PRINCESS ZAFINA
Real Name: Zafina (last name unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Human, citizen of Halwan (pre-modern era)
Occupation: Ruler of Halwan
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Jameel Bey (her inquisitor), Khadijah (cousin), Scimitar, unidentified palace personnel and guardsmen
Enemies: CIA, First Line (Black Fox/Robert William Paine, Blackjack, Effigy/Velmax, Flatiron/Russell, Mr. Justice/Timothy "Tim" Carney, Nightingale, Oxbow/Sam Matonabbe, Pixie, Positron/Veronica, Reflex), Nick Fury and his covert ops team (Gleason and unidentified others)
Known Relatives: King Kadar (father, deceased), Khadijah (cousin), possible unidentified siblings (see comments)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Kamilabad, Halwan
First Appearance: Marvel: The Lost Generation#9 (June, 2000)
Powers/Abilities: Zafina possessed no known superhuman powers. As the rightful ruler of the Lion Throne (Halwan's seat of power), she was ruthless and convinced of her own superiority. Demanding her subordinates complete loyalty, Zafina had little regard for concepts like honor, which she considered nothing but a foolish game.
Height: 5'6 (by approximation)
Weight: 118 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#9 - BTS) - In the late-1970s, Zafina
succeeded her father King Kadar as Halwan's official ruler. When she
suspected three American diplomats might be aiding Halwani republican
movements that were determined to oust the Halwan monarchy,
she gave orders to take them hostage. This led to the American
government sending in First Line member Mr. Justice (Tim Carney) to
rescue the diplomats; however, his jet was shot down over the Strait of
Hormuz ,where he was captured by Halwani troops who delivered him to the
royal palace outside the capital city of Kamilabad. There, Zafina had
her inquisitor Jameel torture the American hero for two days. Unbeknowst
to her, the CIA had sent Nick Fury and four other operatives to retrieve
the diplomats, while the First Line was also en route, determined to
rescue Mr. Justice.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#9) - After 48 hours of intense torture, Mr. Justice still hadn't broken. Zafina, growing tired of the American's continued defiance, berated Jameel, who answered that his subject simply could not be broken. Furthermore, he claimed that continuing to treat so brave a warrior in that poorly a manner would dishonor him. Annoyed at Jameel's stance, Zafina reminded him she was the firstborn of her father King Kadar, which meant her every order had to be obeyed to the letter. Despite the fact Jameel grudgingly consented, Zafina decided to be merciful. Purposefully turning the largest hourglass available in the torture chamber, she commanded Jameel to continue the questioning until time had ran its course. If Mr. Justice hadn't cracked by then, she promised him a brief respite until she'd come up with another way to extract the intelligence she desired.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation#9 - BTS) - Mr. Justice survived the additional torture session and was brought to Zafina's cousin, Dr. Khadijah, for medical treatment. The charming superhero managed to persuade her to help him escape, mere hours before the First Line infiltrated the royal palace looking for their teammate. Ordering the palace guards and Halwan's hereditary hero Scimitar to defend the palace, Zafina was ill-prepared for a run in with the shapeshifter Effigy and the archer Oxbow. The duo tied her up and hid her away long enough for Effigy to assume her form and pretend Zafina had been taken prisoner by Oxbow. They successfully ordered Zafina's troops to stand down and allow the heroes to leave Halwan unopposed.
Comments: Created by Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks).
It's not very clear what happened to Zafina after the First Line incident. By the time anyone visited Halwan in the modern era, it was Princess Azir who was calling the shots. Just how Zafina was deposed, and if she survived to tell the tale, remains to be seen. She called herself the first-born of King Kadar, and there's no evidence she was the only child, or that Halwan's modern day royal family is any relation to either Kadar, Zafina or Khadijah.
Princess Zafina was mentioned in the Halwan entry of the Marvel Atlas trade paperback.
In her analysis of Halwan, Cassandra
Locke called it a small, Middle Eastern kingdom, while maps
published in Marvel Atlas place
the country squarely in the heart of northern Africa. Of course, the
22nd century historian was under considerable stress at the time and
might simply have remembered incorrectly.
Loki, one of the head writers of the Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and the Marvel Atlas, clarifies:
The reason why the Atlas placed Halwan in north Africa is because Halwan in the comics has a serious geographical problem. Specifically, in Iron Fist #5 or 6, a text box notes mountains in Halwan being hit by the winds off the Hindu Kush, while in Lost Generation Mr. Justice is shot down over the Straits of Hormuz. Both of these comments would place Halwan in the region of Afghanistan/Pakistan. However, in PM/IF, Halwan is more than once mentioned as being neighbors with Murtakesh, a country firmly established as being in the Sahara, an entirely different continent http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/blacktig.htm.
The Lost Generation is doubly confusing, because in addition to the Straits of Hormuz note, it also mentions a Moorish castle. The Moors were based in Africa (and Spain), which fits with the Sahara, but not with Afghanistan. So the Atlas had to try and figure out which accounts to go with (or else assume that (a) the country had been moved or (b) the country somehow stretched from next to Afghanistan all the way to the Sahara, neither of which seemed likely. The Atlas ultimately went with the Sahara, simply because the two text boxes were passing one-line comments, while the Murtakesh border thing was a major plot point in multiple stories.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Princess Zafina should not be confused with
Jameel was one of the inquisitors assigned by Zafina to question Mr. Justice after he had been brought to the Halwani royal palace. After two days of exposing the American vigilante to a wide variety of torture (chief among them hanging him upside down over a fire pit, while working his body with various blunt tools), the noble Jameel developed a measure of respect for Mr. Justice's continued tenacity. This even caused the otherwise unquestionably loyal Jameel to oppose Zafina's orders, claiming it would be dishonorable to continue to abuse so brave a warrior. When an unimpressed Zafina coldly reminded Jameel where his priorities lay, he reluctantly continued his work on the ever more defiant Mr. Justice, who defiantly welcomed the pain he was about to endure by smugly inviting Jameel and his unidentified colleague to do their worst.
Jameel had a scar over his left eye, presumably received during a knife (or scimitar) fight--it's possible he had lost (some) of the sight in that particular eye.
-- Marvel: The Lost Generation#9
images: (without ads)
Marvel: The Lost Generation#9, p6, pan3 (main image)
Marvel: The Lost Generation#9, p7, pan1 (closeup)
Marvel: The Lost Generation#9, p9, pan1 (Jameel)
Appearances:
Marvel: The Lost Generation#9 (June,
2000) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils),
Al Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 02/21/2014
Last updated: 11/23/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to http://www.g-mart.com/ for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!