Kasper Cole

White Tiger
Kasper Cole as the White Tiger, art by Joe Bennett.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Black Panther (vol. 3) #50
Created by	Christopher Priest (writer) Dan Fraga (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Kevin "Kasper" Cole
Team affiliations	The Crew NYPD
Notable aliases	Black Panther
Abilities	Peak human physical strength, speed, agility and endurance, Superhuman eyesight, Night vision

Kasper Cole is the third fictional character in Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe to use the name White Tiger. The character was created by Christopher Priest and Dan Fraga in Black Panther (vol. 3) #50.

Fictional character biography

Policeman

Kevin Cole is the son of hardline African-American cop Jonathan Peyton "Black Jack" Cole and a Jewish mother, Ruth Cole. His peers on the police force nicknamed him "Kasper" (after the cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost) because of his light skin tone. As a teenager, he saw his father supposedly framed for drug offenses. Kasper once believed this was because Black Jack had refused to go along with corrupt superiors. But it turns out that Black Jack had secretly been Kibuka, the mythical leader of the 66 Bridges gang.

Kasper became a narcotics cop in the 74th Precinct's Organized Crime Control Bureau, supporting both his mother and his girlfriend Gwen; he still pined for his high school sweetheart Grace, but stayed with Gwen when she became pregnant with his child.^[1]

Opportunist

Hungry for promotion, Cole and his crew carried out unauthorized drug busts, drawing unwelcome attention from his crooked Lieutenant, Sal Anthony. Around this time, Kasper "borrowed" a bulletproof Black Panther costume being stored by his boss Sergeant Tork, and began wearing it under his clothes instead of his department issued bulletproof vest. Kasper thought that the costume would give him the necessary edge to stand out and get his desired promotion. After failing to recruit Kasper, Sal had Kasper and his fellow officers ambushed. Thanks to the costume, Kasper survived, though the other officers were hospitalized.

Suspended for not wearing his vest, Kasper posed as the Black Panther (T'Challa) to bring Sal down; eventually learning that he was a pawn in the manipulations of T'Challa and his foster brother Hunter, also known as the White Wolf, leader of Wakanda's secret police, the Hatut Zeraze. His crimefighting eventually pitted him against the 66 Bridges gang and its regional manager Nigel Triage Blacque. Unbeknownst to Cole, Triage is secretly his half-brother.

Mistakenly identified as the "Panther-masked vigilante", a title the police had ascribed to Kasper due to his recent actions, Tork was seemingly murdered. But Tork's death turned out to be a ruse orchestrated by the DEA and facilitated by T'Challa. Seeking to control his own destiny, Kasper offered to find Sal's kidnapped son in return for assistance in tracking down Kibuka.^[1]

Hero

Advised by the Falcon (Sam Wilson) that he needed to be more than just a man in a cat suit to achieve his goals, Kasper sought permission to eat the heart-shaped herb and gain enhanced powers like T'Challa by undertaking the Rite of Ascension. The villainous Erik Killmonger, offered him another option, a synthetic version of the heart-shaped herb and help finding Sal's son, in return for Kasper dropping the Black Panther identity, becoming a White Tiger of the Panther Cult, and doing a favor for Killmonger in the future. Kasper accepted, but then tracked down the boy using his newly enhanced senses and help from Queen Divine Justice^[2] and Everett Ross, thus lessening his debt to Killmonger. Afterwards, Kasper took on the identity of the White Tiger. He continues to chase promotion, allied with The Crew (a team of inner city superheroes) against the 66 Bridges and Triage.^[1]

It should be noted that he has no connection what so ever to the martial arts hero White Tiger.

The Initiative

Kasper is being considered as a "potential recruit" for the Initiative program, according to Civil War: Battle Damage Report.^[3]

Powers and abilities

• Peak human physical strength, speed, agility and endurance, superhuman eyesight, and night vision.

Equipment

• A pair of 9 mm pistols loaded with non-lethal gel bullets.
• Vibranium microweave body suit capable of dissipating the kinetic and hydrostatic shock damage of bullets or bullet like objects. It also has special vibranium soled boots for scaling vertical surfaces.
• Anti-metal properties of the Antarctic vibranium in his claws and boots will break down any known metal including adamantium.
• Energy based throwing daggers capable of paralyzing or tagging his enemies.

Bibliography

• Black Panther Vol. 3 #50-62
• The Crew #1-7

References

External links

• Digital Priest: White Tiger
• Marvel Universe.com entry: Kasper Cole
• Marvel Universe.com entry: Queen Divine Justice