Marvel’s Weirdest Forgotten Villain Will Never Be In The MCU

Marvel has had some truly strange villains over the years, some of which have survived to this day, but many of these villains were something to behold! Packed with bizarre, gimmicky baddies, each trying harder than the last to catch the reader’s attention, comic books were (and sometimes still are) rife with ridiculousness – with no villain likely ever topping the bizarreness of Armless Tiger Man.

Say the words “strange villains” and you’re sure to get plenty of suggestions. From Turner D. Century, a man so upset that it is not actually the Edwardian era any more that he plans to do a little killing to make things a bit more old fashioned again, to Swarm, a Nazi whose body is made up of a swarm of psychic bees. No villain, however, is quite so strange and, frankly, problematic as Armless Tiger Man.

Armless Tiger Man first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #26, all the way back in 1941. Originally Eric Hertz, he was a mechanical worker in Germany, when his arms were caught in a machine. The horrible accident left him without any arms and a fiery hatred for all things mechanical. He sets out on destroying machines, getting himself in fighting trim and filing teeth and nails to razor sharpness. Recruited by the Nazis, he is sent to attack the Americans, and tangles with lesser-known superhero Angel before being captured and sent to the FBI.

In 2010, Armless Tiger Man reappeared in Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of Our Fathers. This time, he was sent by Red Skull and the Nazis to steal vibranium from Wakanda. During the mission, he tears many of the Wakandan guards to pieces with his sharp nails and teeth and eventually manages to capture the Royal Family, before finally being killed by one of Nick Fury’s men.

There’s a lot to unpack with Armless Tiger Man. Comic books – and, to a greater extent, film and television – have historically used disability to identify villainy. Scars and hook hands, eyepatches, and disfigurement are all immediate visual clues that a comic book reader may be looking at a bad guy. It’s a common storytelling trope that has been increasingly criticized by those in the disabled communities for the reductive ideas around which bodies should be considered “good” bodies.

The connection between disabled and evil is one that has long since worn out its welcome for many disabled audiences. Though, with changes in public understanding, media is slowly changing, with some organizations, like the British Film Institute, no longer funding films with scarred villains, and the increasing addition of disabled characters as fully fleshed-out characters. While some stories still struggle to treat scarred or disabled heroes as good or beautiful, some progress has been made.

There is absolutely no question that Armless Tiger Man is a bad guy. He seems to enjoy killing, and some of the panels from Flags of the Father are kind of disgusting. But it’s important to consider why, after losing his arms, writers felt that murder was an appropriate career plan for him. On paper, Armless Tiger Man has a lot of great, high-concept features as a villain. Angry, super strong, can tear a man apart with his nails – these are all interesting aspects of what could be a fun villain. However, describe him as a disabled, cannibalistic Nazi, and it’s understandable why maybe it’s best that the character has ultimately been forgotten and will likely ever be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in his current form.

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Bug Norman
(127 Articles Published)

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Bug Norman is writer, reader, and lover of popcorn television. A current ESL educator, she’s answered phones, scrubbed toilets, worked as an intern on a film set, and now writes comic news for Screen Rant. She currently travels the world teaching English, and video chats with her elderly cat, McGonagall.

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