Created by: Rik Offenberger
Art by: Gilbert Monsanto

PERSONAL INFORMATION

REAL NAME: Tony Tarantino
IDENTITY: Public
OCCUPATION: Corporate security officer for the Factory
PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington, D.C.
CITIZENSHIP: United States of America
MARITAL STATUS: Single
KNOWN RELATIVES: None
KNOWN ALLIES: Murder Hornet, Dr. Rottman, Ariel-51
GROUP AFFILIATIONS: Aryan Alliance
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Washington, D.C.
EDUCATION: Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
FIRST APPEARANCE: G-Men United #2
HEIGHT: 7’2″ (218 cm) in hybrid form, 5’10” (178 cm) in human form
WEIGHT: 1,045 lbs (474 kg) in hybrid form, 165 lbs (75 kg) in human form
EYES: Yellow in hybrid form, green in human form
HAIR: Orange with black stripes in hybrid form, red in human form

HISTORY

After losing a bet with his buddies, Tony had to travel east of downtown Washington, D.C., to Chinatown and have his karma fixed by a Chinese shaman. Tony is a Catholic and didn’t believe in the Chinese “mumbo jumbo,” but a bet is a bet. In Chinatown, he paid a Chinese shaman (薩滿祭司) to remove his bad karma (業力). The shaman wore a tiger skin (虎皮) and performed the ritual to dispel Tony’s bad karma by symbolically devouring it. The ritual went dangerously wrong, turning Tony into a weretiger (虎人). Afterward, Tony more or less could control his transformation. The shaman explained that Tony was sentenced to eat a number of people for transgressions against “Tian” (天). His ability to return to human form at will would allow him to conspire with his assigned victims. Tony forsook his penance and does not want to remove the curse. He uses his weretiger form as an enforcer for the Aryan Alliance and no longer considers Chinese mysticism “mumbo jumbo.”

POWERS & ABILITIES

Tigerstrike is a shapechanger, a weretiger who can transform into a tiger-humanoid hybrid and back into his true human form. In hybrid form, his ears, nose, and teeth become more tiger-like, though the overall shape of his head remains humanoid. A 5-foot (152.4 cm) tail extends from his spine.

Tigerstrike possesses superhuman strength, enabling him to lift or press in excess of 100 tons. Tigerstrike only attains this strength level when he is in weretiger form. In human form, Tony possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in no regular exercise.

In addition to great strength, Tigerstrike’s body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury, pain, and disease while in hybrid form. Tigerstrike’s skin is capable of withstanding great heat without blistering (up to 3,000 °F), great cold without freezing (down to -190 °F), and great impacts (he can survive direct hits by field artillery cannon shells). However, it is possible to injure him for a time. Tigerstrike’s highly efficient physiology renders him immune to all human diseases.

Tigerstrike can use his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. He has been known to cover 3 miles in a single bound. His tail helps him maintain balance, and he always lands on his feet.

WEAPONS & PARAPHERNALIA

As a security officer, Tony carries a Beretta M9A1 9mm semi-automatic pistol. In hybrid form, Tigerstrike needs no weapons or paraphernalia.