CAT
Real Name: Unrevealed (see comments)
Identity/Class: Demon or Native American god (see comments)
Occupation: Murder
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Black Crow, Hawkeye, Earth's spirit (most likely Gaea), generally humans
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Tormentor, Trickster
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: Marvel Fanfare I#39 (August, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: The Cat's spirit was immortal. The Cat was able to mess around with people's mind which mostly resulted in fear or insecurity. It could disappear at will and the more people it killed the more powerful it got. With enough power the Cat was able to cause natural disasters like earthquakes to kill even more people. In combat the Cat used its claws and fangs to its advantage.
Weakness: A chosen human warrior who became an empty vessel without fear could kill the Cat's earthly form.
History: (Marvel Fanfare I#39 (fb) - BTS) - Over the centuries
warriors (according to Black Crow earlier incarnations of Hawkeye)
faced the Cat again and again. Sometimes the Cat won and sometimes the
warriors won.
The Cat returned to Earth, slaughtered people in the Yosemite National Park and brought them to a cave. Around the same time it began to mess around with Hawkeye's mind, because he was chosen by the Earth's spirit to stop the Cat.
The Cat was faced by Black Crow in battle, but they couldn't defeat each other as they were both creatures of enchantment.
(Marvel Fanfare I#39) - Hawkeye went to Yosemite National Park to train, but his aim was totally off as a result of the Cat's influence. When he found the people murdered by the Cat he tried to leave the park, but a speaking bear brought him to Black Crow, who enabled Hawkeye to see the danger of the Cat.In an illusion Hawkeye saw the Cat speak to him through the fire. The Cat told him how it incarnated among men again and again and how it spread fear among them by eating their minds and their flesh. It told him how it grew stronger with each life it took and that the Earth's spirit would soon die. It planned its final blow to the Earth's spirit by killing many thousand people with the big earthquake in California.
Afterwards Black Crow told Hawkeye that he was chosen to stop the Cat, but at first he didn't want to do it and only agreed when he heard the evil laugh from the Cat's face in the fire. Black Crow gave him a bow and surprised him with the revelation that Hawkeye had faced the Cat in earlier lives. Then Hawkeye was led to the woods by the speaking bear who told him that his win/loss record against the Cat was very even. The bear left Hawkeye shortly before the Cat's laugh could be heard through the wood. The Cat welcomed Hawkeye and told him that Black Crow was a liar and that he wasn't evil and just doing his job as a force of nature. Weakened by the Cat's influence Hawkeye wanted to leave, but although the Cat told him not to look back, Hawkeye did and saw the true face of the Cat. Hawkeye didn't like the true face and shot a few of his special arrows at the Cat, but none of them hit. The Cat disappeared in the shadows and caught Hawkeye by surprise when it reappeared. The seemingly defenceless hero took an arrow and stabbed it into the Cat's eye and fled from the demon, but the Cat soon was on his trail again and Hawkeye had left his arrows behind. The ground began to rumble and the Cat was back, but Hawkeye wasn't afraid anymore. His mind was empty and when a shaft of moonlight hit him he used his bow without an arrow and the Cat was destroyed.
Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Staton & Kim DeMulder
The Cat is most likely another form used by the Native American trickster-god Coyote. Just read the Coyote profile and look at the head to the right!
But this is only one possibility and although it is a very likely one the Cat could be someone totally different as well. Perhaps an old demon with a dislike for Mother Earth and her children.
To quote Hawkeye: "I don't understand."
In the Manidoog's profile in OHotMU A-Z HC#14 it was speculated that the Cat was possibly Iya.
Profile by Markus Raymond
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Cat has no known connection to:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Fanfare I#39, p14 (Cat main image)
p10 (Cat head shot)
p16, pan4 (Cat true face)
Last updated: 11/20/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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