When humanity first looked into the night, my eyes looked back. When they learned to fear darkness, it was me they feared. When they learned to fight for their lives and their lives and their children--I was their first enemy. Lay your claim to a thousand thousand worlds--THIS ONE IS MINE! FOR I AM THE TIGER! 
- —Tiger God[src]
The Tiger God is a fear deity who powers the Amulets of Power, wielded by the White Tiger.[1] Said to be the first thing humanity feared,[2] it represents humanity's fear of the dark and tigers,[3][4] though it is weakened in modern times due to humanity slowly conquering its fear.[5] It is the counterpart of the Dog God.[4]
History
Ancient origins[]
[W]ay, way back, humans were afraid of the dark. They had their fire. It kept them warm, gave them light. When the things that lived in the night woud eat them. It was a time of fear. So much fear, for so many years. So much that it created a god. The Tiger God. A whole God of Fear.
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The first thing humanity feared
The Tiger God was created from humankind's primal fear of the dark and the tigers that had hunted them in the night.[4] It once claimed to have existed during the time of the dinosaurs,[6] though according to one theory, gods were stories so good that the universe itself believed them and retroactively brought them into existence, echoing to the past so that these gods predated the stories and their tellers.[7] While humanity's fear created the Tiger God, humanity's love created the Tiger God's counterpart, the Dog God.[4] The Tiger contrasted with the blinding light of the Phoenix, a flame lit by humans to keep the dark away. It called the Sacred Warrior of the Cat People "sister."[8]
Before the arrival of the Orisha, the Tiger God was followed by the White Tigers of Wakanda, but they eventually abandoned it to become acolytes of the Panther Cult,[9] leaving the Tiger God in the dark of the Necropolis.[10]
Kung Fu patron[]
The Tiger God gave its power to a Jade Tiger statue originating in K'un-Lun,[1] whose head and claws were cut off to make three Amulets. When the head and claws were returned to the original statue, it transformed into a living representation of the Tiger God.[11]
The Tiger God took over the body of Ava Ayala, a White Tiger in possession of the Amulets, when Reptil's powers put her at risk.[6] Later, when Coat of Arms had the Amulets, the Tiger God chose her as a new host; however, Ayala was able to convince the Tiger God to come back to her in exchange for control of her body for one day every month.[1]
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Attacking Shuma-Gorath
During the Black Order's invasion, the younger Power Man assisted Ayala and the Tiger God in repelling Shuma-Gorath by fueling it with all the Chi in New York City.[3]
When Ayala heard the news that her family's killer Gideon Mace had been released from prison, the Tiger God offered to use its night in control to make Mace feel true terror. Using Ayala's body it was easily able to dispatch a pursuing Power Man and Iron Fist, and to remove Luke Cage and the She-Hulk from its path: only Monica Rambeau's intangibility as a light wave was able to resist the Tiger God's warpath. Adam Brashear offered the containment facilities at his Kadesh Base to hold the Tiger God in Ayala's body until a way could be found to end its possession. While inside, the Tiger God grew impatient with Ayala's reluctance to kill; however, Ayala countered that humans were no longer afraid of tigers and that she might be the last host the god ever gets, convincing the Tiger God to end their previous deal and to give Ayala all of its available power.[12] With that power, she began to refer to herself as the new Tiger God.[13]
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Fused with another Tiger God
While in Rome on a mission from the New Avengers, Ayala was attacked by her niece Angela Del Toro, wielding a new set of Amulets of Power from another universe supplied to her by the Maker. These Amulets contained the power of that universe's red Tiger God; when the two leapt at each other, they merged into a combined, golden form, twice as powerful as the Tiger God was before. With this new power, the Tiger God was able to break out of its previous deal with Ayala, leaving her for Del Toro and the New Revengers.[14] When Ayala broke Del Toro's Amulet in two, the Tiger God was dispelled from both of them for good.[15]
Eternity War[]
During Logos and the First Firmament's threat against Multiverse itself, T'Challa sought the help of the Tiger God in Wakanda's Necropolis, taking its power by conquering fear itself.[10] With the power of the concept of fear, T'Challa was able to use the Tiger God as a vessel to travel into the Superflow and separate Logos back into Master Order, Lord Chaos, and the In-Betweener. Afterwards, T'Challa was left with a spherical charm resembling the head of the Amulets of Power.[16]
Defenders[]
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With Tigra
Personality
Having existed on Earth since at least the dawn of the human race, the Tiger God is protective of what it considers to be its territory. It has told Shuma-Gorath that it could claim other worlds but not Earth.[3]
Though it represents humanity's oldest fear, over time, the Tiger God has secretly grown fearful of humanity as the human race conquers its fear of the dark and tigers.[17]Attributes
Powers
- Divine Physiology: As a god, the Tiger God is capable of attacking not just a creature's physical form but also its astral self, able to repel even Great Old Ones for a time.[3] Representing the concept of fear itself, the Tiger God's power allows access to the Superflow where other concepts such as Order and Chaos dwell.[16]
- Psychic Resistance: The Tiger God can counter psychic attacks from mutants such as Emma Frost.[18]
- Divine Empowerment: Wearers of an artifact with the Tiger God's power, such as the Amulets of Power, are bestowed with greatly increased strength, stamina, and fighting prowess. While possessing the body of Ava Ayala, the Tiger God's claws are even able to pierce the impenetrable skin of the original Power Man.[19]
- Divine Possession: In exchange for its power, the Tiger God can demand control of its host's body for certain periods of time.[1]
Weaknesses
- Due to drawing power from human fear, the Tiger God can be less effective against non-human species without an ancestral fear of tigers, such as Atlanteans.[20] It becomes weaker as humanity's fear of tigers and the dark wanes.[17]
Notes
- While the Tiger God usually resembles the Asian White tiger its champions are named after, when it appears in Wakanda's Necropolis it takes on a pure white form more closely resembling the prehistoric sabre-toothed tiger,[10] fitting both its ancient nature and the lack of true tigers on the African continent. In later appearances, it retains both its stripes and its sabre teeth.
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Another universe's Tiger God
- In New Avengers (Vol. 4) #7, the Earth-616 Tiger God, which usually glows green, fused with another red Tiger God from a different universe, and together they became a golden Tiger God with twice the power. However the Tiger God has since returned to its green coloration.[8]
- The origins of the Tiger God and Dog God from Doctor Strange (Vol. 6) #17 support the theory presented in Loki: Agent of Asgard #17 that gods are "stories" that the universe retroactively brings to life, including before the story is even told.
Trivia
- The white Tiger God's relationship with the red Phoenix reflects the connection between the White Tiger and the Vermillion Bird of Chinese astrology.
- Other entities that oppose the Phoenix include the First Fallen,[21] le Bete Noir,[22] the Goblin Force,[23] and the Starhawk (Ratha'kon).[24] It is suggested that they are different aspects of the same thing.[25]
See Also
- 16 appearance(s) of Tiger God (Earth-616)
- 3 minor appearance(s) of Tiger God (Earth-616)
- 6 mention(s) of Tiger God (Earth-616)
- 8 image(s) of Tiger God (Earth-616)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Tiger God (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Avengers Academy #36
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 4) #5
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Doctor Strange (Vol. 6) #17
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 4) #8
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Avengers Academy #24
- ↑ Loki: Agent of Asgard #17
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Defenders: Beyond #3
- ↑ Black Panther (Vol. 3) #60
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Ultimates 2 (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ Power Man and Iron Fist #74–75
- ↑ Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #7–8
- ↑ Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #3
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 4) #7
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 4) #15
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Ultimates 2 #100
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders #2
- ↑ Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 4) #6
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #473
- ↑ Gambit & Bishop #5–6
- ↑ Mutant X #12
- ↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #2
- ↑ Resurrection of Magneto #3