FLYING
TIGER
FLYING
TIGER
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human, technology (exo-skeleton) user
Occupation: Mercenary, assassin;
former professional football player
Group Membership: Masters of Evil (Baron Zemo/Helmut Zemo, Firebrand/Rick Dennison, Plantman);
formerly the Crimson Cowl (Justine
Hammer)'s Masters of Evil
Affiliations: Armadillo (Antonio Rodriguez), Black Lodge (Surgeon General, others), General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Eel (Edward Lavell), Man-Ape (M'Baku), Puff Adder;
formerly
Gypsy
Moth (now Skein), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew),
unidentified South American rebels;
former pawn of Dr. Doom;
unknown past association with Jason Macendale (Hobgoblin/Jack
O'Lantern)
Enemies: Armory (Violet Lightner), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Charcoal, Citizen V (Helmut Zemo), Falcon (Sam Wilson), Fantastic Four, Free Spirit (Cathy Webster), Regis Fuskey, Giant-Man (Hank Pym), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Iron Man (Jim Rhodes), Jack Flag (Jack Harrison), Jolt (Hallie Takahama), Locksmith, Mach-1, Moonstone (Karla Sofen), Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Songbird, Techno/Fixer, Thor (Jane Foster), Thunderbolts, Tick-Tock; people of Robinette, Colorado;
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Currently unrevealed
(presumably some sort of prison)
formerly San Francisco, California
formerly Mt. Charteris, Burton Canyon, Colorado;
occasionally the Bar with No Name, Springfield
First Appearance: Spider-Woman I#40 (October, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: The Flying Tiger wears armor which allows him to fly at perhaps 100 mph, and presumably grants him some degree of superhuman strength and durability, though he can be flattened by a single punch from the likes of Iron Man. He is an experienced aerial combatant, able to maneuver swiftly and agilely, and has sharpened claws on his gloves. It is unclear whether he has any powers not granted from his suit.
Height: 6'4" (armored)
Weight: 425 lbs. (armored)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Thunderbolts I#3 (fb) - BTS) - The Tiger was in a number of dogfights as a
pilot, and never once went down in flames.
(Spider-Woman I#40 (fb) - BTS ) - To prevent Spider-Woman from interfering with his San Francisco operations General Nguyen Ngoc Coy hired the Flying Tiger to slay her.
(Spider-Woman I#40) - Diving out of the setting sun and
allowing a jet taking off to mask the sound of his approach, he smashed into her
from behind, injuring her back. Narrowly recovering, she took another couple
hits and stunned him with a venom blast, but when she paused to save some
people's whose car had been knocked off of the Golden Gate bridge during their
scuffle, the Tiger smashed her again, watched her fall into the waters, and then
reported her death to Coy; pleased Coy asked him to similarly deal with rival
gangsters, and the Tiger accepted.
Months later, having recovered from her injuries and received
martial arts training, Spider-Woman saved Ruth Han from Coy's agents, and Han's
subsequent warning allowed her to dodge a dive by the Tiger. Using her new
training, Spider-Woman evaded several of the Tiger's attacks, causing him
instead to crash into pillars and roofs. As he became more reckless and
frustrated, she nailed him point blank with a venom blast, and a subsequent
crash into concrete and steel support column finished him off. She waited until
the police arrived to take him into custody.
(Spider-Woman I#50 (fb) - BTS ) - The Flying Tiger was abducted and imprisoned by Locksmith.
(Spider-Woman I#50) - Noting how his bonds inhibited his strength and flight, the Tiger felt claustrophobic and wished he could rip out somebody's throat. He was eventually freed by the efforts of Spider-Woman and Gypsy Moth, and he fled.
(Iron Man I#177 (fb) - BTS) - Gen. Coy recommended the Tiger to his allies, a group of South American rebels.
(Iron Man I#177) - Flying Tiger was hired by an unidentified
party to abduct Regis Fuskey (who intended to lend his expertise to the
government) and deposit him in a base in the jungles of South America. Per an
agreement of said party with the Kingpin, the Tiger was not to act until Fuskey
had left the U.S.A. Fuskey hired Iron Man (Jim Rhodes) to act as his bodyguard,
but Flying Tiger replaced the co-pilot of Fuskey's plane. Once they were over
the South American jungles, the Tiger emerged from the cockpit and grabbed
Fuskey. Rhodes -- who had been forced by Fuskey to remove his armor for the trip
to avoid drawing attention to them -- tried to grab the Tiger, but was swatted
away. As Rhodes crawled towards the suitcase containing his armor, the Tiger
decided the suitcase must be something of value, and he grabbed it before flying
off with Fuskey.
Rhodes donned a parachute and followed him into the jungle,
where the Tiger delivered Fuskey to his employers. The Tiger flirted with one of
the rebel women, offering her the suitcase, but when she couldn't open it, she
tossed it into the jungle. Rhodes reached the suitcase first, but only had time
to don a single glove before the Tiger caught up to him. Dodging Rhodes' punch,
the Tiger dropped him with a single punch. The Tiger then pulled his gun and
prepared to finish Rhodes, but just then government planes -- having located
Col. Perez's camp -- began dropping bombs. The Tiger was caught in one of the
bombs' explosions, while the prone Rhodes was spared. This gave Rhodes the
chance to put on the entire suit of armor and rescue Fuskey from the bombing and
his captors.
Not wishing anything to do with this military battle, the
Flying Tiger took off, but Iron Man caught up to him and punched him out (using
his armor's power but removing the armored glove before hitting him).
(Fantastic Four I#335) - Affected by Dr. Doom's Aggression Enhancer. the Flying Tiger showed up as the Fantastic Four testified before Congress regarding the mandatory registration of superhumans. Triggered by the Enhancer, the Tiger interrupted the proceedings and announced his intent to take down the Fantastic Four, only to be dropped by a single swat from Ms. Marvel. The Tiger and all involved were taken away by authorities, though most had no memory of their recent actions.
(Avengers Spotlight#29/2) - The Flying Tiger was one of a group of super-villains being admitted to the Vault following the Acts of Vengeance.
(Marvel Year In Review '92) - The Flying Tiger was present at the Springdale, Connecticut Bar with No Name. He spoke to Dr. H. M. Virgil (super-villain psycho-therapist) and commented on how hard it was to be taken seriously as a super-villain these days, and that many of the newer characters didn't have any staying power.
(Captain America I#411) - Present at AIM's Boca Caliente Weapons Expo, the Flying Tiger approached Jack O'Lantern (actually the Falcon, who was impersonating Steve Levins), asking who he was, since he'd heard Macendale had become the Hobgoblin. "Jack O'Lantern" blew him off, saying, "Nope. Not Macendale, Tiger Lily. Somebody a lot better." Annoyed, the Tiger instructed him to call him Flying Tiger or they would see how much better he was.
(Captain America I#411-413) - The Flying Tiger was in the crowd as Crossbones (actually Captain America, impersonating Crossbones) battled a number of opponents to fulfill a previous agreement. When "Crossbones" was exposed as Captain America, the entire crowd attacked him, though he ultimately escaped.
(Thunderbolts I#3 (fb) - BTS) - The Flying Tiger joined the Crimson Cowl (Justine Hammer)'s Masters of Evil, along with Cyclone, Klaw, Man-Killer, Tiger Shark
(Thunderbolts I#3) - As part of the Crimson Cowl (Justine
Hammer)'s Masters of Evil, the Tiger battled the Black Widow. When the
Thunderbolts (Atlas, Citizen V (Zemo), Mach-1, Meteorite (Moonstone), Songbird,
Techno) showed up to join the fight, the Cowl projected a blinding flash and
teleported her teammates away.
The Thunderbolts later tracked the Masters to an estate in
the Cloisters where they were providing security for a meeting of the Arms
Merchant with members of the New York underworld (presumably Don Fortunato; see comments). The Tiger engaged Mach-1, but
Techno eventually converted the meetings weapons stash into his own arsenal, at
which point the Cowl teleported them all away again in a blinding flash.
(Thunderbolts I#18) - Jolt tracked Masters member Cyclone to a base near the Colorado Rockies, and the Thunderbolts (Atlas, Mach-1, Moonstone, Songbird) followed he lead to confront the Masters, but were instead ambushed by them. Jolt engaged the Tiger who took one of her punches and then flattened her with one of his own. The Masters defeated the Thunderbolts, after which the Cowl made them an offer: join her Masters, or she would tell their enemies where they were located. The Thunderbolts departed to consider the offer.
(Thunderbolts I#19) - As the Thunderbolts fought to save Burton Canyon from Charcoal and the Imperial Forces, the Tiger and the rest of the Masters showed up and attacked them, telling them that while they considered the offer they did not have the luxury of trying to earn the public's support.
(Thunderbolts I#20) - Correctly figuring the Masters' next
heist, the mint in Fort Worth, Texas, the Thunderbolts ambushed them there. The
Tiger again engaged Mach-1, making hints of possibly being one of the World War
II's
Flying Tigers, claiming to have seen and done things that Mach-1 couldn't even
imagine. Klaw finally overpowered the Thunderbolts, but then Hawkeye, posing as
the Dreadknight, then arrived, and armed forces showed up soon after. Klaw
facilitated the Masters' escape.
(Thunderbolts I#24 (fb) - BTS) - The Cowl recruited 19 additional members for her Masters of Evil
(Thunderbolts I#25 (fb) - BTS) - The Tiger and the rest of the Masters helped the Cowl set up her plan to blackmail the world's governments for a trillion dollars via controlling the weather.
(Thunderbolts I#24) - The Tiger and the other five original
members of the Cowl's Masters assaulted the town of Robinette, Colorado, to draw
the Thunderbolts' attention. The Thunderbolts arrived (now including Charcoal
and Hawkeye, but minus Mach-1), and the Tiger challenged Moonstone, telling her
to stop thinking so much and let out her killer instinct. Hawkeye nailed the
Tiger with an arrow, which glanced off his armor, but left a tracking device in
place, after which the Cowl transported the Masters away, removing the
tracking device from the Tiger and leaving the Thunderbolts with a powerful
thunderstorm to deal with.
Via a piece of Charcoal left a piece of his finger in one of
Man-Killer's shoulder straps, and the Thunderbolts tracked them to their Mt.
Charteris lair only to find that there were now 25 of them.
(Thunderbolts I#25) - Moonstone pretended to wish to join the Masters and was imprisoned because the Cowl didn't trust her to not interfere with her plans. She later convinced the Tiger to bring her back to the Cowl and reveal that the Thunderbolts had infiltrated their base, leading to a battle between the teams. The Tiger shrugged off a punch from Jolt and then grabbed a stunned Hawkeye, threatening to tear out his throat unless the Thunderbolts surrendered. Jolt nailed the Tiger with a second punch, taking him out of the fight, and the Thunderbolts ultimately defeated the Masters and foiled their plans, leaving most members, including the Tiger to be taken to prison.
(Avengers: The Initiative Annual#1/2 (fb)) - The Flying Tiger was defeated by neophyte hero Armory (Violet Lightner) in San Francisco.
(Avengers Academy#15) - After one of the Worthy's hammers heavily damaged the Raft prison Flying Tiger was one of the many prisoners escaping. He was captured again by Giant-Man (Hank Pym) near LaGuardia Airport in Long Island.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#700.3) - Puff Adder and Flying Tiger were watching TV at the Black Lodge when Peter Parker, bandaged up beyond recognition, rolled in on a wheelchair and joined them. Peter realized that he was among supervillains when Shocker put on an updated mask created by the Tinkerer.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#700.4) - The Black Lodge's Surgeon General asked Flying Tiger to help take down Spider-Man. Flying Tiger joined Puff Adder and Eel in fighting the still bandaged up Spider-Man. During the fight Flying Tiger tossed Spider-Man against a wall, but was later knocked out by Spider-Man. When Firebrand caused a massive fire at the Black Lodge Spider-Man saved Flying Tiger and Eel fromt he burning building.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Captain America: Sam Wilson#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - Flying Tiger was imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. in Pleasant Hill and got his identity overwritten by the young Cosmic Cube Kobik.
(Captain America: Sam Wilson#7/2) - After regaining his true form he joined Baron Zemo in his assault on Pleasant Hill.
(All-New, All-Different Avengers#8) - In Pleasant Hill he joined forces with Man-Ape and Armadillo to attack members of the multiple Avengers squads, but got hit really hard by Thor (Jane Foster).
(Captain America: Steve Rogers#1 (fb) - BTS) - He escaped Pleasant Hill thanks to Baron Zemo.
(Captain America: Steve Rogers#1) - Flying Tiger ended up in Bagalia where he lost all in money in a casino. Alongside Firebrand and Plantman he he was one of the first to be recruited by Baron Zemo as part of his new Masters of Evil. They were attacked by Captain America, Free Spirit and Jack Flag. He was defeated by Jack Flag.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#18 (fb) - BTS) - Flying Tiger was among the animal-themed villains captured by Taskmaster and the Black Ant on behalf of Arcade and Kraven the Hunter, then placed inside Central Park after being in stasis for a time.
(Amazing Spider-Man V#18) - Hunter-Bots controlled by Arcade's clients at the Plaza Hotel advanced on the villains in Central Park. Flying Tiger got tackled out of the sky by one of them.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Steve Leialoha, and Bob Wiacek.
Never seen unmasked, the Flying Tiger
appears to be African-American, or to have a dark complexion, though it could
just be shadows.
He also likes to smoke a cigar.
He calls himself "Brown-Eyes" in FF#335.
He has some racist tendencies, referring to Jolt as
"Slant-Eyes"
The name "Flying Tiger" refers to
American fighter pilots who volunteered to oppose the State Shinto Imperialist
Japanese incursions into China, Burma, and elsewhere.
--Per Degaton
At the time Thunderbolts I#3 was published Don Fortunato was on the rise in the New Yorker underworld and he worked together with Hydra, like Black Widow surmised.
--Markus Raymond
He was probably one of the many unidentifiable villains seen at the end of Amazing Spider-Man V#16 (April, 2019) trapped in energy cages on a mountainside in South Africa, but we don't know for sure.
Flying Tiger received an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update#2. Main image scan by MarvellousLuke.
Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
images: (without ads)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update#2, Flying Tiger profile (main image)
Spider-Woman I#40, p4, panel 3 (flying form)
Spider-Woman I#40, p6, panel 4 (mask/face)
Appearances:
Spider-Woman I#40 (October, 1981) - by Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha
(penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Spider-Woman I#50 (June, 1983) - by Ann Nocenti (writer), Brian Postman (penciler),
Sam DeLaRosa (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Iron Man I#177 (December, 1983) - by Denny O'Neil (writer), Luke McDonnell (penciler),
Steve Mitchell (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Fantastic Four I#335 (Mid-December, 1989) - by Walt Simonson (writer), Rich
Buckler (penciler), Romeo Tanghal (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers Spotlight#29 (February, 1990) - by Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Dwayne
Turner (penciler), Chris Ivy (inker), Greg Wright & Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Marvel Year In Review '92 (1992) "Losers" - by Peter Sanderson (writer), Evan
Skolnick (editor)
Captain America I#411 (January, 1993) - by Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik Levins (penciler),
Danny Bulanadi (inker), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Thunderbolts I#3 (June, 1997) - by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler),
Vince Russell (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#18-20 (September-November, 1998) - by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark
Bagley (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thunderbolts I#24-25 (March-April, 1999) - by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley
(penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative Annual#1/2 (January, 2008) - Dan Slott & Christos Gage
(writers), Clayton Henry (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Molly Lazer (assistant editor),
Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Academy#15 (August, 2011) - Christos Gage (writer), Tom Raney (pencils), Scott Hanna & Andrew Hennessy (inks), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man II#700.3-700.4 (February, 2014) - Joe Casey (writer), Timothy Green (pencils), Walden Wong (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Captain America: Sam Wilson#7/2 (May, 2016) - Nick Spencer (writer), Daniel Acuña (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
All-New, All-Different Avengers#8 (June, 2016) - Mark Waid (writer), Adam Kubert (artist), Tom Brevoort with Wil Moss (editors)
Captain America: Steve Rogers#1 (July, 2016) - Nick Spencer (writer), Jesus Saiz (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man V#18 (May, 2019) - Nick Spencer (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
First Posted: 12/30/2006
Last updated: 03/14/2023
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.!