Tigra
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Tigra (Greer Grant) is a comic book superheroine in the Marvel Comics universe. As the Cat, she first appeared in Claws of the Cat #1, and was created by Linda Fite. She first appeared as Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1, by Tony Isabella and Don Perlin.
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[edit] Publication history
For several years Tigra met and fought alongside most of the Marvel Universe's heavy-hitters, mostly in anthology series such as Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-In-One. She briefly starred in Marvel Chillers, which had the sub-title Tigra the Were-Woman. In the 1980s Tigra became a member of the Avengers, serving in the West Coast branch with particular distinction and formed a relationship with Moon Knight during his tenure on the active roster. She also became a friend and associate of the Fantastic Four, though she never became a full member.
Since the cancellation of the West Coast Avengers, Tigra has had few appearances. Most of these have been in Avengers related titles, such as her adventures with the unofficial Avengers Infinity team.
Tigra received her own mini-series in 2001, in which she joined the police force to investigate her late husband's death. She has made sporadic appearances since, though she has consistently appeared as part of the Avengers' extended team.
Tigra was seen fighting along Iron Man's side during the Civil War. She supports Stark's registration act, although she has expressed concern about the fate of Captain America and the other heroes who opposed the Act and turned fugitive. Nonetheless, in Civil War Files, Tigra is listed not merely as having registered to comply with the law, but also as having become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to actively aid in its enforcement. She also infiltrates Captain America's band of rebels as a mole for Iron Man and his pro-reg forces.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] The Cat
Greer Grant was a sophomore at the University of Chicago when she met her future husband, policeman Bill Nelson. She left college to marry him, but regretted the act when Bill treated her more like a possession to be protected than an equal. Bill was killed in an off-duty shooting, and Greer had to find a job of her own. After weeks of searching, she ran into her old physics professor, Dr. Joanne Tumulo.
Dr. Tumulo was working on the human potential experiments that turned Shirlee Bryant into the super-powered villainess called the Cat. Not trusting the test subject chosen by her financial backer, Malcolm Donalbain, Greer persuaded Dr. Tumulo to let her undergo the experimental treatments as well. She emerged with superhuman physical and mental capabilities. When Donalbain had Dr. Tumulo's lab dynamited, Greer donned one of dozens of the Cat costumes that he had created and the doctor had appropriated and set out to put an end to his scheme. With her new abilities, she adapted quickly to the strange garb and wrecked Donalbain's headquarters. Rather than let himself be touched by the Cat's raking claws, Donalbain committed suicide. A fire set off by the ruined equipment destroyed Donalbain's headquarters. Greer embarked on a brief career as the Cat, mostly battling old Daredevil foes.
Another of Donalbain's Cat costumes surfaced years later, when Patsy Walker discovered it while accompanying the Avengers. She donned it and dubbed herself Hellcat.
[edit] Tigra
Dr. Tumulo was retconned as one of the Cat People, a secret animal race created by sorcery in Medieval times.[1] When members of HYDRA tracked Tumolo down to obtain "The Final Secret" (the Black Death plague, which was the creation of medieval Cat People scientists), Greer once again donned the Cat costume and drove them off. However, she was fatally injured by a blast from one of their alpha radiation pistols.
Greer regained consciousness in a Baja, California cave, surrounded by a gathering of Cat People summoned by Tumolo. Dying from the radiation's effects, Greer was offered one last hope of survival: a combination of ancient science, sorcery, and mental power that would transform her into Tigra, the cat-people's legendary half-human, half-cat warrior. She readily consented and arose from the ceremony as a superhuman-powered hybrid. Striped fur covered her entire body, her hands and feet bore razor-sharp claws, her teeth became long and pointed, and her eyes were now cat-eyes. In addition to superhuman strength and senses, she also gained many of the drives and instincts of a cat.
Though initially unable to change back to her human self, the cat-people ultimately gave her a mystical cat-headed amulet that allowed her to change at will. She seldom made use of it, however, preferring her feline, superpowered form and mostly abandoning her life as Greer Grant-Nelson.
While with the West Coast Avengers, the cat-like aspects of her personality (such as a penchant for savagery and a need for affection) began to dominate her human intellect, leading her to choose to abandon her Tigra form forever. However, during an adventure in the netherworldly realm to which a different colony of ancient cat-people had been banished by fearful Medieval sorcerors, the mystical portion of her original Tigra transformation was forcibly removed, and then accidentally restored to her while she fought these demonic cat-people in her old Cat suit. As a science developed by Tumolo to enhance her human abilities, the suit forced the Tigra magic to integrate more successfully with her human side. As a result, her human and feline personalities were fully merged and she was transformed more completely into the legendary cat-warrior. Her strength and abilities were far greater than they originally were. Her appearance became more feline, however, and she grew a tail like the rest of the Cat-People.
She also lost the ability to shift back to a human form, though as before she showed no sense of loss for her human identity.
Agatha Harkness appeared during this time in one of the many attempts to help stabilized Tigra's form and personallity.
Later, after an alternate universe adventure, she would vacation through space with the ex-Avenger known as Starfox. She appeared off and on, once assisting Thor, Quasar and others in the Maximum Security storyline.
[edit] Current status
Pretending to switch allegiances, she successfully infiltrated Captain America's Secret Avengers team as a mole and passed information to Iron Man for more than a week before being outed by Hulkling, Captain America's own spy among the pro-reg forces. Captain America kept quiet, exploiting her presence to feed disinformation to Iron Man about his team's strategy for the final push later that day.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Tigra possesses superhuman strength and speed. Her stamina, agility and reflexes also far surpass human limits, and her body is more resistant to injury and recovers far more swiftly than a human. However, she is not bullet proof, and her body is not capable of regenerating large portions of damaged tissue.
Tigra possesses heightened senses of sight, hearing and smell; her senses far surpass those of a cat, let alone a human. She's able to identify and track an individual by scent alone over long distances and through complex environments. Her heightened sense of smell is acute enough to allow her to detect subtle alterations in the pheromones and perspiration of a person indicating that person's emotional state. Her eyesight allows her to see objects in great detail even at long distances, and she can see in almost complete darkness. Her sense of hearing is acute enough to detect a ball of tissue dropped to the floor ten yards away.
Her use of these senses is instinctual. She continuously processes and is constantly reacting to the sights, sounds, and smells within her environment. Her tremendous efficiency at processing scents makes her particularly vulnerable to pheromone-based attacks. However, the unusual animal-human hybrid configuration of her brain makes her somewhat resistant to mental attacks, such as those employed by the White Queen or Professor X.
Tigra's physical appearance is distinctly cat-like. She has thick, but sleek striped orange fur covering her entire body. She has pointed ears, sharper-than-normal teeth with pronounced canines, eyes with enlarged irises and vertically-slitted pupils, and retractable claws where ordinary humans have finger and toenails. Her claws and teeth are sufficiently strong to puncture sheet steel, such as that found in a car body. Tigra also has a semi-prehensile tail, and can willfully contact (but not grasp and lift) objects with it.
Her behavior can often be quite feline. She growls when agitated, purrs when contented, and when she's still, she's more likely to be seen crouching or squatting than standing or sitting. When running at top speed, she moves on all fours.
Tigra acquired another talisman that allows her to change her appearance from feline to human at will. However, it's unknown whether this creates a physical change or merely an illusion (as her previous one did). As with her previous talisman, she rarely uses it, only appearing as Greer Grant-Nelson when circumstances require it.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- Tigra was a member of the Avengers in the animated series Avengers: United They Stand. Tigra was voiced by Lenore Zann, who also supplied the voice for Rogue in the X-Men cartoon.
- She also appears in the "Marvel Mangaverse" alternate reality as Dr. Strange's assistant/familiar, bound by a magical curse that keeps her in were-tiger form until she completes a thousand good deeds.
