TYGER TIGER: Page 2 of 2

Publication Date: 6th Aug 2013
Written By: sixhoursoflucy.
Image Work: sixhoursoflucy.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - Page 2

Although it was difficult at times, Tyger Tiger managed to stay out of the drug trade, often thanks to Wolverine's help. For instance, when the villainous Dai-Kumo tried to drag her into a scheme involving the manufacture and sale of a powerful street drug called ZAP, Wolverine nullified the temptation for her by eliminating Dai-Kumo and the supply of the drug. [Wolverine (2nd series) #31-33] In addition to taking him as a personal bodyguard and external conscience, Tyger Tiger also took Wolverine as a lover whenever he was in Madripoor. [Wolverine (2nd series) #18]

Tyger Tiger's position atop the criminal underworld of Madripoor often made her a target not just of her rivals, but also of men with much more sinister motives. At one point, a man known as the Sheik, acting on behalf of the mysterious Abdul Alhazred, took her and her friend Archie Corrigan captive. The Sheik and his men commandeered Archie's plane and began transporting them to Abdul's place, where Jessan was to be sacrificed as part of one of Alhazred's unholy rituals. While en route over the jungles of Madripoor, however, the Tyger fought back against her attackers, miraculously causing the plane to crash. Once on the ground, the Sheik's men continued on foot, with Tyger in handcuffs. Thankfully, Wolverine happened to be nearby and he staged a daring rescue by pretending he was in his feral berserker mode, saving her from death by ritual sacrifice—for the time being. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #62-63]

Tyger Tiger remained committed to staying out of the drug trade—until a man came along with an offer to sell her a powerful hallucinogen that could prove useful in assassinations. This man, Cyber, informed her of how much it was worth to her simply to keep this drug out of the hands of her rival, General Coy. Tyger couldn't deny the logic of what Cyber said and considered his offer. She agreed to meet him at the dock to purchase the drugs but, when she arrived, she realized she had been tricked: Cyber had also sold the drugs to General Coy, and had arranged for them to meet at the docks at the same time. Realizing Cyber intended for her and Coy to kill each other in a crazed, hallucinogenic battle, the two declared an uneasy truce. When Cyber slaughtered all their men, they realized the situation was too embarrassing to let slip to the general public or the criminal underworld. Tyger and Coy retreated to her palace to make a deal, and over tea and a game of ping-pong, agreed to keep the affair a secret. In their  mutual distrust of one another, there was security. Meanwhile, Wolverine destroyed all the drugs, relieving the Tyger of her anxiety about selling them. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #85-92]

Abdul Alhazred, meanwhile, was not content to let Tyger Tiger get away, and sent Sheik and the rest of his men capture her once again. She and Wolverine were ambushed while trying to enjoy dinner. Although Tyger and Logan bested the grunts, they succumbed to the occult powers of Abdul Alhazred. Once again, Alhazred took the Tyger and Archie Corrigan hostage, and intended to sacrifice them to his demons in order to usurp Tyger's criminal throne in Madripoor. However, Logan recovered from his defeat, tracked Tyger to her place of captivity in one of the harbors of Madripoor, defeated the ancient sorcerer and freed Tyger. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #152-155]

Tragically, many of Tyger Tiger's closest friends were killed in an attack on the Princess Bar intended to frame Wolverine for murder. Archie Corrigan, Rose Wu and O'Donnell all numbered among the slain, after which the authorities, working under the orders of the corrupt Police Chief Tai, took Wolverine into custody. Not content to let her friend take the blame for a crime he didn't commit, Tyger Tiger sneaked to the window outside of Wolverine's cell and delivered to him his costume and a hacksaw to use in his escape. Her timing was impeccable, as shortly after she arrived Tai turned a blind eye as the perpetrators of the plot, Prince Baran and General Coy, arrived to finish the job on Wolverine. Unleashed, Wolverine chased the Prince and Coy out of the prison. Tyger Tiger, meanwhile, was returning to the jail   with her car when she spotted Police Chief Tai walking down the street. After crushing the treacherous official with her vehicle, she arrived at the jail in time to catch General Coy holding Wolverine at gunpoint. Tyger Tiger executed her old rival Coy by shooting him in the back. [Wolverine (2nd series) #98]

The deaths of both Prince Baran of Madripoor and General Coy left a power vacuum in the island-nation, and unfortunately Tyger Tiger did not move quickly enough to fill it. Instead, the opportunistic supervillian Viper staged a coup and seized control of the island's leadership position—partly by forcing Wolverine to marry her. Outmaneuvered by the cunning villainess, Tyger Tiger had no choice but to concede the title of Princess of Madripoor to Viper. [Wolverine (2nd series) #125-128]

Unfortunately for all, Viper's rule of Madripoor was terrible, both in terms of the civil rights violations she committed against its citizens and for its effects on the nation's once-prosperous economy. Viper also used the island as a staging center and a resource supply for her associates in Hydra. When Tony Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D. realized the threat she posed was too dangerous to ignore, they decided to institute a regime change for Madripoor—but from within, by giving the people a new ruler to support. Their intelligence told them the best option was Tyger Tiger.  Tony Stark personally approached Tyger while on Madripoor and, after revealing to her what Viper was doing to the island-nation, convinced her to take action. As per their plan, Stark confronted Viper in combat and tricked her into confessing over a nationally broadcast video feed that she cared nothing for the people of Madripoor and was merely using them for her own ends like fodder. Immediately after this revelation broke, Tyger Tiger led an uprising and overthrew Viper's tyrannical regime. The people chose the Tyger as their leader and crowned her Princess of Madripoor. Over the course of these events, she became attracted to Stark, and the two would have acted on their mutual romantic feelings had Stark not been forced to leave on an important assignment. [Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Annual #1]

After being deposed, Viper made another power-grab in Madripoor, but Tyger Tiger teamed up with Wolverine and Punisher to turn Viper's weapon of choice—deadly Predator X monsters—against her, forcing her to abandon her plan on concede defeat. Madripoor remained secure under Princess Tyger's rule. [Astonishing Tales (2nd series) #1-6]

Tyger Tiger continued policing Madripoor to the best of her ability. She maintained her hardline stance against the drug and slave trades, even personally busting a child prostitution ring that was occurring under her own nose. This incident disturbed her and made her realize there were still facets of Madripoor's underworld she couldn't control—particularly that of its financial sector, whose power brokers dealt in secret and held the true power in Madripoor.  As fortune would have it, her lover Wolverine's estranged son, Daken Akihiro, strolled into town with a proposition for the Tyger. Initially, Jessan shot him—twice—but after he recovered, they got to talking and he revealed he could get her the bankers' coveted financial ledgers. Tyger agreed, although she didn't fully trust Daken. They proceeded with their plan, swapping out the briefcase of one of the bankers with a bomb that exploded when he opened it in the conference room, killing all of the conspirators. With them dead, Tyger had control of their secret ledgers—until Daken double-crossed her and took the ledgers for himself. Later that night, he unleashed an EMP blast in Madripoor and wiped out the city's power grid, then seized control of the island's hard money supply. In one day, Tyger had lost control of the Madripoor to Daken, who let it descend into mayhem. [Daken: Dark Wolverine #5-6]

When Tyger met with Daken next, he had a proposition for her: she could maintain symbolic control of Madripoor, but she would ultimately answer to, and work for, him. Tyger accepted the deal with minimal hesitation, as she realized it was better to be close to power than completely outside of it. Per Daken's wishes, she forced the crime lords of each ruling clan to whittle their leadership down to one individual through lethal combat, and allied the survivors with the police force. This became Madripoor's official law enforcement class. [Daken: Dark Wolverine #7]

Amidst the chaos on Madripoor, Tyger's old associate Gambit arrived on the island, accompanied by X-23, a female clone of Wolverine. They were in search of Daken, as they believed he could lead them to the Weapon X project. With Tyger Tiger's help, they succeeded in connecting X-23 with Daken and infiltrating the new Weapon X facility on Madripoor, which they subsequently destroyed. With the threat eliminated, Gambit and X-23 left the island, but not before Tyger gave Gambit a parting kiss. [Collision crossover]

Sometime after Daken vanished and control of Madripoor defaulted to Tyger Tiger, she encountered Gambit and the X-Men in Madripoor once again. Gambit sent her a calling card, and she met them at a discrete rendezvous point in one of the city's power plants. She learned from them that a criminal mastermind named Susan Hatchi was threatening to kill everyone in New York City if they didn't take control of Madripoor for her. Although she was furious that Madripoor was nothing but a plaything to Hatchi, she was even more furious with the X-Men for complying with the madwoman's schemes. Gambit tried to silence her with a kiss, further infuriating her. As per their instructions, the X-Men destroyed Madripoor's ports and airports so no one could leave, but eventually they regrouped and formulated a plan to outsmart Hatchi. They left Madripoor in peace, once more leaving Tyger Tiger with the arduous task of maintaining order in one of the world's most dangerous cities. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #54-55]

Biography