CHEETAH

Real Name: Esteban Carracus

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Thief,revolutionary

Group Membership: The Hood (Parker Robbins)'s army of resurrected Scourge victims aka. Deadly Dozen (Basilisk/Basil Elks, Bird-Man/Achille DiBacco, Black Abbott, Blue Streak/Don Thomas, Cyclone/André Gerard, Death Adder/Roland Burroughs, Firebrand/Gary Gilbert, Hijacker/Howard Mitchell, Human Fly/Richard Deacon, Lascivious/Davida DeVito (formerly Titania), Letha/Helen Feliciano, Megatak/Gregory Nettles, Mind-Wave/Erik Gelden, Miracle Man/Joshua Ayers, Mirage/Desmond Charne, Turner D. Century/Clifford F. Michaels, Wraith/Brian DeWolff), Scourge victims

Affiliations: Raoul Escheverra, the Hood, Ronan the Accuser, Sentry #459;
    tissue samples from his corpse later utilized by both Arnim Zola, for his "Corpse Corps" proto-husks, and by Dead Ringer.

Enemies: Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Punisher, Scourge of the Underworld

Known Relatives: Unidentified mother and brothers

Aliases: El Gato, Jaguar (see comments), impersonated the Beast

Base of Operations: Mobile;
    formerly Mexico City, Mexico

First Appearance: Captain Marvel I#48 (January, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: Cheetah had superhuman strength, enabling him to lift approximately eight tons. He could run at speeds up to 75 mph. He had razor-sharp claws and teeth, and was incredibly agile. 

Height: 6' 1"          Weight: 210 lbs.       Eyes: Brown         Hair: Black

History:
(Captain Marvel I#48) - After its defeat by Captain Marvel, Sentry #459 (which housed the mind of Mexican bandit Raoul Escheverra) sent out an energy pulse which found his fellow bandit, the anti-capitalist Esteban Carracus. The energy beams transformed Carracus into the Cheetah, and he joined the revived Sentry in attacking Mexico City, targeting businesses. Captain Marvel tracked the two down again, but Cheetah attacked him and the two eventually defeated the hero.

(Captain Marvel I#49) - Cheetah and the Sentry continued their campaign of terror across the Mexican countryside and made their way into Texas, nearing a containment unit in which Ronan the Accuser was held. As they demolished a farm, a recovered Captain Marvel arrived and confronted the two again. As the three battled, Ronan freed himself from his prison and joined the assault. During the battle, Captain Marvel destroyed the Sentry, causing its power to fade. Cheetah's power thus faded as well, returning him to his human form. He ran into the nearby forest to escape.

(OHotMUDE#16) - Either Cheetah's powers returned, or he created a suit to replicate those powers, and he resumed a very minor criminal career in the United States.

(Captain America I#319 ) - Cheetah was among the super-villains gathered at the Bar with No Name (located in Medina County, Ohio) by Gary Gilbert (formerly Firebrand) to discuss how to handle the Scourge of the Underworld. The bartender revealed himself to be Scourge and murdered (almost) all in attendance.

(Captain America I#320) - Cheetah's dead body was present when Water Wizard brought Captain America to the Bar to show him what happened. The dead villains were taken to the morgue.

(Deadpool III#0 - BTS) - Arnim Zola retrieved DNA samples from Cheetah, using them and a replica of his technology to create a Cheetah proto-husk.

(Captain America I#427 (fb) - BTS) - Some of Cheetah's corpse was obtained by the Dead Ringer.

(Captain America I#427 - BTS) - In the form of Cheetah (Esteban Carracus), Dexter staged a fight with Super-Patriot (posing as Captain America) at a fast food restaurant in Pennsylvania, making sure to cause plenty of damage. Seeking to help "Cap," one of the employees dumped a vat of hot grease (or soup or something) on "Cheetah." Dexter fled in agony, later adopting the form of Blue Streak (Don Thomas) to heal from the burns.

(Punisher VII#5) - Aided by Dormammu's dark magic, the Hood resurrected Cheetah along with several other of Scourge's victims to fight the Punisher.

(Punisher VII#6) - The Hood addressed the assembled resurrected villains (including Cheetah), warning them that failure to kill the Punisher would leave them dead again after 30 days, but lying to them that it was the Punisher disguised as Scourge who had killed them. Each one resurrected had been augmented, armed and costumed by the Hood..

(Punisher VII#8) - Using Mind-Wave and Mirage's powers, Cheetah joined them, Black Abbot, Letha and Lascivious in impersonating the Avengers, with Cheetah disguised as the Beast. They hoped to disorient the Punisher so they could get close enough to kill him, but the Punisher was unfazed; during the fight he boarded his motorcycle and grabbed "the Beast" by his neck, snapping it; once again, the Cheetah was dead.

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway, Al Milgrom and Terry Austin.

In the letters page and next issue blurb in Captain Marvel I#47, Marvel announced the debut of the Jaguar in the next issue. However, by the time #48 came out, someone must have realized that they'd just debuted a Latin American villain named Jaguar in the pages of Daredevil a couple of years earlier. Some other sources (including on here at the Appendix, which I'll fix when I can) claim that Cheetah was originally intended to be called el Gato but was given the name Cheetah because of the Omega the Unknown character called el Gato. If you actually look at Cheetah's first appearance, he still calls himself "el Gato...the Cheetah!" - The Jaguar was his first intended name as per CMI#47, not el Gato. Still, to have three Latin American criminals show up in a three-year span, all with cat names...

Cheetah received a profile in OHotMUDE#16. In that profile, Cheetah's companion Escheverra's name is misspelled Eschiverra.

So did Cheetah run off? Get hit by the Punisher? Either way, he would have survived the 30-day deadline with Daken's brutal slaying of the Punisher.
In the Punisher tpb, author Rick Remender commented that Cheetah was the feral one of the team, the wild card ... but it seems he never actually got played.
---Grendel Prime

Profile by Madison Carter.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Cheetah has no known connections to

images: (without ads)
OHotMUDE#16, Cheetah entry (main image)
Captain Marvel I#49, page 16, panel 4 (human form)

Appearances:
Captain Marvel I#48 (January, 1977) - Gerry Conway (writer/editor), Al Milgrom (penciler), Terry Austin (inker)
Captain Marvel I#49 (March, 1977) - Scott Edelman (writer), Al Milgrom (penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Captain America I#319 (July, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Joe Sinnott (inker), Mike Carlin (editor)
Captain America I#320 (August, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (penciler), Dennis Janke (inker), Mike Carlin (editor)
Punisher VII#5 (July, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opena (art), Axel Alonso (editor)
Punisher VII#6 (August, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Tan Eng Huat (art), Axel Alonso (editor)
Punisher VII#8 (October, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Tan Eng Huat (art), Axel Alonso (editor)

First Posted: 08/15/2007
Last updated: 06/23/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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