BIOGRAPHY - Page 4
For a few weeks, Tigra freelanced for Jessica Drew and her private investigation business in San Francisco. One day, however, she received a phone call from Avengers chairperson Vision, offering her a fee to travel out to Palos Verdes near Los Angeles to “help the Avengers out.” Tigra still felt intimidated by the Avengers’ lifestyle, but she honored her commitments as a reservist. As 
it turned out, Vision had authorized a second branch of the Avengers to open in California and the address was for Avengers Compound, where Hawkeye and Mockingbird intended to assemble a team. It took a lot of effort on Hawkeye’s part to make Tigra believe she was ready for the big leagues again, but she soon relented. Tigra joined the Bartons, Iron Man and Wonder Man as founding members of the West Coast Avengers.
In terms of raw power, the superhuman Tigra sat exactly in the middle of her teammates, above 
the skilled athletes Hawkeye and Mockingbird but below the powerhouses of Wonder Man and Iron Man. She started to feel more comfortable, though, after learning Tony Stark wasn’t in the armor anymore, as the less experienced Jim Rhodes was working as Iron Man these days. She and Simon “Wonder Man” Williams also grew closer, as each of them worried about their performance as an Avenger. Simon was powerful but not necessarily experienced, making his potential foul-ups perhaps even more dangerous. They spent hours talking at the rocky cliffs near the compound, and Simon was the first person with whom Greer shared her ability to turn back into a normal woman.
Wonder Man was upset he let a relatively common thief named the Blank get away, so Tigra introduced him to the Shroud’s underworld contacts. They learned the Blank was now reporting to a major threat known as Graviton. At a meeting where Graviton was consolidating control of the Los Angeles gangs, he captured Wonder Man while hurling Tigra and Shroud out to sea. Tigra reconnected with the rest of the team and they made a plan to rescue Simon and defeat Graviton. Using her human form, Tigra posed as the Maggia family head Madame Masque. Mockingbird 
also posed as a bartender at Graviton’s underworld party, and they managed to drug his wine enough to weaken his abilities. Wonder Man broke free of the groggy Graviton’s power and the West Coast Avengers launched a coordinated attack, which brought down a villain that once stood toe-to-toe with the Mighty Thor. Their success went a long way towards building Tigra’s confidence and cementing their bonds as a team. [West Coast Avengers (1st series) #1-4]
Tigra and the West Coast Avengers had a number of trials in the days to come, dealing with A.I.M., the Dire Wraiths, Doctor Doom and Maelstrom. It was the last conflict which helped to show how far Tigra had come. A newer East Coast member named Captain Marvel had an encounter with Phobius, one of Maelstrom’s Minions, able to impose crippling fear on his victims. Captain Marvel had trouble getting back into action while suffering the lingering effects of this psychic attack. Tigra helped her through it by recalling her own encounter with Ghost Rider’s hellfire, and the speech Captain America gave her about pushing through in spite of fear. In the battle against Maelstrom that followed, Tigra saved Captain Marvel from the villain, and the need to save Tigra in turn is what finally shook the last of the fear from the Captain’s mind. [Avengers (1st series) #250]
However, Tigra’s efforts to become more comfortable as an Avenger stumbled as she became less comfortable with herself. Her two souls, that of a woman and a cat, started to drift out of balance. She began exhibiting exaggerated cat-like traits: fickle mood swings, territorial behavior, fear of water and a strong craving for affection, especially from men. These changes were also 
transitory, with Tigra acting increasingly cat-like, only for Greer Nelson to regret her own behavior hours later. Her friendship with Wonder Man started drifting into romance, only for Tigra to immediately start cuddling up with the now-retired Hank Pym when he came out west for a visit. Greer had shown little respect for Pym during his last days as Yellowjacket, but suddenly Tigra wanted affection from the former hero.
During one of her more stable moods, Greer opened up to Mockingbird and confided in her about the troubles her two souls were causing. Bobbi appreciated Greer’s honesty and promised to find a way to help her balance her spirit. Tigra’s faltering confidence and erratic behavior made her overly sensitive when Hawkeye tried to bench her or hold her in reserve, though. During a fight 
with the Lethal Legion, she made an honest mistake which led to Ultron escaping. She fought well in single combat against the Man-Ape or her returning nemesis, Kraven the Hunter, only to lose due to unfair trickery or surprise. Tigra was just unable to score the clean victory she needed in order to feel comfortable with her place on the team. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #1-3]
Tigra’s temperament was on full display when Ben Grimm wandered into Avengers Compound carrying a neophyte heroine named Firebird. Bonita was attacked by a demonic sorcerer called Master Pandemonium, and she reached out to the Avengers for aid. However, Tigra bristled at the attention and sympathy being shown to a new female in her territory and made a nuisance of herself. She also made overt moves on Simon when they were alone. He was confused, after 
seeing her earlier behavior with Hank Pym, but was willing to explore these feelings. The West Coast Avengers soon had their own encounter with Master Pandemonium, who was viciously devoted to his search for a mysterious group known as “the Five.” Proving himself to be a true threat, Tigra and the Avengers dedicated themselves to tracking Pandemonium down. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #4]
Tigra’s need for affection led to a steamy encounter with Wonder Man on the beach. And yet, she soon sought out Hank Pym as well, who had stayed on to oversee the security of Avengers 
Compound. Greer had immediate regrets and went to Mockingbird again, begging for help reconciling her two halves. And yet (again), by the time Bobbi had a plan of action and gathered the team, the fickle Tigra had lost interest in the mission. They sought out Jack Russell in the hopes that the Werewolf kept in touch with the Cat People after his encounter with them and Tigra. Jack had not, but his doctor Michael Morbius had crossed paths with a different sect of Cat People from the extra-planar realm called the Land Within during his time as a living vampire. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #5]
Thanks to Morbius’ guidance, the West Coast Avengers learned how to summon the Cat People’s emissary, the Balkatar. He then brought the Avengers and their allies, the Thing and Firebird, to the Land Within. Tigra met privately with the King and the Balkatar, learning the expanded history of the Cat People. The sorcerer Ebrok created the first Cat People called Flavius and Helene from normal cats. As they grew in number, the Cat People threatened the Sorcerers’ Guild and so the other sorcerers banished the Cat People to the Land Within, with the exception of the hereditary Balkatar to answer their call. Flavius and Helene avoided banishment, thanks to Ebrok, but it was they who accidentally released the Black Plague while avenging Ebrok’s death at the hands of the 
Guild. Unable to create more of their kind by Ebrok’s means of turning cats into Cat People, the two developed the reverse process to turn people into Cat People, creating the first Tigra. This original Tigra killed the Sorcerers’ Guild of the era, freeing Flavius and Helene to cure the Black Plague and letting that era’s Tigra and Balkatar mate to produce the second generation of Cat People, from whom Doctor Tumolo descended.
[Note: This story reinforced a long-standing confusion regarding the Cat costume. Originally, Greer Nelson and Shirlee Bryant went through Dr. Tumolo’s enhancement process. Mal Donalbain independently developed a Cat uniform for his intended army of amazons, which Greer appropriated. However, when Patsy Walker took on the Cat costume to become Hellcat in Avengers (1st series) #144, the costume itself supposedly granted enhanced physical prowess. This could have been misinformation, as Iron Man was only relating what he knew of the Cat, and Defenders (1st series) #83 later confirmed Hellcat had enhanced prowess even without the costume. And yet, this story describes the Cat as Dr. Tumolo’s work to intentionally recreate the Tigra warrior through artificial means, making the “Cat Project” into Dr. Tumolo’s design, and not Donalbain’s appropriation of it.]
As Greer assimilated her full history, she asked the King of the Cat People to help with the problem her two souls caused. The king was agreeable but intended to remove Tigra’s human soul and leave her as a Cat Person. She nearly faced execution for objecting to the king’s ruling and asking to be left as Greer Nelson, not as Tigra. While the king delayed his decision, Tigra and the Balkatar got to know one another while sunning themselves on a rock, and he tried to convince Tigra of the benefits of remaining with the Cat People. In the end, the King of the Cat 
People agreed to remove one soul of Tigra’s choosing if she first executed their enemy, Master Pandemonium. The Master believed them to be demons and threatened the Land Within, so his death would be a test for Greer. Killing was prohibited by the Avengers’ by-laws but, when her teammates reentered the throne room, Tigra only told them the king agreed to help her, and not the condition she was under. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #6]