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Title Character
Tigra
Tigra
Alter Ego: Greer Grant Nelson
Notable Aliases: The Cat, Greer Sorenson, the Werecat, the Were-Woman
Team Affiliations: The Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Secret Avengers
First Appearance: The Claws of the Cat #1 (November, 1972) note ; Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July, 1974) note
Tigra (Greer Grant Nelson) is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Introduced as the non-superpowered 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.
Greer Nelson (née Grant) first appeared as The Cat. She later became Tigra through a mystic ritual that bound the soul of one of the Cat People to her own.
- Alliterative Name: Greer Grant.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: Cat, but also tiger.
- Arch-Enemy: The Hood after he and his gang gave her a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown because another villain asked him to do so in exchange for his advice. Tigra gets her revenge when, at the end of Dark Reign, she corners him and talks at length about how she wants to kill him... and then doesn't. Instead she simply brings in his wife so she'll know who he is and what he's done and never let him near her or his daughter again.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Tigra's fairly nice and even a little flirtatious normally. Keep in mind that this is a woman that had a conversation with X-23 about the best way to eviscerate a person.
- Cat Girl: The Cat was once a costumed heroine who used a powered costume, but a ritual was performed on her, transforming her into the werecat Tigra. There's a tug-of-war between her human and feline instincts and which has the upper hand tends to depend on the writer. One day she's able to fly interstellar spacecraft, the next she's chasing and eating mice and unable to speak (except in cat noises.)
- Cats Hate Water: Tigra used to be deathly afraid of water, though she seems to have at least somewhat gotten over it.
- Child by Rape: Has a Bed Trick one in the form of her son who was conceived by Skrull doppelganger pretending to be Hank Pym who seduced and impregnated Tigra. Despite this, she still loves her son, but responds with barely veiled rage when his Skrull parentage is brought up.
- Dating Catwoman: In a miniseries from 2002, Greer (using the false name of Greer Sorenson) infiltrated a police academy hoping to find answers about the death of her husband Billy. While there she met and fell in love with Sergeant Matt McMullin, an instructor at the academy. Unfortunately, Greer discovered that Matt was involved with a group of vigilante cops called the Brethren of the Blue Fist. Worse, it was revealed that Matt had killed Billy to stop him from exposing the Brethren's crimes.
- The Drag-Along: Didn't want or even ask to be involved in the events of Defenders: Beyond, but magic spells don't really care about little things like that.
- Half-Human Hybrid: She is a human woman turned half-tiger thanks to magic. And then she... went and got knocked up by a Skrull pretending to be Henry Pym. Which would make her child half-Skrull, one-quarter human and one-quarter magic tiger. The disguise was so good that the Skrull imposter only gave Hank Pym's DNA, so the child is three-quarters human, one-quarter magic tiger.
- Healing Factor: If Tigra is injured, she is capable of regenerating damaged tissue faster than an ordinary human. She can heal injuries as severe as broken bones within a matter of days. However, she is unable to regenerate missing limbs, organs, or brain cells.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Her romantic history is a mess to say the least. Her first late husband was a chauvanist beat-cop who tried to strong arm her into being a housewife despite her contrary wishes. She then courted another cop who ended up being the man who murdered her late husband. Her next lovers were various and none lasted for long while the man who would bear her a child ended up being an alien spy.
- Hot Teacher: After joining Avenger's Academy, Tigra's definitely this. Lampshaded several times by the students, but especially when she meets Emma Frost in issue #22.Emma Frost: By the way, darling, I love your outfit. Don't let anyone tell you it's inappropriate for a teacher.
- I Just Want to Be Special: In Defenders: Beyond, when stuck in a Lotus-Eater Machine that shows everyone their greates desire, Greer's is being a respected A-List hero.
- Jack of All Stats: Tigra has impressive strength, speed, agility, healing and combat skills but is surpassed in one area each by another Avenger.
- Legacy Character: Greer is in fact not the first Tigra. In West Coast Avengers, Volume 2, Issue 6, it is revealed that the first Tigra was also a woman who was transformed into a cat person by the original two Cat People, Flavius and Helene.
- Most Common Superpower: Made especially obvious by her usual attire.
- Ms. Fanservice: Tigra is a twofer, being a Cat Girl who walks around wearing naught but a bikini. Later books have tried to justify this with Tigra saying wearing anything else over a full coat of fur would result in heatstroke, and the bikini is pretty much for modesty's sake.
- My Instincts Are Showing: Tigra originally struggled to control her cat-like urges and desires. After her "Human" and "Cat" souls were fused, it ceased to be an issue.
- Natural Weapon: Her claws and fangs.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Tigra's power set isn't as impressive compared to a lot of the other Avengers. As she herself once said, "I can't fly. I don't teleport. I'm not a god of any type. I'm just... me."
- Primary-Color Champion: As The Cat, Greer wore a yellow and blue costume.
- Really Gets Around: Known for being very sexually active and having had a lot of partners.
- Sexy Cat Person: She's basically a humanoid tigress, and she's certainly gorgeous.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: She has pretty green eyes and her fiery red hair remains in cat form.
- Statuesque Stunner: She stands at 5'10"/178cm tall and very much attractive.
- Stripperiffic: She runs around in a bikini!. Counts as
Fridge Brilliance when you consider the West Coast Manor is in California, and its probably hot enough for her already, as she's covered in fur 24/7. She even lampshades this in an issue of Avengers Academy where the students and the Runaways meet up. - Super-Senses: Tigra's senses are about ten times as keen as an average human's, and about five times that of an average cat's. She also has a rarely used sixth sense that allows her to sense the emotions of others on a basic level.
- Super-Reflexes: Tigra has incredible reflexes. She was able to dodge Ragnarok's hammer after it was thrown at her, and showed incredible flexibility while training White Tiger and again when slipping out of restraints that would've easily held a normal person.
- Super-Speed: While not a speedster by any means, Tigra can move pretty fast if she wants to.
- Super-Strength: Though it's not usually played up, Tigra's officially as physically powerful as Spider-Man.
- Super-Toughness: Tigra's physiology makes her much tougher than an ordinary person. Her body is able to withstand great impact forces and blunt trauma that would severely injure or kill a normal human, though she is far from invulnerable.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Tigra possesses a mystical talisman that allows her to change her appearance from feline to human at will. She rarely uses it and only appears in her human form when circumstances require it. She regards her feline body as her natural form.
- Wolverine Claws: Tigra's claws are extremely sharp and tough.
