Things I Think About #20

Back when Straczynski first started on Amazing Spider-Man, I thought I knew how his first story was going to go. Ezekiel had been telling Peter all this stuff about how he was a totem, and Morlun was a predator that hunted totems, and there was no way that Peter could beat him. And I was sure I knew what would happen. Peter would have to team up with another totem. And it'd be the Puma.

Now granted, when Ezekiel was telling Peter all this stuff, he told Pete that all these animal-themed villains were 'wannabe' totems, and he made a mention of "cougars", which I guess meant the Puma. But I figured, how could the guy not be a totem? Thomas Fireheart's the product of a specific breeding line, combined with mystical. . . stuff. That sounded like someone who should be a totem to me. Of course, it's more likely that he's like Ezekiel, and he took the power when he wasn't supposed to have it. I wonder if that means there is a creature made out of hundreds of mountain lions somewhere in the Marvel Universe. On second thought, I don't think I wonder about that at all.

I only bring this up because Puma will be appearing in Sensational Spider-Man in a couple of months (too bad I won't be buying it) and it got me thinking about him.

He seemed like such a weird character. Native American, who doesn't seem all that interested in his heritage, quietly expressed contempt for it a few times, but still accepts his supposed role as protector of his tribe.

He's rich as hell, owns his own company, yet his first introduction in comics was as an assassin for hire. Why would he need to do that? Kicks and giggles?

He was capable of going into berserk rages Wolverine would be proud of, which seem to have increased in strength and occurence over time (which might be a sign that he wasn't supposed to have this power), but he's still deeply concerned with honor. Probably from that time he spent in Japan (I think until New Avengers, Spider-Man may have been the only character in the Marvel U. who hadn't been there. I'm only half-joking.)

Honor meant so much to him that he bought the Daily Bugle and turned it into a completely pro-Spidey paper, even sending Jameson packing, to make amends to Spider-Man for the past hardships he caused. Yet, he wouldn't hesitate to claw Spidey's face up if he believed that Parker had shown that he wasn't worthy of that.

I'd say ultimately he was a victim of overuse in the '90s (which is a pretty common happenstance), and that they kept making him more and more vicious. He became more about just clawing people up, and less about any real reason. At least when he appeared in Wolverine a few years back, he explained that the "puma" was stronger and making him participate in things like the tournament Logan was in. I'm not sure how great of an explanation that is, but at least it was something, besides just "I can't stand being in your debt anymore Parker! I must KILL YOU!!" They did they same thing with the Lizard. He stopped trying to kill all the mammals so reptiles could rule the world, and just turned into a mindless killing machine. I guess you gotta try new stuff, but I think they went to that particular well a few too many times. I mean that takes a lot of the personality out of the character, you know?