Early life[]

Born the only daughter to Gregson and Janet Grant, Greer Grant lived in Chicago all her life, and eventually fell in love with a policeman, William Nelson while attending her sophomore year of college. As Will was protective of her, wanting to be the hero in their relationship, Greer chose to drop out of college to be a housewife. However, when they came upon a robbery in progress after a night out, Will was fatally shot and died in her arms. Being unable to afford her home and unable to get a job due to her dropping out, she found good luck in becoming the laboratory assistant to Dr. Joanne Tumolo, her college professor.^[24]

The Cat[]

Out of financial desperation, Dr. Tumolo had accepted private funding for her project from Malcolm Donalbain, an eccentric who planned to use her conditioning equipment in his nationwide chain of health clubs. Not trusting the test subject that Donalbain had coerced her to use, Tumolo had Greer secretly undertake the experiment alongside Donalbain's test subject, Shirlee Bryant, and Greer Nelson emerged from the treatments with superhuman physical capabilities, and heightened senses. However, after Tumolo discovered Shirley dressed in one of Donalbain's specially designed cat costumes, Bryant died in a test of her abilities. After Donalbain had his henchmen set off explosives in the laboratory staged like an accident, Tumolo was injured. Believing her mentor to be dead, Greer was determined to stop Donalbain's plans, she donned a stolen costume, and went calling herself the Cat. She thwarted Donalbain's plans, but due to his intense haphephobia, he committed suicide. Sometime after this, Greer learned that Tumolo wasn't killed but rather hospitalized for apparent brain damage. During this time, Greer continued as the Cat and pursued a very brief career under the alias as a crime-fighter, operating mostly within the Chicago area.^[24]

Following the Man-Killer after her assassination of the Mayor of Chicago, Greer barely survived their inaugural encounter, and ventured to New York City hot on her trail.^[25] As most men would dismiss her, Greer had a short "spar" with Spider-Man over the city to prove her ability. After informing Spider-Man of her mission, he gladly joined her, and the pair ventured to Harlem to stop Man-Killer's attack on a power plant, but lost sight of her after immobilizing her compatriots. When plant manager Watkins informs the heroes that Man-Killer escaped with radioactive materials, Spider-Man intercepted her, and following a short skirmish, The Cat informed Man-Killer that her exo-suit was designed by men from A.I.M. which causes the villain to go into a rage, then a mindless state upon the realization.^[25]

Becoming Tigra[]

Unbeknownst to Greer, Tumolo was a member of the Cat People, a race of humanoids magically evolved from cats in Europe during the Middle Ages. Prior to the explosion, Donalbain had engineered, Tumolo had become aware of a Hydra plot to steal an ancient bacterial culture developed by Tumolo's ancestors: The Black Death. Hydra had discovered Tumolo's secret ancestry and suspected her of possessing the formula for "The Final Secret," but Tumolo had feigned brain damage to evade them, but they abducted her from her private home during her 'recovery'. Greer put on her Cat costume and pursued them. Hydra agents fled from the Cat's attack, but during the confrontation managed to shoot her with "alpha radiation." To save Greer's life, Tumolo and the Cat People mystically transformed her into the legendary half-human, half-cat warrior they called the Tigra. As Tigra, Greer helped the Cat People defeat the Hydra agents.^[22]

Although she was able to use the Cat's Head amulet to change back to her human form, Greer became so accustomed to and enamored of her feline form that she seldom made the transformation. Moving from Chicago, she became a full-time adventurer, encountering and defeating such menaces as the Rat Pack led by the Super-Skrull in his human guise as Joshua Plague,^[26][27] Kraven the Hunter,^[28] and Tabur. She also briefly worked with Red Wolf,^[29] the Thing,^[30] Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four.^[9] When back in Chicago, she was pursuing Kraven but was caught in his trap for her. She was made into his pet to fight Spider-Man, but the wall-crawler instead freed her from the mind-control collar, allowing the duo to best Kraven in his own hunting grounds.^[31]

The Avengers[]

Tigra was among the handful of costumed crime-fighters that the telepath Moondragon coerced into vying for Avengers membership.^[21] She was elected to membership and served for several months, all that time doubting she was worthy of membership in the group. Although she proved herself while in battle with the Molecule Man, she decided to resign her active membership.^[32] Moving to San Francisco, she became friends with Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman, and even aided Jessica's resurrection when she had become a ghost detached from her body by a plan by Morgan Le Fay.^[33] Once Doctor Strange was called in, The Avengers battled Morgan, buying time for Jessica to reunite with her body and return to life.^[34]

West Coast Avengers[]

Months later, when Hawkeye moved to Los Angeles to form a West Coast branch of the Avengers, she was invited to join.^[35] She made a staunch addition to the team, despite the fact that the human and feline sides of her personality had become at odds with one another, causing her behavior to become somewhat erratic, murderous, and lustful. Because of her catlike need for attention, she became romantically involved with teammates Henry Pym and Wonder Man at the same time. The ultimate solution to her discordant nature presented itself when she and the Avengers journeyed to the "Land Within," the magical dimension where the parent tribe of the Cat People lived. The ruler of the Cat People offered to magically cure her of her split personality if she would kill Master Pandemonium, a demonic human being whom the Cat People feared and hated. Although Tigra agreed, she could not bring herself to violate the Avengers' code against killing when she had the opportunity to do so.^[36]

After almost killing Hawkeye in a training exercise, Greer decided to abandon her Tigra form permanently. Almost immediately, Hank Pym and Greer were kidnapped on behalf of the demon Allatou, who wrongly believed them to be agents of her enemy, Master Pandemonium. The Avengers sought aid from Hellstorm and Hellcat, who were retired heroes at the time, having set up an occult investigations business. Together, the heroes invaded Allatou's realm with Pandemonium on their heels. A three-way fight broke out until Allatou managed to strand everyone with Pandemonium aboard a boat running through the various realms of Hell.^[37]

Shortly after, the castaways found that they had drifted into the Cat People's Land Within. It turned out the Cat People were demons, having become such through their longtime residence in the demonic realms. The Cat People were at the time guarding a shard of Pandemonium's soul on behalf of the demon Mephisto, and they had ordered Tigra to kill Pandemonium to protect it. Tigra continued to refuse to slay Pandemonium, and the Cat People punished her by stripping away her cat-soul altogether and leaving her human. Hellcat, however, owning a version of Greer's original Cat costume, gave it to Greer, who led the Avengers in battling the Cat-People and single-handedly defeated their champion, the Balkatar. The cat-soul was released from confinement in the struggle, and stronger than ever, re-inhabited Greer again, producing a Tigra that was more physically formidable than ever but controlled by Greer's human intellect. The Cat People surrendered, unwilling to battle a "whole" Tigra, who now exactly resembled the revered Tigra of their legends. Returning with the Avengers, Tigra continued as an active member and forsook her previous romantic involvement with others of her team.^[38]

However, she soon started another romance with the new recruit Marc Spector, the Moon Knight and dated him for a time.^[39] The Avengers were rocked by controversy when their member Mockingbird revealed that she let the villainous Phantom Rider die in a previous encounter. Sympathetic to Mockingbird's cause, Tigra joined Moon Knight in briefly splitting from the team to accompany Mockingbird, who quit the team and separated from her husband and leader, Hawkeye.^[40] After a traumatic experience with Khonshu, who had revealed he had been possessing the Moon Knight's body for months, Moon Knight decided to end his relationship with Tigra and leave the Avengers.^[41]

Together, the trio joined Bill Foster (previously Giant-Man) to stop the villainous High Evolutionary, and later fought the Night Shift. Afterwards, the heroes sought help from Hellstorm and Hellcat to rid Mockingbird of the ghost of the Phantom Rider. The three parted ways after this, and Tigra returned to the Avengers.^[41] Over time, however, Tigra's cat-soul continued to reassert itself. As it gained more and more prominence, Tigra once again became moody and aggressive, but also began to change physically to resemble that of a predatory cat, and was even discovered to be chasing mice. On a subsequent adventure, Pym was forced to used his size-altering powers to shrink Tigra to the size of a house cat, which she resembled. He imprisoned her until he could discover a cure.^[42]

Shortly afterward, the time-traveler Immortus freed Tigra to further distract the Avengers from his plans against them, and Tigra roamed the city for some time. The sorceress Agatha Harkness, who at the time was living at the Avengers' compound, discovered and re-captured her. Seeking a cure for Tigra's condition, Harkness called upon the Cat People. The Cat People's new ruler — Tigra's old foe Tabur, a cat artificially evolved into humanoid feline form — appeared and restored Tigra to humanoid form. Tabur tried to coerce her into mating with him to legitimize his usurpation of the Cat People's throne, but Tigra resisted and Harkness mystically transplanted Tigra's cat-soul into Tabur, causing him to revert to the form of a mere cat while allowing Tigra to keep her superhuman form but retain her human personality. Using Tabur's discarded amulet, Greer was even able to switch from Tigra form to ordinary human form and back again whenever she wished. Thus empowered again, Tigra rejoined the Avengers' West Coast branch.^[43][44]

Later, on a mission against their enemies, the Pacific Overlords, Tigra was forced to crash-land the Avengers' Quinjet in an Australian wilderness, but was rescued by Native Australians. She elected to stay with her rescuers, taking a leave of absence from the team.^[45] She did, however, assist a team of reserve Avengers when the main team was off-planet, fighting amid the Kree-Shi'ar War.^[46] Afterwards, she apparently remained in the United States, and was on hand to attend the funeral of Mockingbird.^[47] Electing not to stay with the newly re-formed Avengers, Tigra left with Starfox for outer space, searching for hedonistic off-planet adventures.^[48] Tigra grew quickly disenfranchised with such a lifestyle, and was relieved when former teammate Moondragon assembled Tigra, Starfox, and other Avengers to battle the alien Infinites. When the crisis was averted, Tigra returned to Earth.^[49]

After splitting from the Avengers, Tigra needed money and got a job as a spokeswoman for a fast food chain, but her employer also hired Spider-Man due to his better "recognition" in the media. While initially offended, Spider-Man exited so Tigra could be the focus. After the commercial, she went on a date with a NYPD beat cop, Carl Kronsky, who reminded her of her deceased husband Will. She was later attacked by a returned Zabo, Donalbain's brother and henchman, but while Spider-Man and Carl were busy "helping" Tigra, she attempted to talk with him. Knocked down, Tigra had Spider-Man hold off the NYPD from attacking as she convinced Zabo to leave and start a new life for himself.^[31]

Becoming a Police Officer[]

Having attempted to settle into a new life over the past few years with the Avengers, Tigra wasn't happy with just being "part of the team". She realized she had to settle up with the past, and this meant uncovering The Brotherhood of the Blue Fist: an elusive group of police who might have murdered her late husband, Will Nelson. Working undercover as "Greer Sorenson" a Police Cadet, she signed up for training at the New York City Police Academy. She rooted out the conspirators and the organization was dismantled. After finishing her assignment, Greer finished her Police training and undertook a new career in the police force, in part from inspiration from her memory of Will.^[6]

Initiative[]

Tigra fought on Iron Man's side during the Civil War, fully supporting Stark's Registration Act, although she expressed concern about the fate of Captain America and the other heroes who opposed the Act and turned fugitive. Nonetheless, Tigra registered to comply with the law and also, as having become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., to actively aid in its enforcement. Pretending to switch allegiances, she successfully infiltrated Captain America's Secret Avengers team as a mole and passed information to Iron Man for more than a week before being outed by Black Panther, thanks to his enhanced senses. Captain America exploited her presence to feed disinformation to Iron Man about his team's strategy for the final push later that day.^[15][50]

She again believed she had become involved in a romantic relationship with fellow superhero Yellowjacket, however, at the climax of the Skrull Invasion, she discovered her relationship was not with the true Hank Pym, but rather with his Skrull replacement Criti Noll. Greer became pregnant with the imposter's child, thus making her a target of Norman Osborn's, who wanted to obtain the baby.^[51]

Rotating teams[]

After the fall of Norman Osborn, Henry Pym founded the Avengers Academy and had Tigra join as a teacher, along with Justice, Speedball, and Quicksilver.^[20] Having Hank Pym inspect her baby, Hank Pym let Tigra know that he had no traces of Skrull DNA, figuring that the Skrull impostor who was him had copied him down to the genetic level. Tigra asked Hank to father him if something were to happen to her.^[52]

Tigra was one of ten female heroes recruited by Misty Knight to aid her and Valkyrie in repelling a group of Asgardian Doom Maidens. At the end of this adventure, Valkyrie came to realize that Tigra and three of the other heroines were among those deemed by the All-Mother to be worthy to become shieldmaidens like herself, symbols of honor, valor and courage, to one day be led by Valkyrie into battle and death.^[53]

Secret Empire and Aftermath[]

Following Hydra's takeover of the United States government, Tigra joined the Underground resistance movement and aided in their endeavors by utilizing her heightened sensory abilities for security to detect any approaching forces or returning allied groups who ventured into enemy territory.^[18] In the final push to destroy Hydra's leadership and remove Hydra from power, Tigra joined her allies in their successful siege on Washington, D.C..^[54]

Afterwards, Tigra accompanied a small troupe of Avengers and New York heroes who located and challenged Frank Castle for his part in Hydra's rule, as well as his theft of the War Machine armor for his rampant wholesale quest of murdering members of the criminal underworld. As her fellow heroes attacked, Tigra went for Castle's head but was repelled with a repulsor blast to her face before Castle made a necessary retreat. Despite everyone's best efforts and multiple trackers on hand, Tigra and the other heroes pursued Castle across the tri-state area only to repeatedly come upon dead end leads having just missed Castle by minutes or hours.^[55]

West Coast Avengers Reformed[]

Tigra was made into a 200 foot tall rampaging monster by B.R.O.D.O.K. (actually M.O.D.O.K.) in his mission to find love that ended with him turning all the women who rejected him into giant monsters.^[56] After realizing the new West Coast Avengers weren't really his friends, B.R.O.D.O.K. ordered the giant women to destroy Los Angeles. At the start of the rampage, Kid Omega knocked Tigra out and undid the mind control, leaving her in a furious state, but gaining a new ally.^[57]

With M.O.D.O.K. defeated and flung from Los Angeles, Tigra helped subdue the monster women to then be reverted to their original selves. When reverted to her original size, she thanked Barton for helping her, and was glad that she could hunt down M.O.D.O.K. herself. She declined Barton's invitation to the new roster, but wished the "adorable" new team her best.^[58]

Nadia's Extended Family[]

After some shenanigans involving Gwenpool,^[59] Tigra attended Nadia Van Dyne's birthday with her family and friends.

Greer introduced herself and her son William - who preceded her greeting by pouncing on Nadia. When Viv was about to speak about the Skrull-Hank technicality of his parentage, Greer interrupted to note how much Hank loved his son; and to then quietly warn/threaten Viv about keeping that fact a secret. After Viv complied and Greer helped Nadia up, she introduced William as Nadia's birthday gift, a half-sibling. With Nadia's jubilation at having a little brother, Greer was tearfully happy that Nadia would be a part of William's life.^[60] Greer later assisted in helping Nadia subdue Monica Rappaccini, after the latter's failed attempt to conscript young scientists for A.I.M. at Nadia's Expo.^[61]

Defenders: Beyond[]

Summoned by magic to aid Blue Marvel in a mission for safeguarding the multiverse, Tigra joined the Defenders and met the Beyonder,^[11] who led them to the Omega Council. The Defenders halted their plan to obliterate numerous universes to save their home reality from a cosmic threat before escaping into the White Hot Room, where their teammate Taaia became an avatar of the Phoenix Force.^[62]

Being a unique mystical totem herself, Tigra entered another space and led the Tiger God to fight the Phoenix Force, freeing Taaia as the Defenders escaped. However, the team then landed in The Abyss^[63] and were put in a dream world by Glorian. At first, they were all too happy to stay in that world, but, in time, each decided to leave it, with Tigra wanting to return home to her son. As the Defenders prepared to fight Glorian, America handed Loki the Eternity Mask and he summoned the Queen of Nevers, who relocated them to the House of Ideas.^[64] There, they met the One Above All, who showed Eternity's impending enemy in the Enigma. When Loki found a way of escaping reality, the Beyonder took the chance and escaped the multiverse, which caused everyone to return home.^[65]

Moon Knight's Keeper[]

Sent by the Avengers to keep an eye on Marc Spector after the events of the Age of Khonshu,^[66] Greer visited him at his Midnight Mission and helped stop Stuart Clarke from extorting Moon Knight. Sensing Marc's repressed negative feelings, she comforted him after he opened up on his emotional damage from Khonshu's failed conquest ruining his relationships.^[10] After Zodiac moving against Moon Knight,^[67] Tigra joined the investigation to find him before reporting to Black Panther. While she voiced inner conflict about spying on Marc, she eventually agreed to continue the assignment.^[66]

After Zodiac abducted Dr. Andrea Sterman, Tigra witnessed Marc's interrogation of Waxman, who impersonated Andrea, and coerced her location^[68] and helped neutralize Zodiac's ally Jigsaw holding Andrea. Once Zodiac revealed the abduction was to leave Marc's ward Reese and Marc's neighbors defenseless for slaughter, Marc made a deal with Khonshu for fast travel, and a guilty Greer confessed to him her secret mission before traveling with him to the resting plane of the Fists of Khonshu,^[69] who chased unil Zodiac's location and began fighting his Cartel members and saving the neighborhood.^[70]

After Marc secured an invitation to the Tutor's vampire enclave,^[71] Tigra accompanied Mr. Knight as his "date" to stop Tutor's plan from going global.^[72] After Mr. Knight has the sprinkler system rain holy water, Tigra aided him and his fellow fist of Khonshu Hunter's Moon in slaughtering the remaining vampires, sending Dracula's lone surviving human servant back to him to deliver a warning to stay out of New York.^[73]

When the Harlequin Hit-Man targeted Moon Knight's former Shadow Cabinet members, Tigra had secured Scout (Kim Hong) after four other members were slain, and successfully delivered her to the safety of the Midnight Mission.^[74] She flipped on the Avengers shortly after.^[75]

Midnight Mission[]

When a new Midnight Man appeared and Marc wasn't interesting in finding out who it was, Tigra decided to conduct her own investigation with help from Detective Flint. Correlating details of the recent heists with the rich victims, Tigra managed to intercept the Midnight Man in his final heist, having her heart broken as she discovered it was Marc all along. She began shouting at him and tearfully confessed her trusting issues after her history with the Skrulls, even confiding in him the truth of William's conception and how she felt about lying to William on a daily basis. After Marc took her words to heart, the two mended their friendship and started dating.^[75]

Sometime later, Moon Knight, Tigra and Hunter's Moon went after the new Black Spectre to stop his plan of turning the entirety of Manhattan insane, but Hunter's Moon was left handling some soldiers and Tigra got her foot stuck in a landmine, leaving Moon Knight to fend for himself.^[76] Tigra was later saved by Soldier, another member of the Midnight Mission, but, in the end, they were late to stop Black Spectre's plans and Marc had to give his life to save everyone.^[77]

As weeks went by, Tigra and Hunter's Moon started coming up with a plan to bring back Spector, and they finally got their chance during Varnae's vampiric takeover of the Earth. Promising to bring reinforcements to the fight, they got Clea to send them to Asgard, where Khonshu was imprisoned and, with the aid of the Wrecker, they freed Khonshu. With the god free, Tigra patiently waiting for Spector's resurrection, dreading the possibility he would return a zombie, but Khonshu reassured her he would not fail his son, and soon Spector and Tigra were reunited, sharing a loving kiss. Then, each of them led a cadre of warriors to battle the vampiric army.^[78][79]

Feline Physiology: Tigra's feline physiology grants her a number of superhuman physical capabilities.

• Superhuman Strength: Tigra possesses superhuman strength sufficient to lift about 10 tons. Her physical strength also extends to her powerful leg muscles in lesser degrees, allowing her to perform a standing jump of 12 feet in height.^[1]
• Superhuman Speed Tigra can run and move at speeds superior to that of even the finest human athlete and reach 70mph in a chase.^[1]
• Superhuman Stamina: Tigra is capable of performing at peak condition for more than 90 minutes straight without growing tired.^[1]
• Superhuman Durability: Tigra's physical durability allows her to withstand blows from most attacks, such as melee and ranged attacks from Super Skrull, or a point-blank headshot from a repulsor blast by Frank Castle.^[55] With this durability comes a minor healing factor, leaving her in pain for a short duration before recovering within a day or so.^[1]
• Superhuman Agility: Tigra's scientific and mystical augmentations afford her the agility of her namesake, able to move gracefully and swiftly across a scene whether it be concrete cities like New York and Chicago or lush locations like the Savage Land.^[1]
• Superhuman Reflexes: Tigra is able to detect threats and can react at faster speeds than normal humans with her feline physiology.^[1]
• Superhuman 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. Tigra's eyesight extends into the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, granting superhuman visual acuity and even allowing for night vision. Her vertically-slit pupils allow a greater range of vision above and below her, which allows her to more easily detect the movements of an opponent. Tigra's hearing is sufficiently acute as to detect a ball of tissue paper being dropped at a distance of 40 feet. With her highly developed sense of smell, she can selectively sort through various odors so as to follow a quarry's trail. She can detect subtle alterations in the composition of perspiration that reflect mood or emotions, and is highly sensitive to pheromones.^[1]
• Fangs and Claws: Tigra's fangs and claws are extremely sharp and tough, enabling her to rend through a variety of substances including a variety of metals such as steel.^[1]
• Empathy: Tigra has the ability to enhance and control the emotions of others to a degree, even affording her power to restore and sense people's repressed memories. This ability has the added advantage of granting a slight resistance to telepathic attacks.^[80] She has at times sensed the thoughts and feelings of others and sensed danger before it could strike, or intuited someone's location in a seemingly extrasensory manner. This also grants her rudimentary communication with animals, especially cats or cat-like creatures.^[1]

• Hand-to-Hand Combat: Tigra is a highly formidable hand-to-hand combatant even in human form, having being trained by Captain America and Hawkeye.^[1] In the past she has held her own against opponents like Kraven the Hunter.^[81]
• Aviation: She is a highly skilled pilot and can fly both the Quinjet and advanced spaceships.^[1]
• Tracking: Her senses also afford her impressive tracking skills.^[81][1]
• Intuition: Tigra retains some measure of the Cat's intuitive ability to sense the physical strengths and weaknesses of people and objects.^[1]

• With her enhanced senses, she is especially vulnerable to sonics and high-pitched noises.^[1]

• Cat's Head Amulet: Tigra wears a cat's head amulet around her throat which serves as a talisman for her change from feline form to human and vice versa.^[22]

Formerly

• Avengers Identicard
• Cat Suit: One of the Cat suits created by Malcolm Donalbain^[24] was later copied by Brand Industries. It was found and used by Patsy Walker in her guise as the Hellcat.^[82]

• During the Warp World storyline of the Infinity Wars event, Tigra found herself merged with the Wendigo. This character was known as Greer Baptise, the Wentigra, a detective who had also come into contact with the Cat People, a cult who fed her human meat, cursing her to become the Wentigra to save her life as she was dying from a gunshot wound. Wentigra would then later be cured, unwillingly, by the fusion of X-23 and the Scarlet Witch known as Weapon Hex.^[83]