Tiger Shark

Background

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Powers and Abilities

The abilities of Tiger Shark haven’t profoundly changed, and their core remains what was described in the previous profile. However, his artificial enhancements, already known to be unstable and a source of potentially severe health issues, begin to induce major physical mutations.

Right as this profile starts, Tiger Shark’s hands become powerful, dangerous rending talons (in DC Heroes RPG terms, Claws). Where the genetic material for this rather un-shark-like feature comes is unrevealed. His fangs also grow larger and more powerful, and can be easily used in combat. Ripping his opponents with his teeth is what Tiger Shark prefers.

Another mutation is that Arliss now has the very powerful sense of smell of a shark. He can even do what sharks do in movies, such as tracking small amounts of blood in the ocean from miles away, or recognising the smell of a specific persons’s blood if he has encountered it before.

He also develops predatory shark-like instincts, though those do not seem to have an impact in game terms.

Super-villain decay

As this era progresses, Tiger Shark gets weaker, dumber, more vulnerable, etc.. Since he experienced several years of unstable physical state, regularly changing physical appearance, it is possible that he got increasingly sick and weak, both physically and mentally.

He even starts evidencing pathologies such as panic attacks, and some appearances are vaguely evocative of mild clinical depression. One secondary source  speculates that these symptoms might be related to the oxygen imbalance issues that long plagued Namor, since Arliss’s metabolism is in large part a copy-and-paste of Namor’s.

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History

This chance encounter with underseas nomads proved to be fortunate for Tiger Shark. Outcasts from the Atlantean empire, these men and women lived on their own terms in the fringes of Atlantis, and accepted him as one of their own.

Arliss fit right in with the pariahs, and became a leader. Perhaps he earned this because his great strength was a welcome protection given the harsh lives the nomads led.

For the first time in his life, Tiger Shark found contentment and even love, marrying a nomad named Mara who soon bore his child. His tribesfolk called him Arlys Tigershark, since he was now sufficiently at peace to start using his human name again.

As Mara neared the term of her pregnancy, the nomad’s travels brought them to devastated Atlantean farms and a thoroughly ravaged area. Arlys Tigershark decided that they would grab some food from the deserted farms and move out as Mara’s health allowed, to avoid whatever had caused the devastation.

Shock and mutation

Minutes later, the tribe was suddenly attacked and overwhelmed by a horde of Faceless Ones. Hundreds of the near-demonic creatures killed most of the outcasts before they could even react – including the hapless and heavily pregnant Mara.

Arliss went crazy with grief and rage, the shock triggering major animalistic mutations across his physiology. The now monstrous-looking Tiger Shark massacred the Faceless Ones in a berserker rage, breaking the dreaded hordes in a lengthy and confused battle.

Yet there was nothing he could do to prevent the slaughter of his tribesmen. Within minutes his entire new world had been butchered.

The dead woman on the throne

Though Arlys Tigershark took the rational decision to go warn the Atlantean military that the Faceless Ones were back, he was barely in control and in a constant state of rage. Thus he ended up fighting guards at Atlantis’s gates, then the intervening Namor.

The subaquatic alien Tamara Rahn calmed him. Tiger Shark regained control long enough to accuse the current Queen of Atlantis, Fen, of being in league with the Faceless Ones.

Namor and his allies already had serious doubts whether Fen was genuinely Namor’s mother returned from the dead. Arliss’s statement that his animalistic senses smelled necromancy around her made them warier still.

Tamara Rahn started developing a romantic interest in Tiger Shark, and helped convince Namor that Arliss was an ally for the time being, even taking responsibility for him.

The Unforgiven Dead

Tiger Shark being a danger to their plans, the master of the false Fen, the sorcerer Suma-Ket, sent his agents the Nereids to kill him. Tiger Shark had been jailed by “Fen”, but Tamara spotted the Nereid that had come for him. They joined forces in killing the assassin.

Now in control of his temper after cooling off in jail, Arlys told Namor that they should leave now and counterattack before more assassins came.

Namor agreed with the advice, and formed a strike force – himself, Tiger Shark, Tamara Rahn, the mad Atlantean knight Seth, and Seth’s squire Morel. Though Namor was wary of Tiger Shark, he was the only one who could track the lair of the Faceless Ones.

Driven by thoughts of revenge for his wife and unborn child, Tigershark cooperated fully with the improbable crew. However, they were soon captured by an army of Faceless Ones, and brought to the sorcerer Suma-Ket, who killed Namor with a magical sword.

Deus Ex Mare

Thankfully, the god Neptune performed a miracle to save his Atlantean worshippers, who likely were within days of being eradicated by Suma-Ket and his hordes. He resurrected Namor and granted him a magical armour, then freed Tiger Shark and the rest from the enchanted chains of Suma-Ket.

There was obvious tension between Namor and Arlyss (including one fight that Tamara Rahn stopped). Yet Tiger Shark stuck with the Atlanteans as his best chance for revenge against the Faceless Ones. Accepting that Tamara Rahn was his friend, Tiger Shark even agreed to help her denounce “Fen” as an agent of Suma-Ket.

However, it was easy for “Fen” to gain time by denouncing in turn Rahn and Arliss as aliens and killers.

She stalled long enough for Suma-Ket to start his take-over of Atlantis, but an Atlantean eventually stabbed the false Fen. Namor then confronted Suma-Keth while Rahn and Arliss fought at his side against his undead soldiers. Suma-Ket was finally killed and his power broken, narrowly saving the whole of Atlantis.

Tamara Rahn…

The next few months of Tiger Shark’s life are undocumented. Tamara Rahn started a relationship with him, and he agreed to become the protector of a mysterious tribe of Atlanteans in the Sargasso Sea, called the People of the Mist.

Little is known about the People, though several of them seemed to be anthropophagous. Arliss and Rahn lived in a private grotto on the ocean’s floor. Though still mutated in a near-human form with fangs and claws, Tiger Shark had his classic costume fitted to his changed body.

One of their scouts, called Remora, spotted women looking like Tamara not too far from the Sargasso. Astounded that there might exist survivors of her race, Rahn rushed to the site with Arliss in tow, and did establish contact with fellow Banari.

Though initially overjoyed, she soon discovered that the last Banari women had fallen under the thrall of Fomalhauti conquerors, using mind-control parasites. The Fomalhauti overseeing the Banari women near the Sargasso was also a member of the Starblasters alien conquerors. His plans for destroying the Earth were opposed by Namor, Stingray and Triton of the Inhumans.

… and other undersea aliens

The usually decisive Rahn was shaken by what had happened to her kind. But she collected herself for a last-ditch attempt at freeing them from Fomalhauti mind control. As Tamara attempted to deal with the parasites, she had her man attack the Fomalhauti.

Tiger Shark ripped off one of the alien’s tentacles with his teeth, but the Starblaster narrowly escaped. Rahn’s attempt to free her Banari sisters did not work, and Arliss was left to clumsily console her as she clutched the corpse of a Banari killed when the mind control was broken.

As Tamara clung to any chance to liberate Banari survivors, she and Tiger Shark joined the efforts to oppose the Starblasters. One of the humans working with Namor to thwart the Starblasters was Diane Arliss. Though she and Todd saw each other, they did not speak.

As Tamara and Arlys investigated a possible Starblaster base, she was pulled under the silt by tentacles. Tiger Shark narrowly escaped those, but feared that Rahn was dead.

The Fantastic Four came to investigate the site minutes later. Only caring for saving his companion, Tiger Shark allied with them to investigate the Starblaster installation, and swam out like a torpedo as soon as he secured Tamara.

The Banari eventually recovered from her experiences.

Deep-sixed

A short time after this incident, Namor once again came to be considered a dangerous criminal by the surface world. Knowing that he could exonerate Namor if he had some help, his ally Stingray decided to assemble a small team of subaquatic adventurers who had previously helped the Avenging Son.

He quickly recruited Triton and Andromeda, then came for Tamara Rahn. Rahn suggested that they take Tiger Shark along.

Arliss was less than enthusiastic at the thought of joining. But Rahn told him that it was his chance to show how much he had changed while living with her, and that he wasn’t a menace anymore. Arliss agreed to join, which was a boon – since his shark-like ability to smell minute amounts of blood in huge volumes of sea water could help track Namor down.

The team found Namor shortly after the Avengers did. In the heat of the moment, Stingray named the team “Deep Six”, to the annoyance of Tiger Shark who had predicted that one of the heroes would come up with some corny name. The Deep Six clashed with the Avengers, and Tiger-Shark started to frenzy.

Before he could kill Thunderstrike by ripping his throat with his fangs, Namor charged him to prevent the situation from fatally degenerating. Tiger-Shark swam away in anger, and the apologetic Tamara followed him. The incident, however, made it clear to the Avengers that Namor was not their enemy.

Some months after this incident, Tiger Shark further mutated and he and Tamara Rahn were no longer an item. What happened is undocumented.

Perhaps Rahn dumped him and the stress triggered further massive mutations. Or perhaps those were caused by another harmful incident and Tiger Shark fled in shame, assuming that he was now too mutated for Tamara to retain her interest in him. Other scenarios are of course possible.

Remastered of evil

In any case, Tiger Shark — now with a grey skin, a large cranio-dorsal fin, and even more inhuman features — resumed his old criminal career.

When the Masters of Evil were re-re-re-formed, this time by a new Crimson Cowl (Justine Hammer), he was a natural recruit. Presumably it was the Cowl who had a new costume made for him, to accommodate the fin and other new body features of the mutate.

The Masters (the seventh version, if one is to keep count) usually acted as mercenaries. They destroyed mob assets for an undisclosed rival criminal in New York City, before being forced to depart by the Black Widow and the Thunderbolts. The core membership of this version, in addition to Tiger Shark, was Cyclone, Man-Killer, Klaw and Flying Tiger.

The Masters then fought again with the Thunderbolts (themselves secretly former Masters of Evil) while they ran security during the delivery of a high-tech arms shipment. More clashes ensued between the two teams.

One such battle took place after the Masters defeated National Guard units in Nebraska. They retreated, but their weather-manipulation technology razed a small farming town as a test.

This version of the Masters was eventually defeated in battle royale. The Thunderbolts surprised them in confined quarters and kept them disorganised during the whole fight.

Heavy of fortune

Tiger Shark continued to serve as a mercenary. He worked for another group occasionally referred to as the Deep Six, assembled by Attuma and including Piranha, Nagala, Sea Urchin and Orka. The goal of Deep Six was to take over Atlantis, but they were defeated by the Defenders.

Tiger Shark sported his classic appearance and costume — it is possible that a condition to his recruitment was to ’cure‘ him of his mutations, possibly through Nagala’s magic. Tiger Shark had the misfortune of being engaged in combat by Defenders member the Silver Surfer, and was quickly defeated.

Tiger Shark was later arrested in unknown circumstances, and incarcerated for several years at the Raft, the special maximum security facility of the Ryker’s Island penitentiary.

His mutations, apparently suspended while working with Attuma, reasserted themselves and he was transferred to the “Big House” prison, where dangerous inmates were kept shrunken for additional security.

In and out the Big House

Tiger Shark was part of a mass escape, but the tiny prisoners were easily recaptured by She-Hulk. Tiger Shark was transferred back to the Raft after that — possibly because his grey-skinned mutation had again been neutralised, making him less of a discipline risk.

A mass escape occurred at the Raft, and numerous criminals escaped. Tiger-Shark, chained to the Armadillo with an unbreakable Adamantium  chain, was among their number. They hid in small towns for six months, which was a very unpleasant experience for Tiger Shark.

They were eventually found by the reality TV show New Warriors, which roamed America to recapture Raft escapees. The Warriors managed to capture him after his costume was damaged and started leaking.

Arliss may then have escaped, mutated again and tried a wardrobe change with the help of the Consultant. This is rather unclear, to the point of doubting of whether any of that was in continuity.

2007

In 2007, Tiger Shark, in his pink-skinned form, returned to the ocean. He stole an artefact called the Horn of Gabriel (possibly an erroneous identification of the Horn of Proteus) to rally giant sea monsters to him and invade the surface, Namor-style.

The Mighty Avengers responded, which was what the unbalanced Arliss hoped. He wanted to beat one or more Avenger to boost his cred. The Mighty Avengers managed to beat back most of his creatures (including a Giganto) and Ms. Marvel beat up Arliss, who seemed oddly passive and may have had psychological problems at that point.

Namor then intervened, taking the Horn, the unconscious Tiger Shark and the monsters with him.

Tiger Shark was later contacted by the Hood while the would-be crimelord assembled an army of super-villains. But he was soon captured by Kraven (Alyosha Kravinoff) who was assembling a twisted menagerie.

Tiger Shark was kept heavily drugged and fitted with a high-powered explosive collar. When the Punisher raided the menagerie to take out Kravinoff, he briefly fought Tiger Shark, who seemed barely conscious.

2008

In 2008, Whirlwind worked on assembling a new team of Masters of Evil. He recruited Tiger Shark, still looking more or less human. He also recruited Mister Hyde and Boomerang, and they approached McDonald Gargan, formerly the Scorpion and now Venom of Osborn’s Thunderbolts.

Gargan betrayed them, and as Venom subdued Tiger Shark. Norman Osborn then threatened the would-be Masters of Evil and forced them to unofficially work for him. Further activities are unchronicled, but Arliss was arrested and sent to a high-security prison. Presumably, he had tried to renege on the ’deal‘ passed with Osborn.

During the Invasion, the prison was taken over by Skrulls, who briefly experimented on the prisoners.

Arliss reverted to his grey-skinned, finned appearance, presumably as a result of this. But the intervention of Ms. Marvel saved his life and he managed to run away from the Skrulls and dive into the ocean.

Deadpool

Still in his grey-skinned form, Tiger Shark resumed working as a hitman. Norman Osborn paid him to kill Deadpool. Arliss managed to catch Deadpool while the merc-with-a-mouth was on a boat, and soon brought the fight underwater, killing Deadpool. His opponent regenerated, however, and Osborn threatened Tiger Shark with death if he didn’t bring him the head.

Tiger Shark found Deadool and grabbed a handy giant machete to decapitate him, but wasn’t very good with this blade and was defeated. He fled while the police was busy with Deadpool. Another attempt failed after Bob the Hydra agent, supposedly also working for Osborn, betrayed Tiger Shark.

In a fit of short-term thinking, Tiger Shark decided to blackmail Norman Osborn over hiring him. This predictably resulted in Tiger Shark being badly beaten up and defenestrated from a tall building. Nobody even bothered to check whether he was dead.

Overclocked

Arliss was next picked by one of the Elder of the Universe, the Collector, for a game of combat against his cohort the Grandmaster.

The Grandmaster ended up picking the classic Defenders as his champions for the game. The Collector selected old enemies of the individual defenders to meet them – Hulk was opposed by the Red Hulk, the Silver Surfer by Terrax, Dr. Strange by Baron Mordo, and Namor by Tiger Shark.

The Collector dubbed this team the Offenders. When the match started, Tiger Shark was sent to the dimension of the Mindless Ones to fight Namor, revealing that he had been enhanced and now had Adamantium-infused fangs among other improvements. Since the matches weren’t progressing, the competing Elders agreed to throw in some complications, such as Jeph Loeb.

The various combatants were eventually returned to Earth in their original state.

Lethal

Tiger Shark soon joined the newest version of the Lethal Legion. This Legion, organised by the Grim Reaper, included Nekra, Wonder Man, Mister Hyde, the Grey Gargoyle and the Absorbing Man.

The goal was to strike against the then-current Osborn regime. The Legion was remarkably successful, inflicting a lot of damage and tying up huge HAMMER resources. The Legion even managed to outmanoeuvre the (Dark) Avengers in the field and kidnap Osborn himself.

At that point the Reaper pulled the plug on the Legion. He had been in cahoots with Osborn since day one, and secretly arranged for Osborn to escape and the Legion to be arrested. Tiger Shark and the rest ended up at the Raft again.

The gang formerly run by the Hood got Tiger Shark out the Raft. They added him to their fighting force when negotiating with Osborn from a position of strength for better terms. The Osborn regime would soon fall, though.

Tiger Shark apparently opted to avoid the downfall, perhaps by returning to the ocean for a spell.

Description

See illustrations.

Personality

Early during this era, Tiger Shark is a brute with a temper. He’s violent, crude, choleric, and has animalistic instincts that make him enjoy bloodletting and do not go well with stifling social rules. He’s not, however, evil or criminally insane.

If he can find a place where he can fit and/or a woman who loves him, he’ll do what he can to play nice. If so he will usually try to put his violent nature to good use by acting as a protector and champion, so he gets to fight and kill without being reviled.

He doesn’t particularly want harm to befall to anyone (for instance he came to warn Atlantis that the Faceless Ones were coming) but he definitely wants to have, as he often puts it, “his fun” by acting out on his hunter-killer instincts.

Super-villain decay

After he mutates into the grey-skinned form, he retains a good degree of intelligence, initiative, etc.. But that goes out of the window when he gets tense, for instance in combat.

Under such circumstances he will simply become a ravening beast, wanting to kill, bleed and eat his opponents and raving about it as he attacks. All he does is attack madly and utter threat after threat.

As Tiger Shark gets steadily less powerful and competent, his intelligence and strength of personality keep dimming until he’s portrayed as a lowlife jobber , an ordinary thug prone to doing some obviously stupid things and employing doltish tactics.

Most of the time, his rationality is questionable, his plans are those of a nine-year-old and even his ferocity is not that impressive. Tiger Shark seems to largely be burnt out. His grammar and diction are poor, and he seems to largely lack drive.

Panic attacks

As the Tiger Shark gets steadily less impressive and accepts this status, he develops a panic attack problem. Interestingly he deals with such sharp anxiety by breathing water, which seems to indicate some sort of chemical imbalance à la Namor.

Arliss prefers to salvage some dignity by always pointing out that this just like what ails TV series character Tony Soprano .

Quotes

“Nice speech, Subby… but speeches don’t win wars. Let me tear these murderers apart ! Let me have some fun !”

“That’s it, you barnacle-laden Thor wannabe — you’re shark-bait !”

“When it got down to it and ya got taken out by Thor, or Iron Man, or Cap, well… hey, there’s no shame in that. There ain’t no shame in losin’ to the Yankees. But if it was somebody like [Wonder Man] ? Pffft, like gettin’ blown out by the Brewers. On opening day.”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Marvel Universe.

Helper(s): Darci.

Writeup completed on the 15^th of January, 2011.