Tigra - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

Tigra's powers are the result of a combination of science, magic, and mental energy utilized by Dr. Joeanne Marie Tumulo and 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 is capable of.

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, however.

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 scent.

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.

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.

She formerly possessed what was referred to as a "cat-soul" in addition to her "human soul." Though vaguely defined, her "two souls" were consistently depicted merely as a means to describe her conflicting human and her feline instincts, and not as separate personalities or personas. Regardless of the definition of her "two souls," they were fully merged during Greer's second, more complete transformation into the legendary figure.

Greer received a form of empathic ability when she became The Cat. She retains this ability as Tigra. With careful concentration, she can sense the emotions of others within her immediate proximity. She appears to prefer to achieve this same effect through her enhanced feline senses.

Tigra is an experienced and formidable hand to hand combatant, with a unique fighting style that exploits her feline speed, agility, senses, and instincts. She is a superhumanly adept athlete and gymnast. Like all Avengers of her generation, she has sparred and trained extensively with Steve Rogers, the original Captain America.

She is also a capable leader and pilot, qualified to operate Avengers aircraft as well as interstellar spacecraft.

While working undercover in human guise, Tigra attended the New York Police Academy to investigate the decade-old murder of her husband. After bringing the murderers to justice, she completed her training under her Greer Nelson identity. While she does not serve as an active-duty police officer, she retains legal authority under both her civilian and superpowered identities and unofficial ties to the police community.

Tigra possesses mystical abilities that have largely gone unexplored. In addition to using her mystic talisman to change her appearance from feline to human and back, she has been shown magically summoning the Balkatar, the cat-people's designated emissary to the Earthly plane. When Dr. Strange abdicated his position as Sorcerer Supreme, the Eye of Agamotto created a vision showing the many mystic beings who were potentially worthy and/or capable of assuming the title. An image of Tigra was included in this vision.

Tigra's physiology is more feline than human. When she became pregnant via the Skrull pretending to be Hank Pym, she carried the baby to term in two months, producing a single Cat Person son named William. William does not have any traces of Skrull DNA as the Skrull pretending to be Hank Pym imitated him down to a cellular level, thus genetically William is Hank Pym's son. William ages more quickly than a human baby would.