Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Renegade member of the Cat-People race
Occupation: Industrialist, criminal
Group Membership: Cat-People race
Affiliations: His henchmen, Sheila Conklin; manipulator of Conklin Industries
Enemies: Thing (Ben Grimm), Tigra (Greer Nelson), Cat-People
Known Relatives: Sheila Conklin (fiancée)
Aliases: Curt Ranklin; Puss-n'-Boots (as called by Thing)
Base of Operations: Conklin Industries, New York
First Appearance: Marvel Two-in-One I#19 (September, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: As a member of the hidden Cat-People race, the Cougar possessed the standard powers of claws, along with heightened strength, agility, vision (including night-vision), and smell; he was also able to alter his form between his normal cat-appearance, and a human guise.
In battle, the Cougar wielded various weapons; he also wore the Null-Bands on his wrists, and could fire powerful energy blasts from them.
Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: (Cougar) Unrevealed; (Ranklin) blue
Hair: (Cougar) Brown; (Ranklin) black
History:
(Marvel Two-in-One I#19 (fb) - BTS) -
The creature known only as the Cougar was one of the Cat-People born on
Earth; at some point in time, he turned against his people. In the human
guise of Curt Ranklin, he allied himself with Conklin Industries, to
exploit the technological resources of the company for his plans of
world conquest; Sheila Conklin had hired him because she desperately
needed his scientific knowledge to save her business from bankruptcy.
Although Ranklin made Sheila aware of his true identity, the two of them seemingly fell in love and were engaged to be married--in actuality, they were both only using each other for their own selfish purposes.
(Fantastic Four I#80 - BTS) - The Fantastic Four defeated and destroyed Tomazooma, a robot imitator of the Keewazi spirit built by the Red Star Oil Company (see comments). Agents of Conklin Industries, working for the Cougar, obtained the robot's Null-Bands for him.
(Marvel Two-in-One I#19 (fb) - BTS) - The Cat-People learned that the renegade Cougar had obtained the Null-Bands, so they contacted Tigra; she subsequently went to the Fantastic Four's headquarters seeking help.
(Marvel Two-in-One I#19) - Somehow learning that Tigra was aware of his activities, the Cougar sent his henchmen after her, and they tracked her to the Baxter Building; but she had already alerted the Thing to the Cougar's plans, and the two easily defeated the hired thugs. After they imprisoned the Cougar's men, the Thing and Tigra utilized a device that traced the negative energy given off by the Null-Bands so they could locate the Cougar.
Meanwhile at Conklin Industries, Sheila went to Ranklin and expressed her concerns about the "thugs" he had added to the company payroll; Ranklin assured her that they were "invaluable lab assistants," and dispassionately kissed her on the cheek.
When the Thing and Tigra appeared at Conklin Industries, Ranklin knocked them out with gas. When the two revived later, Tigra found herself chained to the wall, while the Thing was in a restraining device designed to drain his power into Ranklin, who intended to increase his own powers incredibly, thus allowing him to dominate both humankind and the Cat-People race. However, just as Ranklin activated the siphoning process, Sheila spoiled his plan behind the scenes by shutting off the power, which allowed the Thing to break free and release Tigra.
Transforming to his cat-man form, the Cougar engaged the two in physical combat, but when he attempted to activate a Positive-Charge Annihilator to destroy them, he was shot in the back by Sheila, who was disgusted by his actions... and by her own greed.
Comments: Created by Tony "The Tiger" Isabella, Bill Mantlo, and Sal Buscema.
At one point during the story, Ranklin referred to the Null-Bands as "Nega-Bands". Whoops.
The scene where Cougar's men storm the Baxter Building is a "come on" moment. We were told earlier that one of the Thing's workouts damaged the security systems, so that's how Tigra slipped through his window. Okay, but how did these goons get past all the security systems in the lower levels of the building? How'd they use the elevator? Were all of the security systems offline?
I'm assuming that Cougar retrieved the Null-Bands himself; it could've been the Red Star Oil Company that recovered them, but if they were a branch of Roxxon (as George Olshevsky postulated in Fantastic Four Index I#5), there's no way Roxxon would let Cougar get his hands on them.
Profile by Prime Eternal. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Cougar has no known relation to:
Cougar's human alias, Curt Ranklin, bears no relation to:
Sheila Conklin has no known connection to:
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Numbering five (none identified), they were a group of thugs that the Cougar had on the payroll of Conklin Industries as "invaluable lab assistants". They were armed with automatic rifles and a high-intensity concussion grenade launcher. When the Cougar learned that Tigra knew of his plans, he had his men follow her using a tracer device attuned to her body temperature. They somehow infiltrated the Baxter Building (see comments), and engaged Tigra and the Thing in battle. But their guns proved useless against the Thing, who scattered them with a punch. The final henchman attempted to fire a grenade at the Thing, but Tigra slammed him to the floor before he could launch it. After their defeat, the Thing carried them all away and confined them in an electronic-field cell within the Baxter Building; their fate afterward is unrevealed. --Marvel Two-in-One I#19 |
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While battling the Thing and Tigra, the Cougar employed a small arsenal of three weapons:
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After stunning the Thing with a blast from his Null-Bands, the Cougar attempted to harpoon the fallen hero with an Electro-Lance; Tigra seized the weapon from the Cougar before he could strike, but she was staggered by its charge (the Null-Bands insulated the Cougar from the lance). As he was about to use his own claws against Tigra, the Cougar was grabbed by the recovered Thing. |
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The Cougar then engaged the Thing in hand-to-hand combat, and sprayed him with a gas-gun--although he had been rendered unconscious earlier with a greater quantity of the gas, the Thing was only momentarily dazed. |
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The Cougar used the distraction to grab a third weapon, a Positive-Charge Annihilator--the device would literally tear apart the protons and neutrons of the Thing and Tigra's positive polarity atoms, while the Cougar's Null-Bands would protect him from its effects; however, the Cougar was shot and killed by Sheila Conklin before he could activate it. |
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--Marvel Two-in-One I#19
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The owner of Conklin Industries, she hired brilliant scientist Curt Ranklin. Although she learned he was the Cougar and what his world-conquering plans were, she pretended to love him because his scientific knowledge was saving her company from bankruptcy. Sheila ultimately shot the Cougar in the back, just as he was about to kill the Thing and Tigra--Sheila had taken a hard look at herself and had a change of heart, because after seeing how sick and twisted Cougar had become from his lust for power, she realized that she herself had been consumed by greed. --Marvel Two-in-One I#19 |
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images: (without ads)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p5, pan1 (main image - Cougar)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p13, pan6 (headshot - Cougar, firing energy blast with Null-Bands)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p10, pan4 (Cougar as Curt Ranklin)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p13, pan2 (Curt Ranklin, about to transform into Cougar)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p7, pan1 (Cougar's henchmen)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p8, pan2 (one of Cougar's henchmen)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p14, pan1-2 (Cougar with Electro-Lance; Tigra grabs Electro-Lance from Cougar's hands)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p16, pan1 (Cougar sprays Thing with gas-gun)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p16, pan3 (Cougar holding Positive-Charge Annihilator)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p16, pan4 (Cougar Holding Positive-Charge Annihilator)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p10, pan5 (Sheila Conklin with Curt Ranklin)
Marvel Two-in-One I#19, p17, pan2 (Sheila Conklin)
Appearances:
Marvel Two-in-One I#19 (September, 1976) - Tony Isabella (plot), Bill Mantlo (script), Sal Buscema (pencils), Don Heck (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
First posted: 02/22/2002
Last updated: 11/24/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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