Cat People (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Cat People are a fictional species of humanoids in Marvel Comics
' universe
.
and Roy Thomas
(co-writers), and Marie Severin
(artist).
The Cat People race first appeared in Giant-Size Creatures Vol. 1 #1 (July 1974), and was created by Tony Isabella
and Don Perlin
. The race subsequently appeared and was further detailed in Adventures into Fear #22 (June 1974), Marvel Two-In-One #19 (September 1976), Marvel Premiere #42 (June 1978), What If #35 (October 1982), West Coast Avengers Volume 2 #6-7 (March-April 1986), #15-16 (December 1986-January 1987), Fantastic Four #314 (May 1988), Avengers Spotlight #38 (November 1990), Dr. Strange III #27/2 (March 1991), and Tigra #1-4 (May-August 2002).
The Cat People received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89
#1.
Part of the banishment required that one Cat Person, to be known as The Balkathar, could be summoned by any Earthly sorcerer from time to time to perform a task.
Ebrok had trained his original two creations, Flavius and Helene, in both the scientific and mystical arts. Upon learning of the sorcerers' plans, they secretly crafted an amulet
that temporarily gave themselves the appearance of normal humans, and thus had evaded banishment. This delighted Ebrok, who had begun to regard the pair as his children. Together, they worked to develop solutions that would allow the Cat People to return from their other-dimensional banishment and live peacefully among the human population. The cats' natural curiosity made them into gifted researchers and they made many scientific and magical discoveries along the way.
The band of sorcerers who had banished the Cat-People ultimately discovered the pair, and killed Ebrok on the spot. In a fit of rage, Flavius hurled a glass vial at the sorcerers, releasing one of the pair's most terrible experiments: the Black Death
, which would ultimately kill untold millions of Europeans. The pair fled in fear, shame, and horror.
Flavius and Helene continued their work while in exile, determined to ultimately re-establish a population of Cat People. They were unable to reverse the Cat People's banishment or disarm the magic that prevented Ebrok's original Cat-Person spell from functioning. But with memory of past banishment and continued persecution fresh on their minds, they developed a spell that could turn a human woman into one of their race, with strength and abilities far surpassing those of any Cat Person. Very little is known about the first Tigra, except that she accepted her duties as the Cat People's defender with great relish and ferocity.
Ultimately, Flavius and Helene discovered the means of controlling their species' violence and reproductive rate. As earthly sorcerers, they summoned the Balkathar. He and the Tigra mated, founding a new population of Cat People.
In modern times, there are two populations of Cat People: a large colony descended from the Cat People who were banished during Medieval times, who still live in an immense netherworldly cavern and ally themselves with local demons from time to time, and those descended from the Tigra and the Balkathar's pairing. These earthly Cat People continued to live secretly among the humans for many centuries, masquerading as normal men and women with an evolution of the same amulet that Flavius and Helene had used to escape banishment.
Most of the earthly population of Cat-People were destroyed when they came out of hiding and banded together to successfully defend Humanity from a modern mutated villain, who called himself Tabur
. An unknown number of Cat People survive, in numbers so small and in secrecy so complete as to effectively suggest the extinction of the race.
As for the Tigra
spell, it was unused for centuries until the Cat People employed it to save the life of superpowered hero The Cat
(Greer Grant), who at the time was being mentored by one of their own. The Tigra legend is a very powerful one, however, and when this modern Tigra later traveled to the netherworldly dimension to confront the banished colony of Cat People, they chose to lay down their weapons rather than fight her, immediately acknowledging her status as their greatest warrior.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
.
Publication history
Dr. Joanne Tumulo, later revealed to be a member of the Cat People race, first appeared in Claws of the Cat #1-4 (November 1972-June 1973), and was created by Linda FiteLinda Fite
Linda Fite is an American writer and editor who created the Marvel Comics series The Cat, and who while serving as an assistant to Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, helped bring fledgling artist Barry Windsor-Smith to the company by responding with an encouraging note to some art he had sent to the...
and Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
(co-writers), and Marie Severin
Marie Severin
Marie Severin is an American comic book artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics....
(artist).
The Cat People race first appeared in Giant-Size Creatures Vol. 1 #1 (July 1974), and was created by Tony Isabella
Tony Isabella
Tony Isabella is an American comic book writer, editor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath, DC Comics' first major African American superhero, Black Lightning, and as a columnist and critic for the Comics Buyer's Guide.-Marvel Comics:Before he joined...
and Don Perlin
Don Perlin
Don Perlin is an American comic book artist and occasional writer best known for Marvel Comics' Werewolf by Night, The Defenders, and Ghost Rider...
. The race subsequently appeared and was further detailed in Adventures into Fear #22 (June 1974), Marvel Two-In-One #19 (September 1976), Marvel Premiere #42 (June 1978), What If #35 (October 1982), West Coast Avengers Volume 2 #6-7 (March-April 1986), #15-16 (December 1986-January 1987), Fantastic Four #314 (May 1988), Avengers Spotlight #38 (November 1990), Dr. Strange III #27/2 (March 1991), and Tigra #1-4 (May-August 2002).
The Cat People received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...
#1.
Fictional history
The first Cat People were created from ordinary house cats by a medieval sorcerer named Ebrok. Though the Cat People were initially welcomed into Ebrok's community as warriors and domestic servants, their fierce nature as well as their rapid breeding rate soon started to became uncontrollable, and the Cat People were banished to another dimension by Ebrok's fellow sorcerers. The sorcerers also installed a magick ensuring that Ebrok's original cats-into-cat-people spell would never work again.Part of the banishment required that one Cat Person, to be known as The Balkathar, could be summoned by any Earthly sorcerer from time to time to perform a task.
Ebrok had trained his original two creations, Flavius and Helene, in both the scientific and mystical arts. Upon learning of the sorcerers' plans, they secretly crafted an amulet
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
that temporarily gave themselves the appearance of normal humans, and thus had evaded banishment. This delighted Ebrok, who had begun to regard the pair as his children. Together, they worked to develop solutions that would allow the Cat People to return from their other-dimensional banishment and live peacefully among the human population. The cats' natural curiosity made them into gifted researchers and they made many scientific and magical discoveries along the way.
The band of sorcerers who had banished the Cat-People ultimately discovered the pair, and killed Ebrok on the spot. In a fit of rage, Flavius hurled a glass vial at the sorcerers, releasing one of the pair's most terrible experiments: the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
, which would ultimately kill untold millions of Europeans. The pair fled in fear, shame, and horror.
Flavius and Helene continued their work while in exile, determined to ultimately re-establish a population of Cat People. They were unable to reverse the Cat People's banishment or disarm the magic that prevented Ebrok's original Cat-Person spell from functioning. But with memory of past banishment and continued persecution fresh on their minds, they developed a spell that could turn a human woman into one of their race, with strength and abilities far surpassing those of any Cat Person. Very little is known about the first Tigra, except that she accepted her duties as the Cat People's defender with great relish and ferocity.
Ultimately, Flavius and Helene discovered the means of controlling their species' violence and reproductive rate. As earthly sorcerers, they summoned the Balkathar. He and the Tigra mated, founding a new population of Cat People.
In modern times, there are two populations of Cat People: a large colony descended from the Cat People who were banished during Medieval times, who still live in an immense netherworldly cavern and ally themselves with local demons from time to time, and those descended from the Tigra and the Balkathar's pairing. These earthly Cat People continued to live secretly among the humans for many centuries, masquerading as normal men and women with an evolution of the same amulet that Flavius and Helene had used to escape banishment.
Most of the earthly population of Cat-People were destroyed when they came out of hiding and banded together to successfully defend Humanity from a modern mutated villain, who called himself Tabur
New Men (Marvel Comics)
The New Men are a fictional Marvel Comics universe group of hyper-evolved animals created by the High Evolutionary . They are also known as the Knights of Wundagore.-Fictional group history:...
. An unknown number of Cat People survive, in numbers so small and in secrecy so complete as to effectively suggest the extinction of the race.
As for the Tigra
Tigra
Tigra is a fictional American comic book superheroine in the Marvel Comics universe. Introduced as the non-superpowered crime fighter The Cat in Claws of the Cat #1 , she was co-created by writer-editor Roy Thomas, writer Linda Fite, and penciller Marie Severin...
spell, it was unused for centuries until the Cat People employed it to save the life of superpowered hero The Cat
Tigra
Tigra is a fictional American comic book superheroine in the Marvel Comics universe. Introduced as the non-superpowered crime fighter The Cat in Claws of the Cat #1 , she was co-created by writer-editor Roy Thomas, writer Linda Fite, and penciller Marie Severin...
(Greer Grant), who at the time was being mentored by one of their own. The Tigra legend is a very powerful one, however, and when this modern Tigra later traveled to the netherworldly dimension to confront the banished colony of Cat People, they chose to lay down their weapons rather than fight her, immediately acknowledging her status as their greatest warrior.