LIONFANGLIONFANG
Real Name: Alejandro Cortez
Identity/Class: Human, technology user
Occupation: Teacher, inventor
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: His "cats"
Enemies: Clark Seacrest, Luke Cage, Scourge of the Underworld
Known Relatives: Mrs. Cortez (wife)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
First Appearance: Luke Cage, Power Man#13 (September, 1973) (or Hero for Hire#13?)
Powers/Abilities: With his Helmet for Mind-Transfer he could gain the strength, agility, and fierceness of any feline or animal or person he choose. He could also transfer knowledge into the minds of other persons or animals, as well as firing electrocuting rays from his hands.
History:
(Luke Cage, Power Man#13 (fb) - BTS) - Alejandro Cortez was a teacher and had
the hobby of working in the circus. He lived in the Bronx.
Cortez invented a machinery for the transfer of the knowledge from the mind of
the teacher to the minds of the pupils. He presented a project to gain financing for his research, but Clark Seacrest denied the funds.
Cortez swore revenge, and left his wife and his home full of rage.
He took refuge in the Circus at the Madison Square Garden and used his Helmet
for the Transfer of the Mind on some felines and took the name of Lionfang.
(Luke Cage, Power Man#13) - Cortez had a tiger kill Seacrest. Luke Cage was hired by the major to investigate, so Cortez sent a lion, a tiger, and a black panther to kill Luke. Their fangs were coated with poison, and Luke was wounded, but survived to the assault.
Two days later, Cortez was surprised that Luke Cage was spying
on the Circus in Madison Square Garden, so he assaulted him with the fury and
the power of a tiger then knocked Luke down with an electrocuting ray from his
hands.
When Luke awoke, Lionfang explained him that, thanks to his invention, he gifted
some of his knowledge to his feline "students" and in change he
obtained part of their fierceness, agility and strength. Lionfang and his
"cats" (a tiger, a lion, a lioness, two black panthers and a
leopard) attacked Luke but the hero managed to knock them away and spoil Lionfang's Helmet for the Mind-Transfer. Lionfang's powers started
to fade, and he electrocuted Luke and, with his agility, easily fled using the
circus trapezes. Luke couldn't follow him because his weight broke the ropes, so he broke one of the support poles of the trapezes and Lionfang fell down. After few seconds he
seemed to die
in Luke's arms.
(Captain America I#394) - The Scourge of the Underworld met with the Red Skull (Johann Schmidt), reporting the death of Lionfang, amongst others.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart and Billy Graham.
Great invention! May be the fall broke the machinery so much that nobody could fix it? Its use reminds me the lessons that Professor Xavier did to some of his students while they slept. However it could be improved because without the helmet, his powers were fading, and probably without his Helmet, Lionfang was loosing his feline powers very quickly because he didn't tried to land on four legs as any cat easily can do.
Clarifications:
Lionfang has no known connections to
Clark Seacrest was an accountant of the City of New York. His job was concerned with culture and examining the projects that needed funds to be developed. He rejected Cortez' project.
Seacrest was still working at 3:32 a.m. when he was killed by the tiger.
--Luke Cage, Power Man#13
Mrs. Cortez knew something about his husband's research, but she was abandoned by Alejandro Cortez when his project was terminated.
When she was interviewed by Luke Cage she didn't get angry; probably she was just worried for his husband.
--Luke Cage, Power Man#13
Lionfang called his felines "cats" or "feline students". He lent them some of his knowledge of the English Language and Spanish Language.
The tiger that killed Seacrest knew how to turn off a switch of a lamp (and to arrive in Seacrest's office without be seen by anybody). The lion that attacked Luke in the street pronounced the words "Let's kill him!" and "Die, die!". The black panther that attacked Luke in the street said "Matalo!" (Spanish, "Kill him" in English).
[BTS] The cats in the circus said to Lionfang that they admired Luke.
When Luke pulled Lionfang's Helmet away, Cortez declared that Luke destroyed the beasts; probably there existed a mental link between Lionfang and the animals.
--Luke Cage, Power Man#13
Images:
Lionfang without mane, Luke Cage, Power Man#13, page 15, panel 4
Lionfang, Luke Cage, Power Man#13, page 12, panel 3
Alejandro Cortez - head shot, Luke Cage, Power Man#13, page 18, panel 4
Clark Seacrest, Luke Cage, Power Man#13, page 1, panel 2
Mrs. Cortez, Luke Cage, Power Man#13, page 9, panel 7
Felins, Luke Cage, Power Man#13, page 4, panel 4
Other appearances: None
Last updated: 03/26/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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