Tigra (Greer Grant Nelson) is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Introduced as the superpowered and gadget-wielding crime fighter the Cat in The Claws of the Cat #1 (November 1972). The character was created by writer-editor Roy Thomas and artist Wally Wood (Marie Severin was then brought in to help layout the art), with her early adventures written by Linda Fite. She mutated into the super powered tiger-woman Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), by writer Tony Isabella and artist Don Perlin.
Powers[]
Tigra's powers are the result of a combination of science, magic, and mental energy utilized by Dr. Joanne Marie Tumulo and the other Cat People. Her physical appearance is distinctly cat-like. A thick, sleek coat of orange fur with black stripes covers her entire body. She has pointed ears, sharper-than-normal teeth with pronounced upper and lower canines, eyes with enlarged irises and vertically slitted pupils, and retractable claws on her feet and hands instead of nails. Her claws and teeth are sufficiently strong to puncture sheet steel, such as that found in a car body. Tigra also has a long semi-prehensile tail, and can willfully contact (but not grasp and lift) objects with it. Tigra's feline physiology grants her various superhuman attributes including superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and resistance to physical injury. If she is injured, her physiology enables her to heal much faster and more extensively than an ordinary human.
Tigra's senses of sight, smell, and hearing extend far into the superhuman range and are also superior to those of ordinary cats. Tigra can see farther, and with much greater clarity, than an ordinary human. She has this same level of clarity at night, and her vision also extends slightly into the infrared spectrum, allowing her to see in complete darkness.
Her hearing is similarly enhanced, allowing her to hear a wider range of frequencies than a normal human as well as clearly hear sounds that would be far too faint for a human to detect. Exposure to intense, high-frequency sound is far more painful for Tigra than a normal human.
Tigra's sense of smell is developed to the point that she can recognize a person by scent alone, and track an individual across great distances and through complex environments. She can also sense changes in a person's mood through changes in their scent.
Thick pads on her feet, combined with her natural grace, allow her to move in almost complete silence.
Tigra's thick coat of fur prevents her from losing body heat quickly. She has stated that she wears bikinis partly because a full set of clothes over her fur would cause her to overheat in warm environments and possibly pass out. In addition, she is completely comfortable with her feline appearance and is not annoyed by the inevitable attention.
The unusual feline-human hybrid configuration of her brain makes her somewhat resistant to telepathic assaults. Though Tigra is not immune to such tactics, attackers have been forced to focus their powers carefully in order to use them effectively against her.
Like all cats, the interconnective tissues of Tigra's skeleton are unusually resilient. On at least one occasion this allowed her to shift her bones to slip out of mechanical restraints that would have effectively held a normal human, though doing so was quite painful. This resiliency also contributes to many of her other super-powered abilities, such as her body's resistance to injury.
Other versions[]
This character appears in the comic book based on the cartoon The Super Hero Squad SHow, when she, She-Hulk and Wasp became members of the squad, she and SHe-Hulk shared the same room. Which was a bit of a nuisance for She-Hulk as Tigra is sleepwalking in this version.
In other media[]
- Tigra appears in The Avengers: United They Stand animated series, voiced by Lenore Zann. This version was an athlete who underwent genetic treatments to give her a competitive edge, only for the treatments to go awry and leave her resembling an anthropomorphic tiger and with superhuman abilities, and became a member of the Avengers.
- A teenage version of Tigra appears in Marvel Avengers Academy, voiced by Bella Thorne.