WHITE TIGER V: Page 3 of 3

BIOGRAPHY - Page 2

One night, White Tiger overheard a conversation between Falcon and Luke Cage that Gideon Mace was out of prison and active again. The Tiger God sensed her rage and communed with his avatar directly. When asked what she wanted, Ava hid her true feelings and claimed she wanted justice, or for Mace to understand what he took from her, but the Tiger God saw through her. In the name of showing Mace true horror, Ava removed all restrictions from the Tiger God and allowed the White Tiger to hunt freely. United in pursuit of the same prey, god and avatar hunted down Gideon Mace and his new “American Policy Research Initiative,” the thin veil hiding his view on American freedoms. The Mighty Avengers stood in her way, but the Tiger God could outmaneuver a She-Hulk, carve the unbreakable skin of Cage, and incite primal fear in the mind of Iron Fist. When the time came for the killing stroke, however, the White Tiger struck nothing but light as Spectrum assumed Gideon Mace’s appearance in holographic form. An electromagnetic blast disabled the avatar and allowed the Avengers to take her into custody. [Mighty Avengers (2nd series) #7]

Ava was locked up at Blue Marvel’s underwater Kadesh Base where the Avengers and the Tiger God were equally displeased with her. The Tiger God realized Ava influenced his senses, lying to the God that the woman made of light had a scent when the God’s perceptions said otherwise. In the end, Ava Ayala wanted mercy for the prey. The Tiger God prepared another speech about how it was the first thing humanity feared in the darkness outside the cave and threatened to devour her soul, but Ava called its bluff. The Tiger God needed an avatar to hunt and, if Ava fell, the Avengers would ensure the Amulets of Power never found another host. The Tiger was the first thing man feared, but that fear was outdated. In Attilan, Ava had sensed the Tiger God’s own fear of civilization, and she knew her position was superior. The White Tiger demanded all of the Tiger God’s power, with no strings attached, or else it would never prowl again and she would carry on without it. The ancient god yielded before her, and Ava Ayala emerged from her cell, laughing and hugging Victor over how good it was to be back. [Mighty Avengers (2nd series) #8]

Ava seemed a lot happier and more carefree once the power of the White Tiger was hers and hers alone to command. The Avengers faced off against a cabal of sorcerers called Deathwalkers who used a spell to combine into a singular entity. Kaluu of Kamar-Taj recreated the spell, bringing the heroes together temporarily as the Avenger Prime. They disassembled after defeating the threat, but sharing space and souls brought Ava and Victor closer together, and she immediately pulled him in for a kiss after their experience. [Mighty Avengers (2nd series) #12-14] Power Man and the White Tiger started dating, although they had very different approaches to crime-fighting. Victor workshopped ideas for team-up catchphrases like “Tiger Power!” while Ava embraced the intensity of the Tiger God while at work. When the inverted Avengers attacked the Mighty Avengers after World War Hate, the White Tiger was bold enough to tackle the Odinson herself, AND held her own, one god to another. [Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1-3]

Luckily for Ava, Gideon Mace was killed in an alleyway when his heart was ripped from his chest at the same time dozens of onlookers and millions on social media witnessed her team fighting the other Avengers. Given her alibi, the NYPD were willing to let the Mighty Avengers assist in investigating the murder. Power Man wasn’t certain it was a good idea, but White Tiger needed this closure regarding Mace. At the crime scene, Ava recognized the smell of Gideon’s blood, but also something from… outside the cave. Something beyond the experience of humankind and the god they feared. Something that even the Tiger God identified as… threat. Victor’s chi-vision gave them more information, psychometrically isolating the scene of Mace’s death and witnessing his bodyguard suddenly displaced by something that wasn’t there. [Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #4]

As disturbing as these clues seemed, Power Man and White Tiger tracked the killer’s scent to an abandoned refinery owned by Cortex, Incorporated, an unscrupulous company behind Mace’s funding and other recent Mighty Avengers cases. Cortex had been assimilated by the Beyond Corporation, a debaser unit from the Beyonders who enjoyed torturing lower lifeforms for fun. It transformed a Cortex freelancer named Quickfire into an infectious monster, who then ripped out Mace’s heart and brought it back to “life” in a grotesque skin suit of its own. The Mace thing still smelled enough like Gideon that Ava was overwhelmed by fury and lashed out at it. She and Victor learned too late that the monstrosities were contagious, and they were transformed into creatures alongside Quickfire and Mace before the Mighty Avengers back-up arrived. Fortunately, Spectrum, Blue Marvel and the others managed to expel the Beyonder debaser unit to the Neutral Zone, which reversed all their transformations. [Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #5-7]

The Mighty Avengers were caught in the middle when Steve Rogers seized command of the main Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. to declare war on Iron Man and the Illuminati. Stark, Richards, T’Challa and the other “wise men” had hidden a secret for months that the multiverse was in a state of collapse. They even wiped Steve’s mind when he attempted to stop them from considering drastic solutions, leaving him with a serious grudge. This doomsday scenario came to a head when the final Incursion loomed, meaning the end of all that existed. This all prompted Ava to return to Queens and attempt to reconcile with her family before the end. Her sister Awilda wanted none of her, however. After her brother’s death and her daughter’s corruption, Awilda actually pulled a gun on her little sister when Ava dared darken her doorstep wearing those cursed amulets. Conquering the Tiger God only made Ava more frightening to her family, and they turned her away, even as the world died. [Time Runs Out, Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #8-9]

[Note: Starting with New Avengers (4th series) #1, the Amulets of Power were redesigned to resemble a single tiger head centered on a necklace of strung teeth, instead of the three distinct amulets once wielded by the Sons of the Tiger. The design fluctuated, indicating this was an artistic misinterpretation rather than a deliberate change to the amulets.]

The universe survived (more or less) but Ava’s relationship with Victor did not. To his eyes, her intensity and single-minded focus on heroism bordered on self-harm. Ava claimed she no longer needed to eat or sleep thanks to the amulet, but Victor didn’t believe it could be that simple. When she wouldn’t slow down or listen to his concerns about her health, their relationship fell apart. Still, both of them ended up as members of Sunspot’s new Avengers team, a field unit for A.I.M. after Roberto took control of the super-science terrorists and bent them towards more noble ends. Still under suspicion by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the American authorities, the “Avengers Idea Mechanics” operated abroad from Avengers Island in international waters. The White Tiger’s business-like approach to tactics meant she and Vic still teamed up regularly, due to their familiarity. She also had an oddly good working relationship with the happy-go-lucky Squirrel Girl. Despite the two women being comically dissimilar in personality, Doreen was extremely capable in a fight, which was what mattered to Ava. [New Avengers (4th series) #1-6]

Following a mission in Rome, White Tiger and Power Man got gelato and Ava began pushing Victor about rekindling their relationship. When prodded, though, Victor brought up the same concerns about Ava over-exerting herself and trusting the Amulets to keep her running nonstop. Self-declared new deity of not, Ava’s lack of self-care was going to affect her at some point, and Victor just couldn’t support it. This old argument was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Angela del Toro. The Hand’s White Tiger was still corrupted under the ninja clan’s control, and now she had her own Amulets of Power. The new leader of W.H.I.S.P.E.R. known as the Maker had an experiment in mind when he provided Angela with a set of Tiger Amulets from another dimension, and she was eager to give her new ally a show.

Angela attacked her Tia Ava for stealing her amulets, and the two White Tigers fought in the streets of Rome. The overconfident Ava was shocked when confronted by a second Tiger God emerging from Angela’s amulets, making them evenly matched as avatars. Even worse, Ava’s Tiger chose to reject her in favor of Angela. Ava forgot that she “tamed” the Tiger God by cornering it with no other options as an avatar. Now an option existed. The two aspects of the Tiger God merged and favored Angela. The Tiger God renounced Ava as its avatar and White Tiger, furious at being chained and neutered under her sway for so long. Instead of killing her, however, the Tiger God left Ava powerless and in fear, a fate worse than death as far as she was concerned. [New Avengers (4th series) #7]

If Victor expected Ava would finally slow down after losing her powers, he was sorely disappointed. The White Tiger was just as driven and relentless as before, refusing to accept her limitations as a highly-trained but non-powered martial artist. The two of them grew further apart as Ava saw Victor’s concerns as controlling, and Victor couldn’t love someone who wouldn’t let him help. [New Avengers (4th series) #8-10]

The Maker and his mad science network W.H.I.S.P.E.R. had been snooping around A.I.M. ever since Sunspot announced his new Avengers. Roberto out-maneuvered the Maker by identifying his nano-cams spying on A.I.M. and using them to feed intelligence back to the Maker as bait. Together, Sunspot and White Tiger planned a trap to lure out Angela del Toro and the other “New Revengers” so Ava could save her niece once and for all. As Ava and Angela fought hand-to-hand, Ava conquered her fear of fear itself, leaving the Tiger God with no power over her. She snatched the amulet from Angela’s neck, breaking the jewelry and destroying the Tiger God’s foothold on this plane. As A.I.M. predicted, purging the Tiger God’s possession of Angela also had the side effect of purging her corruption by the Hand along with it. For the first time in months, Angela del Toro’s mind was fully her own. The two White Tigers, powerless but determined, joined forces to help Avengers Idea Mechanics rout the rest of the New Revengers. [New Avengers (4th series) #13-17]

Once W.H.I.S.P.E.R. was dealt with, A.I.M. demonstrated their usefulness to S.H.I.E.L.D. by wiping out all the remaining terrorist splinter cells of the old A.I.M. in one day. Ava and Angela did their part, but Ava finally decided it was time to slow down as a heroine. Despite her stubborn resilience, Ava remembered the lessons Hector taught her (intentionally or not) and thought it would be best to retire while she was still able. Ava felt her training could be better put to use closer to home in Spanish Harlem. She also wanted to be watchful for the future, for she expected the Tiger God would find a new way to crown an avatar even without the amulets. In the meantime, Ava Ayala could finally mend fences and reunite with her family by bringing Angela home. [New Avengers (4th series) #18]

The White Tiger didn’t completely retire, maintaining a presence around her neighborhood. She appeared with a number of female heroes assisting Jessica Jones and the Defenders during a gang squabble to be the new Kingpin. [Defenders (5th series) #9] She also became a member of Peggy Carter’s Daughters of Liberty helping Steve Rogers when he was on the run. Ava worked on a mission to stop the Watchdogs from killing and experimenting on immigrants crossing the border. [Captain America 8th series] #7-16] She also attended the wedding celebration of Wiccan and Hulkling with the rest of their former team from Avengers Idea Mechanics. [Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1]

Ava continued wearing the Amulets of Power, even if they had lost their connection to the Tiger God’s power. The Tiger God was not done with its avatar, and reached out to her when she was tending to disaster relief in Puerto Rico. The Tiger God’s motivations are unclear – it may have been trying to retrieve the amulets to find a different host more suited for its desires. The White Tiger stood firm against her former patron, however, as she refused to use his power or allow it to use others for its pleasures. The deity was impressed by her defiance and faded away again. [Marvel’s Voices: Community #1] The White Tiger was snared by Loki in his quest for the Treasure of Ultimate Desire. He pitted her against Kraven the Hunter while offering the opportunity to commune with Hector’s spirit if she won the race. Ava had a moment to connect with Hector during this quest, and it was enough to help her feel more connected to her brother and his legacy. [Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic #78-79]

The Tiger God has not been completely idle without its avatar. T’Challa the Black Panther petitioned the Tiger God for its unique brand of aid during the First Firmament’s plot. [Ultimates 2 (2nd series) #9] After besting the Tiger God in combat, the Black Panther temporarily claimed its power as avatar to join Galactus and the Eternity Watch in fighting Logos and the Aspirants. [Ultimates 2 #100] When the Defenders traveled to the White Hot Room, Tigra found herself in a representation of the first cave. After prompting by the Blue Marvel, she communed with the spirit in the darkness outside and channeled the Tiger God’s power to fight the Phoenix Force one-on-one. [Defenders: Beyond #3]