Tigress (DC Comics)
Tigress is the name of three different comic book supervillains, all of whom have appeared in various series published by DC Comics.
| Tigress | |
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 Artemis Crock as Tigress in JSA #17 (Dec, 2000); art by Stephen Sadowski. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
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| Created by |
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| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Paula Brooks Artemis Crock Tabitha Galavan (Gotham) |
In live action, Tigress debuted as original character Tabitha Galavan starting in the second season of the series Gotham, played by Jessica Lucas. Paula Brooks‘ version of Tigress appears on the DC Universe streaming service show Stargirl played by Joy Osmanski. The show also appears on The CW Network.
Publication history
The first Golden Age Tigress was a thief/spy and foe of Zatara in the late 1930s. She debuted in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), and was created by Fred Guardineer. She wore tiger-striped sweaters and ran gangs of thieves and murderers. She apparently had no powers.
The second Tigress is Paula Brooks, who was a member of the Young All-Stars, who later became a villainess named the Huntress.
The third Tigress is Artemis Crock, the daughter of the second Tigress, and is a member of the Injustice Society. She debuted in Infinity Inc. #34 and was created by Roy Thomas and Todd McFarlane.
Fictional character biography
Zatara foe
The original Tigress appeared as Zatara's primary foe throughout twelve issues of Action Comics, including issues 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 22, 23, 25, 30, 35 and 42. In her initial appearance, she battles Zatara and his assistant Tong while attempting to rob a freight train. She escapes and later resurfaces in stories using various methods in attempts to kill wealthy men, including using an attacking airplane, poisoning their drinks and infecting them with a disease from a rare South American insect. She also uses her influence as a mob boss to pressure other criminals into assisting her in crime sprees, which usually involve bank robberies and thefts of other valuables.
The Artemis entry in Who's Who Update '87 #1 states that the Golden Age Tigress is the mother of Paula Brooks (the second Tigress and original Huntress) and the grandmother of Artemis Crock (the third Tigress). However, Who's Who Update '87 #5 included a retraction of that information and stated that neither Paula Brooks nor Artemis Crock is related to her.
Paula Brooks
The second Tigress is Paula Brooks. She was a member of the Young All-Stars and later became the villainous Huntress. She later married the Sportsmaster, and had a daughter, Artemis Crock, who becomes the third Tigress.
Artemis Crock
Artemis Crock is the daughter of the Golden Age villains Paula Brooks and Crusher Crock. She had taken up a career in crime, modeled after that of her parents, but only after some years did she take on the mantle of Tigress.
Other versions
Tigress (Earth-S)
An unknown woman nicknamed Tigress appears in Spy Smasher #2 (December, 1941). This version is an enemy of Spy Smasher.
Tigress (Quality Universe)
An unknown woman dubbed The Tigress or Tiger Lady appears in Blackhawk #11 (June, 1946). She is the leader of a gang of international criminal fugitives, who had fled the civilized world and holed up in a well-hidden fortress, in a jungle, in a mountainous, tropical part of the world. She organized this rabble into a tiger-masked team of deadly spearmen, mainly in order to keep the local natives at bay. A chance encounter with the Blackhawk Squadron, and a few bad decisions on her part, led to the Tigress' being killed by arrow-shooting natives, and her thugs being killed by the pistol-packing Blackhawks.
In other media
Animation
- A drastically different Tigress appears in the Batman Beyond episode "Splicers", voiced by Cree Summer. This version of the character is a human spliced with tiger DNA by a villainous genetics expert named Dr. Abel Cuvier.
Live-action
- A different kind of Tigress appears since the second season of Gotham portrayed by Jessica Lucas. This version of the character, an original creation for the series, is named Tabitha Galavan, sister and lead enforcer of corrupt billionaire Theo Galavan. They are both members of the Sacred Order of Saint Dumas, an ancient secret society bent on taking over Gotham City. She kidnaps Oswald Cobblepot's (Robin Lord Taylor) mother Gertrud (Carol Kane) to force him to kill the other mayoral candidates; after Cobblepot does Theo's bidding, however, Tabitha kills her anyway. Tabitha eventually falls out of favor with her brother, and so forms an alliance with Cobblepot's enforcer, Butch Gilzean (Drew Powell). Theo is killed by Cobblepot and detective James Gordon (Benjamin McKenzie), but is eventually revived by Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong) as the warrior Azrael. As Azrael, Theo stabs Tabitha with a sword, critically injuring her. After Theo is killed yet again by Cobblepot and Gilzean, Tabitha recovers and becomes small-time gangster Barbara Kean's (Erin Richards) right-hand woman. She has an uneasy truce with Cobblepot, who is now Mayor of Gotham City. Cobblepot's chief adviser Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) blames Gilzean for the death of his girlfriend Isabella, and so he kidnaps Gilzean and Tabitha and imprisons them in an elaborate torture device that will kill Gilzean unless Tabitha pulls a lever that will sever her hand. After Gilzean declares that he loves her, Tabitha sacrifices her right hand to save him. Gilzean and Kean rush her to a hospital where her hand is reattached. Once Cobblepot falls from power, Tabitha and Barbara take over Gotham. However, when Barbara begins to work with Nygma Tabitha is disappointed. Butch and Tabitha plan to kill her. When Barbara finds out she shoots Butch in the head and fights with Tabitha who manages to electrocute her to death, with her quick whip. Now alone, Tabitha takes up a mentoring role to a young Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova). When Butch is revived as Solomon Grundy, Tabitha ends up placed against him in an underground fighting ring in The Narrows, where she is dubbed "Tabby the Tigress" by Nygma. When Kean takes over the League of Shadows, she turns against Tabitha, but the two once again join forces to help Cobblepot stop psychopathic criminal Jeremiah Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) from destroying the city. In return for their help, Cobblepot cures Butch of his condition - only to shoot him dead in front of Tabitha as revenge for Tabitha killing his mother. She swears revenge and joins Barbara's women-only "Gotham City Sirens" to take over Gotham once and for all, and kill Cobblepot in the workings. Three months later, Tabitha attempts to kill Cobblepot in revenge for Butch, but her use of a defective bullet allows Cobblepot to kill her instead.
- A character using the name appeared in the TV series Arrow as Evelyn Crawford Sharp (Sharp is an unrelated character in the comics), played by Madison McLaughlin. Introduced in season four, she emerged as an impostor Black Canary following Laurel Lance's death. She was a star gymnast and fan of Black Canary's before her family became H.I.V.E. test subjects, leaving Evelyn as the only survivor. Fully aware of her hero's death, she briefly took up the identity in her crusade against her parents' killer before giving it up to save Black Canary's reputation after Oliver Queen advised her to. In season five, Oliver recruited Evelyn to train with and join his team of vigilantes; taking the codename "Artemis". Later however, she betrayed the team to Prometheus; becoming his double agent upon learning Oliver's violent past. She later released Laurel's villainous Earth-2 counterpart before joining her and Talia al Ghul in kidnapping Oliver's friends and family to hold them hostage on the island, Lian Yu. Oliver assembled a group of his former enemies to help him stop Prometheus' allies. After Oliver threw her in a cage, he promised to come back for her. However, Prometheus detonated explosives on the island, and no mention of Evelyn's survival or death has been mentioned in subsequent seasons, leaving her final fate unknown. In the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Doomworld", her mask was seen in Damien Darhk's display case alongside those of other vigilantes after he rewrote reality to suit his ideals.
References
External links
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