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    Tiger Shark

    Character » Tiger Shark appears in 57 issues.

    An expert on submarines, the Tiger Shark is a gimmick sea pirate that fought Batman and Robin.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Tiger Shark last edited by The_Kidd on 10/24/20 12:51AM View full history

    Origin

    Pre-Crisis Version

    Dr. Gaige (No name given) was a famed oceanographer, specializing in submarine technology. Donning a striped diving suit and helmet and recruiting a gang of pirates, he became known as Tiger Shark, a modern day pirate. The pirates had their headquarters inside a sunken ship modified to be airtight, located 200 miles from the nearest shore.

    Batman and Robin were called in when Tiger Shark continued stealing from ships. During this time, batman makes use of a specially modified Batmobile capable of becoming a submarine. Tiger Shark and his gang are able to escape, however.

    When Batman and Robin stake out a ship filled with diamonds, Tiger Shark and his gang come to blows with Batman and Robin once again come to blows, with Robin and Tiger Shark fencing with oxy-acetiline blowtorches. Batman is able to place a tracer inside the boot of one of Tiger Shark's pirates when they are knocked out. The Dynamic Duo follow the signal to the gang's underwater hideout. They descend in a bathysphere, only to become trapped on the ocean's floor. They manage to climb up an anchor, saving them from suffocating.

    Batman and Robin seek out Gaige, not knowing he is Tiger Shark, to modify the Batsubmarine. Gaige adds things to sabotage it, though these are counteracted by Batman and Robin. They are able to capture and unmask Tiger shark after another confrontation.

    Post-Crisis Version

    A Modern version of Tiger Shark appeared in Hungry City story. He is a murderous modern day pirate, who tried to "invest" dirty money in Sonia Zuccos GGM Bank.

    Creation

    This version of Tiger Shark was created by Scott Snyder and Jock (Mark Simpson).

    Major story Arcs

    The Black Mirror

    One day, the corpse of a Killer Whale is found in the lobby of Gotham Municipal Bank. When Dick arrives as Batman, and sees Commissioner Gordon talking to the bank manager, Sonia Branch. Sonia explains that one of her tellers was found inside the belly of the Orca. Dick notices certain facial qualities about Sonia that are reminiscent of Tony Zucco. Dick tries to get information out of Sonia by telling her that he knows who her father is but Sonia doesn’t give into Dick’s scare tactics. Sonia explains that she has abandoned her father’s legacy and she has worked tirelessly to make sure not one cent of blood money is ever accepted at her bank. Dick is convinced and apologizes to Sonia for his misconceptions.

    Gordon suspects that someone is trying to intimidate Sonia into opening her bank to the criminal element or extort money from her through blackmail because if Batman can deduce who Sonia really is then the Gotham Underworld will certainly use this information against her. Sonia tells Dick that a mister Bixby Rhodes has been denied an account at her bank numerous times. Mr. Rhodes is a car dealer but Sonia still listens in on any recent developments within Gotham’s underbelly. The word is Rhodes is the gun runner Roadrunner, who uses the trunks of his exotic or custom made cars to sneak guns in and out of city. Sonia also informs Dick that she has been receiving threatening phone calls from someone who wants to use her bank to launder their ill gotten funds.

    Gordon traces these mysterious phone calls to Rhodes’ dealership and Dick takes the initiative. When Dick arrives at the dealership, he sees Rhodes making a hasty exit and heading toward the Gotham Junkyard. Dick tails Rhodes and observes one of Rhodes’ transactions taking place. Unfortunately, someone alerted Rhodes that Batman was following him and Rhodes’ men ambush Dick. Rhodes’ men disarm Dick and place him in the trunk of a car then they activate the magnetic crane. The crane lifts the car that Dick is in and places it in the car compactor. Fortunately, Dick has learned a thing or two about escaping from tight spaces.

    Dick escapes the trunk before the car is crushed by the compactor and uses unarmed combat to deal with Rhodes’ henchmen. When Dick goes after Rhodes, Dick discovers Rhodes has prosthetic legs made out of titanium, which allow him to move faster than the average man. Dick reaches for his utility belt and uses a grappling hook to bring down Rhodes. Dick interrogates Rhodes because he wants to know who tipped him off that Batman was following the Roadrunner. Rhodes tells Dick that it was a woman working for the Tiger Shark. Dick brings Rhodes to Gordon’s precinct for booking and Rhodes tries to make a deal with the DA for a reduced sentence. Rhodes tells DA Spencer that Tiger Shark is leaving Gotham Bay with several rare animals in order to sell them on the black market.

    Dick and Tim stake out Gotham Bay and locate Tiger Shark’s yacht. Gordon informs the Dynamic Duo that there is some truth to Rhodes’ information because someone has recently stolen a few exotic birds from the Gotham City Aviary which puts Mayor Hady’s political position in jeopardy. Dick asks Gordon if he will be calling the coast guard to prevent Tiger Shark from leaving the city but Gordon cuts off communication because Jim has just seen some startling footage from the aviary security cameras.

    The Dynamic Duo sneak onto Tiger Shark’s boat and begin to take on Tiger Shark’s men. Amongst the fighting, Dick gets knocked into a large pool by Tiger Shark. Dick then finds himself at the mercy of a crazed killer whale who was being kept in the pool. Tim finishes off the remaining Tiger Shark goons and heads to the pool. Tim uses some repellant to force the whale into retreating while he fishes Dick out of the water. Dick and Tim search the ship for Tiger Shark but it turns out he got away with a mini submarine that was attached to the yacht.

    The Dynamic Duo do manage to find the stolen animals and a bomb set to explode. Fortunately, the bomb was not set to detonate until a few minutes have passed. Dick assumes that Tiger Shark was hoping to lure the heroes and perhaps the police into a false sense of victory when they would begin the rescue of the animals. The Dynamic Duo only had enough time to rescue the animals and set the orca free thanks to the Bat Boat. Tiger Shark’s goons are left to explode with yacht and later that same night, Dick confronts Sonia about her involvement with Tiger Shark. Sonia of course, denies everything Dick says but he does warn her that from now on, he will personally be keeping a close eye on her. Dick makes his shadowy exit and Sonia is left feeling scared rather than confident.

    The New 52

    Tiger Shark makes his first New 52 appearance in the pages of Batman, during a fight aboard his yacht with the Caped Crusader. Batman beats hims down and questions him on how Tiger Shark let the Talon get into Wayne Tower through the east side (Tiger Shark's criminal domain).

    Tiger Shark declines answering, instead setting a tiger on Batman but the fight soon subsides due to the interference of Harper Row, who shuts off the running waters, grounding the yacht and Batman finishing off the villain.

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