Black Panther's Successor Is Here: Meet Wakanda's New Superhero, Gold Tiger
It's official: the New Champions have arrived in the Marvel Universe, and with the entire team finally assembled it means the name and powers of Wakanda's newest superhero are finally revealed. And already, Gold Tiger is paying major service to the origins of Wakanda's most famous superhero king, Black Panther.
As one of the few new superheroes to accept the invitation to join the New Champions, the full story regarding Gold Tiger's powers and name have been kept quiet longer than any of the other core members. But in In New Champions #2 by Steve Foxe, Ivan Fiorelli, Arthur Hesli, and Travis Lanhambut she is unveiled in all her combat glory, wielding mystical claws capable of turning everything she touches into solid gold.
Summoned into combat by Hellrune, one of the New Champions' core four, the new Gold Tiger is just one of multiple conjured characters who are not yet 'official' members of the Champions roster. Not hesitating when faced with an army of Norwegian undead, Gold Tiger demonstrates her powers by touching her gold claws to the mud beneath her, and freezing the zombies in the solid gold that used to be dirt.
Marvel's New Gold Tiger Has Deep Connections To Black Panther's Past
Like the other members of Marvel's New Champions roster, the Gold Tiger was originally created as part of a variant cover program intended to celebrate the success of Spider-Boy, the forgotten sidekick of Spider-Man (who was erased from existence, explaining why no fan had ever heard of him). Recruiting all-star artists to create non-canon, similarly-forgotten sidekicks for Marvel's biggest heroes, Thor was awarded Hellrune, a brand new Hulk was created, and in the case of Gold Tiger, her history as sidekick to Black Panther was conjured from nothing.
The original designer of Gold Tiger, Ernanda Souza, took inspiration for the design from the original name and design for Black Panther: Coal Tiger. Gold Tiger's color scheme, cape, sash, and overall design heavily resembles the Coal Tiger (who would eventually come to be known as Black Panther). The name Gold Tiger even offers a direct nod to "Coal Tiger." How the character's civilian identity relates to King T'Challa, or Wakanda as a nation remains to be seen.
Gold Tiger is The Last of The New Champions To Have Their Powers Revealed
With the entire starting roster of the team now assembled on the page, fan excitement can shift from having a mystery solved to seeing each of these characters detailed and explored both in and out of combat. Gold Tiger will become a vital member of the New Champions, based on the fact that she will be featured solely on the cover of New Champions #4. Though it's a challenge to give all team members a fair amount of focus, the mere existence of this book is proof that there is more to these heroes than just a stellar character design.
New Champions #2is available now from Marvel Comics.
