White Tiger aka El Tigre Blanco

Background

Sister pointers

There’s a minor continuity issue about Awilda Ayala-Del Toro.

For both this profile and Angela Del Toro’s we’ll assume that the events took place as depicted in the original stories. That is, Awilda died shortly after Angela’s birth, and despite what a caption says the woman whom Angela calls “mama” and “Wili” in one scene is not Awilda Ayala-Del Toro.

Awilda’s name was never shortened as “Wili” in her appearances, and Angela Del Toro has an history of addressing friends as if they were relatives as a mark of affection.

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Powers & Abilities

The amulets have permeated the body of Hector Ayala with magical energy. The enchantment gives him great — but not superhuman — strength and stamina.

His speed, recuperative power and leaping ability may or may not be superhuman – they will certainly seem to be to the casual observer, and even Spider-Man found him difficult to handle at his peak.

The White Tiger can easily hit the ground running after a 60 foot drop, and his acrobatics are impressive. Our game stats given here are conservative, since there isn’t much material about the Tiger at his peak.

The jade amulets also confer to him a full mastery of the martial arts and acrobatic techniques of K‘un-Lun. While Ayala doesn’t quite know how he does it, he fights like a master. These skills slowly “leaked over” his Hector Ayala form, and even as just Hector he became a solid athlete and martial artist.

Changing back to Ayala, then some time later to the Tiger was sufficient to flush poison from his metabolism, and it might help with healing wounds.

The Jade Tiger magical amulets, part 1

The 3 jade tiger amulets (one head and two paws) are part of whole jade statue representing a tiger.

This statue was an artefact of unknown origin, which was broken down and hidden to keep the mysterious Master Khan from finding it. The dispersed fragments were enchanted with obfuscation spells so Khan couldn’t just sense them mystically.

The actual nature of Master Khan is an enigma wrapped in a mystery and coated in contradictions. Who were his enemies and what the statue’s significance is remain unknown. When Khan did track down the fragments and assembled the whole statue it became animated and much larger. The statue also opened a portal to K‘un-Lun just by roaring.

When the three amulets were first encountered, in the 1970s, they were held by the sifu Master Kee, who had themed his martial arts school after them. From context, he probably obtained them in pre-revolutionary China.

The Jade Tiger magical amulets, part 2

When he died, Master Kee willed the amulets to his star student and quasi-son Lin Sun. When used by Sun and 2 of his friends (Abraham Brown and Robert Diamond), the jade pendants mystically enhanced them – after reciting a mantra each of the three men had access to the combined strength and martial arts skill of all 3.

The amulets were sporadically used to perform other magical feats, including dimensional travel.

Sun, Brown and Diamond would adventure as the Sons of the Tiger for several years, before splitting up over a romantic rivalry. Dejected, Lin Sun threw the amulets out of the window of their Lower East Side dojo, and Hector Ayala found them minutes later.

The Jade Tiger magical amulets, part 3

As can be seen in this profile, the amulets had different effects on Ayala than on the Sons. One panel might vaguely imply that he received the accumulated strength, martial expertise and athletic prowess of all the fighters who had worn the amulets before, including the Sons of the Tiger, but this is tentative.

As the White Tiger, Ayala was borderline superhuman or perhaps slightly superhuman.

The amulets were eventually given back to the Sons, then stolen by Master Khan, then repossessed and ended up returning to the White Tiger, though he did not use them until shortly before his death. An unrevealed party then sent them to his niece, Angela del Toro, who used them to become the new White Tiger – la Tigresa Blanca.

Del Toro was soon able to tap deeper into the amulet’s power than her uncle or the Sons of the Tiger ever did, displaying clearly superhuman powers such as becoming invisible.

History

This section smooths over various tiny continuity problems, as they present little interest.

Hector Ayala’s family is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, though they left to live in New York City. Reports conflict as to whether Hector was born in Puerto Rico or New York, though by the primary sources he’s a native New Yorker. In either case, Ayala grew up in the South Bronx.

Back in the 1970s, his neighbourhood was a slum, and a ghetto chiefly populated by Spanish-speaking immigrants from a number of countries. Hector presumably had encounters with the police during his teens, since they had his fingerprints on file – but he did not have a criminal record.

The police knowing his fingerprints may have been tied to Hector’s little brother Filippo, a junkie and usual suspect who eventually vanished from the Ayala household.

One day, near the corner of 3^rd and C in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Hector spotted some beautiful jade amulets that had been thrown into the trash. When he examined them and decided to keep them, the amulets flooded his mind with visions, his body with strength, and mystically clad him in a white costume, “telling” him that his name was the White Tiger.

Mr. Ayala woke up in the South Bronx hours later, horribly sick and with no clear memory of what had happened during the night. It would be several days before he realised that he and the White Tiger were the same person, as the new White Tiger persona better integrated with the scared Hector.

Burning bright, part 1

The first few days of White Tiger’s career as a South Bronx hero were complicated. He was falsely accused by the Daily Globe and the police of having murdered a local Puerto Rican kid, and the police thought that Hector Ayala was also involved after finding his fingerprints on the scene.

Both the White Tiger and Ayala would be cleared within 48 hours, as a night watchman who had accidentally killed the kid confessed.

However, the accusations had considerable consequences. They greatly stressed out Ayala’s mother and big sister, and set the Puerto Rican population in the South Bronx on edge. One day later, when the White Tiger was seen working with police officers and another Hispanic kid was killed by a bomb meant to eliminate the novice hero, a race riot erupted.

In the toxic context of the racial politics that existed back then, the population assumed that the masked Tiger was Caucasian (since the police was working with him) and acting as a sort of death squad killing Puerto Rican kids involved with street gangs.

Burning bright, part 2

The Tiger had been working with the police since he’d found himself embroiled in the investigation about the murder of wealthy inventor Philip Hart by the Corporation. Hart’s son had become the superhuman avenger Jack of Hearts, and mistakenly thought that the White Tiger was the criminal who had ordered his father’s death.

Hart assaulted the Tiger, realised his mistake and was badly wounded saving the Tiger from the consequences of his attack.

The White Tiger decided to continue to investigation in the Hart murder as his new friend recuperated, and joined forces with Detective-Sergeant James d’Angelo of the NYPD, and the private dick Nathaniel “Blackbyrd” Byrd.

Investigating the Corporation’s assets in the South Bronx led the White Tiger and his allies to discover that the local branch of the dreaded syndicate was headed by Filippo Ayala – who unbeknownst to his family had become a minor crime boss.

While the White Tiger and his allies did take down the South Bronx’s branch of the Corporation, it came at a heavy cost. Filippo joined the rest of his “board” in suicide after their operations were crippled by both the failure of negotiations with Fu Manchu and the actions of the Tiger and the Jack of Hearts.

Burning bright, part 3

As to his sister Awilda, she had been shocked by all the violence and death the actions of her brothers had exposed her to. She also was unable to deal with the revelation of Filippo being a crime boss and young Hector being a super-hero. For a while, she preferred to pretend that her brothers were both dead.

Awilda never really got over the revelation of Hector and Filippo’s secret identities, and would keep riding her little brother for years out of fear that he’d be killed or bring more harm to the family.

Blackbyrd introduced the White Tiger to his allies the Sons of the Tiger, the former bearers of the jade amulets, in the apparent hope that they would join forces. However, Hector Ayala needed time to deal with what had happened, and the Sons left without him to go looking for their missing friend Abe Brown in the Sahara.

Remaining in the South Bronx, Ayala decided not to be the Tiger full time and to get himself an education, attending the free classes at the night school of the Empire State University.

Unchronicled adventures of the White Tiger cleared the misconception that he was a White man going after the impoverished Puerto Ricans in the South Bronx. He became hailed as a local hero. As Hector, he also became a friend of science student Peter Parker at the ESU.

Tiger, spider, defender (part 1)

In 1977, it was announced that the ESU night school was shutting down due to financial difficulties. One professor disguised himself as the White Tiger to force the ESU administration to negotiate in better faith. In his view shutting down the night school was chiefly going to hurt the poorest students, particularly Hispanics from the South Bronx – who considered the Tiger to be their hero.

This spurred the real White Tiger into action, but a mistaken brawl erupted with Spider-Man. Spidey came to realise his mistake and the situation was amiably solved. The student riots were defused and solutions were found to save the night school.

In the long run, this did not help Ayala much. He was a failure in school, and felt that he should do more as the White Tiger and become a positive symbol for Hispanic New Yorkers. He remained active as a minor New York City hero, joining forces with other costumed adventurers such as Daredevil, the Human Fly or – most often – Spider-Man.

Despite his mediocre academic results and student discipline, Ayala remained enrolled at the ESU since his mother insisted. Though he kept missing his classes, he did meet an art student named Holly Gillis, who would soon become his girlfriend.

Tiger, spider, defender (part 2)

Most of the White Tiger’s adventures in New York were never chronicled. One flashback showed him stopping Doctor Octopus as the multi-limbed malfeasant was about to escape from Spider-Man and Daredevil. An all-ages book also featured him thwarting the Trapster along with Spider-Man.

Other minor cases included teaming up with Daredevil and the Human Fly to stop one Mr. Reynolds, who was wearing the Copperhead armour once worn by Lawrence Chesney.

In 1978, the Lightmaster attacked Hector Ayala, having come to the erroneous conclusion that Ayala was secretly Spider-Man. Spider-Man intervened and the 2 heroes vanquished Lightmaster, but in so doing Ayala’s secret identity was exposed on live local television.

This made Ayala’s life difficult, and triggered a break up with Gillis. She didn’t want to share the life of a man who could die at any moment and kept such secrets from her.

Gillis eventually relented and tried to patch things up, though that was delayed by a rampage of the horrific Carrion across the ESU. Trying to protect ESU student Peter Parker, who was stalked by Carrion, Ayala intervened as the Tiger.

He managed to keep Carrion’s well-equipped aide, Darter, out of Parker’s hair and briefly helped Spider-Man against Carrion.

Tiger, spider, defender (part 3)

Still trying to become a symbol for la raza, the White Tiger also applied to join the Defenders, but the supposed recruiting event turned out to be a farce and he came back empty-handed.

Holly Gillis did rebuild bridges with Hector, and since his GPA  was still poor she came up with the solution. They’d set up a “mobile university” in the South Bronx. In this way they’d be earning credit with work more suited to Ayala’s temper and fulfilling his wish to help his neighbourhood.

Gillis and Ayala were tasked with operating a bus converted into a school library, and chiefly taught disenfranchised kids how to read. This was reportedly the best time in Hector Ayala’s life.

It was presumably during this era that Awilda Ayala, Hector’s big sister, married one Mr. Del Toro. He was from the Del Toros, a clan of fellow New Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage known for their extensive involvement with both the NYPD and the martial arts scene of New York City. Awilda’s daughter Angela was presumably born soon after her marriage.

Awilda apparently spent much time with her mother, though. She continued to counter-productively insist that Hector make something ordinary, safe and low profile of himself by studying and leaving the White Tiger behind him.

¡Maldición!, part 1

In late 1980, Gideon Mace started his crusade to eliminate all New York City super-heroes. The White Tiger was his first prey – Ayala’s identity having been revealed on television, Mace could easily find and murder his family in an attempt to gain a psychological edge.

Mr. and Mrs. Ayala were murdered outright, and Awilda Ayala-del Toro fatally shot, dying in Hector’s arms when he came home.

Enraged, Ayala tracked down Mace, who sent a small army of assassins against him. The White Tiger nevertheless prevailed, but was tricked and cornered, allowing Mace to shoot him with a M14.

Though the surgeons dug out 12 bullets out of his body, Ayala survived without any long-term damage. The amulets providing him with the necessary will to live and recuperative ability.

However, after quickly recovering from his near-death, Hector decided to take the amulets off and endure the resulting pain until he could function without them. He blamed the amulets for killing his family and making it impossible for him to live in New York.

Once he finished going cold turkey from the jade pendants, he and Holly got on a bus to start their lives again far from New York City, where nobody knew who Hector Ayala was. Hector handed over the amulets to the private detective Blackbyrd so he would return them to the Sons of the Tiger, and promised Holly that he would never become the White Tiger again.

¡Maldición!, part 2

Hector and Holly eventually married. Nothing is known about their life in the meanwhile – 20 years in publication timeline, “a couple of years” in the compressed 10-year timeline. Hector never became the Tiger again, even though he somehow recovered the amulets.

Hector frequently returned to New York City to see his little niece Angela, who bonded with her tio and was very impressed by the fact he used to be el Tigre Blanco. The Ayalas eventually moved back to the Bronx.

In 2002, Hector Ayala found himself unable to resist the temptation, as his wife had long feared. He wore the amulets, turned into the White Tiger again and sneaked out to patrol the neighbourhood. This discreet return lasted for but 2 days.

Ayala heard a gunshot and came in to see that a policeman had been shot trying to prevent a robbery. The 2 kids who had shot the cop managed to get away, leaving the White Tiger the sole person in the room when two other cops burst in seconds later.

Hitting the jackpot

Circumstances conspired to make Ayala look like a cop killer, though there was no material proof.

The case was big. The national mood was at that point very much opposed to costumed vigilantes, and there was a lot of potential benefit in making an example out of the White Tiger. The DA could easily use this as a springboard toward a political career, and the media went into a feeding frenzy similar to the O.J. Simpson trial .

Luke Cage and Iron Fist had remained in touch with the Ayalas due to their quasi-familial relationship with the Del Toros. They asked Matthew Murdock (himself in the middle of a media and political storm as he was accused of being Daredevil) to take the case.

Though Murdock considered that he would taint the case since he was widely assumed to have a double life as a vigilante, he couldn’t force himself not to defend an innocent hero.

Though Murdock pleaded well, everybody was just out for vigilante blood, the jury was tainted, and the retired Hector was the expiatory victim.

For a crime he did not commit

When the jury declared him guilty, Ayala cracked at the insanity of it all and beat back the bailiffs trying to restrain him. In the commotion, a cop lost his pistol, which landed at Hector’s feet.

Hector grabbed the gun and ran out, wishing to put an end to this madness and desperate to talk to his wife. As he got out, he discovered that the outside stairway was blocked by a crowd of journalists and cameras waiting to film the end of his trial, and the former White Tiger was surrounded by armed cops.

Preferring death over being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, Ayala closed his eyes and remained standing there without dropping the pistol as ordered. The police opened fire and killed him in front of massed cameras.

Mere hours later, Daredevil found one of the 2 kids who had actually killed the policeman. Ravaged by guilt, the kid agreed to go to the police station and confess, clearing Hector Ayala’s name.

Aftermath

Following her tio’s death, Angela Del Toro — by then a brilliant FBI agent — became more preoccupied than ever by urban vigilantes. She had spent much of her youth pondering why Hector had been the White Tiger, and had volunteered to lead the Bureau’s Daredevil investigation task force.

When an anonymous person stole Hector’s amulets from the evidence room and mailed them to her, Del Toro went to confront Daredevil pendants in hand. She soon became the new White Tiger — la Tigresa Blanca — in order to walk into her tio’s footsteps.

Just like Hector Ayala had gained a knowledge of the Sons of the Tiger when he first put on the amulets, Angela Del Toro experienced detailed visions of her uncle Hector talking to her. It seems likely that the amulets hold in some fashion part of the departed Hector Ayala’s spirit.

Description

When he found the amulets, Hector seemed to be a young man, aged about 17. Note that his voice and body language are markedly different when he’s the Tiger than when he’s the Hector. His style of acrobatics and martial arts are recognisably K‘un-Lunese.

Back in the 1970s, Ayala often wore a “Libertad para Puerto Rico” sweater.

The White Tiger stories were among artist George Pérez’ earliest work. He based Hector’s face on his brother’s, and Hector’s mum on his own.

Personality

Hector Ayala was originally a well-meaning young man, trying to keep his mother and big sister happy. He wasn’t very bright or ambitious, in part because his mother and sister insisted that he follow what they saw as the normal path for Puerto Ricans. Namely, keep a low profile, stay out of trouble and have some nondescript working class job putting food on the table.

They were scared that he would get into trouble like his brother Filippo, but Hector knew enough not to become a junkie.

His transformations into the White Tiger initially took over him werewolf-style. He couldn’t control his metamorphoses or the actions of the Tiger, who had his own personality and agenda, and barely could remember what had been happening while he was the Tiger.

The Tiger’s goal was to teach to the persons living in the slums to break out of the spiral of violence, and to show them that it was no solution to their problems.

A difference

The Tiger — described as a “sublimated version” of Hector in captions — wanted to make a difference. This was in sharp contrast to the familial message drilled into him that he should fly under everybody’s radar.

Within a few days, the two started merging as events had Hector quickly grow up into becoming the White Tiger, a fuller expression of whom he wanted to be. Still, there would always remain a difference between the Tiger and Hector.

The White Tiger was more decisive than Hector, and had something of an angry, direct vibe. He fought without holding any punches despite his great strength. He would even fleetingly consider killing some opponents. The Tiger fought to take down gangsters, thugs and predators and make the ’hood safer for ordinary, honest folks like his family.

Being recognised as a hero by Latinos was important to both the Tiger and Hector. Unlike the Tiger, though, Hector had some vague political agenda of Puerto Rican consciousness, though he never got the education to articulate it and it was just a general desire of his. The Tiger was more driven by thoughts of justice and punishing killers.

As he grew older, Hector Ayala became more mature, focused and responsible. One comment of his attorney implies that he continued to work for good causes. He remained a simple and honest man. The absurd and biased verdict at his trial after a life of good deeds, sacrifices and standing up for his fellow man finally broke him.

In the original stories, Ayala spoke comic-book Spanglish and about half his dialogue was in Spanish. He would often do that non-Spanish-speaking-readers-friendly thing where he said something in Spanish then said something equivalent in English as an afterthought.

Quotes

“¿Comprenden, hombres ? Do you understand the nature of violence. Violence breeds itself ! Your violence has bred me !”

(To a gangbanger challenging him) “¿Si ? Is there more to you than there seems, that you should display such courage, amigo ? Or are you merely un malcriado ?”

“¡Corpus de Cristo !”

“Pickin’ up these estupida amulets an’ windin’ up jumpin’ all over town like I was Daredevil ! Me — Hector Ayala — a super-hero ! What a laugh !”

DC Universe History

When Hal Jordan destroyed the Central Power Battery on Oa some of the fragments were scattered through space and time. One large fragment was discovered by powerful sorcerer called Master Khan who used it to augment his power and create his own pocket of hypertime.

In time, smaller pieces were taken from the fragment and used to create items to further the needs of Master Khan.

One such item was a statuette of a tiger. At some point the head and front paws were removed and fell into the hands of a series of martial arts masters. Eventually the O-Sensei inherited them and he passed them on to his three best students: Richard Dragon, Ben Turner, and Lady Shiva.

When Dragon and Turner retired they discarded their amulets. Along with Lady Shiva’s amulet, these somehow found their way to Gotham City where they were found by a young man. Calling himself the White Tiger, he embarked on a career of vigilantism similar to the Black Spider’’s.

In the 30^th century a child named Val Armorr found his way into the hypertime pocket. He learned martial arts from the masters who resided therein. Upon finishing his training, he was given the amulets which helped amplify his already formidable abilities.

When Mordru fought and defeated the entire Legion of Super Heroes, Armorr was able to use the amulets to drain much of the Sorcerer’s might thus boosting his martial arts abilities to superhuman levels. Calling himself the Karate Kid he then joined the Legion.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Marvel Universe in the 1970s.

Helper(s): Jackson (co-author of the v1 of this entry), Jay Myers (DC History), Darci.

Writeup completed on the 23^rd of May, 2011.