), previously known as Moonstone, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The character first appeared in Captain America #169 (1974) and was created by writers Steve Englehart and Mike Friedrich and artist Sal Buscema.[1]
Lloyd Bloch is an agent of the second Secret Empire, who intend to discredit Captain America and take his place as America's "symbolic" hero. The Empire had previously damaged Captain America's reputation by accusing him of vigilantism and framing him for the death of small-time criminal the Tumbler.[2] Empowered by a lunar stone, he becomes Moonstone and battles Captain America before being defeated and arrested.[3] Subsequently, his psychiatrist, Karla Sofen, steals his stone and becomes the second Moonstone.[4]
Bloch later resurfaces, now possessing ionic powers similar to those of Wonder Man and known as Nefarius. He kidnaps Sofen and plans to kill her in revenge before being killed by Count Nefaria, who drains his energy.[5][6]
Bloch possesses superhuman physical abilities derived from a lunar stone that is imbued with unknown energy. After losing the stone, he regains his powers via a mutagenic process created by Dr. Kenneth Sturdy and gains the additional ability to generate intense heat beams from his eyes.
Bloch is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, and received extensive unarmed combat training from the second Secret Empire.
During the Thunderbolts' sojourn on Counter-Earth, Sofen encountered Bloch's counterpart who went by the codename Phantom Eagle. The alternate Bloch became obsessed with Moonstone and began experiencing psychotic episodes and was exposed as a serial killer. Sofen proceeded to steal his equivalent stone too.
Moonstone I at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe