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word of advice : SPOILERS for Defenders # 3Marvel reveals thatthe Phoenix Forcehas a cosmic bane , by dilate the traditional knowledge of one of the caller ’s oldest character , the White Tiger , and the fauna who is its source of great power , the Tiger God . Originally , the Tiger God was a mystic creature that fuel an artifact forebode the Amulets of Power , used by the Sons of the Tiger and then by a lineage of heroes call themselves the White Tiger . Now it has become much more , a cosmic creature that represents the primordial fears and stand opposite to the Phoenix .
The Amulets of Power were originally featured in the classic whitened - and - black Marvel magazineDeadly Hands of Kung Fu . After they were abandon by the Sons of the Tiger , they were collected by Hector Ayala , the first champion to call himself the White Tiger . These Greco-Roman stories from the seventies take advantage of the " martial arts fever " that swept through the U.S. in those year , and the magazine showcased iconic characterssuch as Iron Fist and Shang Chi . The White Tiger never became one of Marvel ’s prominent heroes but , as is often the font , decennium later writers who develop up with these level render it a new life . The Tiger God made its first coming into court ( as the reference of the Amulets ' big businessman ) inAvengers Academy#36 , but its actual purpose and its prehistoric origin were let out only inMighty Avengersvol . 2 # 3 . That story was written by Al Ewing , who is now reinventing the Tiger God once again , give it a more salient role in Marvel traditional knowledge .
Related : Marvel Has Broken The X - Men ’s Phoenix - Can It Be Fixed
InDefenders : Beyond#3 , by Al Ewing and Javier Rodrìguez , the team of hero assembled by Eternity to protect the Multiverse travels tothe White Hot Room , the provenience of the Phoenix Force . The cosmic being , however , does not take kindly to intruders , so the Defenders get separated and hunted , specially Loki , who comes from a different timeline and is thus seen as a threat to the multiversal balance by the Phoenix . However , one of the Defenders is Tigra , a hero who is the consecrated warrior of the Cat People , a mystic raceway of mystical humanoid felid . Tigra is able to use this connection to marshal the Tiger God in the White Hot Room , revealing that the creature is a cosmic antagonist to the Phoenix Force .
The Tiger God Is The Phoenix’s Natural Enemy
The Phoenix is perceived by every Defender differently . For Tigra , she is the fire that burn up in a cave , keeping the darkness and the perils that blot out in it outside . However , as Blue Marvel correctly infer , because the White Hot Room represents multiversal balance , there must be a balancing force for the Phoenix herself . The Phoenix is fire , but there is a force beyond the fire , something that hides in the swarthiness , calling it home , its hunting grounds . Beyond the reaching of the Phoenix ’s flaming , lies what the fire was get down to keep away , " the first , most aboriginal fear " : a tiger , or rather the Tiger God . This interpretation is in line with the way Ewing key out the Tiger God inMighty Avengers , but it lucubrate it with a new , compelling connexion with the Phoenix Force .
Al Ewing ’s love for classic Marvel account shines once again in this series . The metaphor of the cave find in this event also givesnew meaning to the Phoenix , which becomes not only a force of wipeout and metempsychosis but also a primordial internal representation of fire as safety and protection . Defenders : Beyondhas establishedthe Phoenixas perhaps the most important of Marvel ’s cosmic beings , and at the same time it has introduced its primordial bane , opening the style forthe Tiger God(and its associated character ) to become an crucial military force in the future tense .
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