Origin

Thomas Fireheart was born to be the next heir of mystical powers. A Native American tribe used selective breeding and shamanistic magic to ensure the proper heir would be born. Although this tribe was never named, it is known that it is located in Hartsdale, Arizona. His mission was to defeat the omnipotent being that would be known as the Beyonder. The Beyonder’s coming was foretold in one of the tribe’s ancient prophecies which told that a powerful being would come and be capable of breaking the line of man for many generations. Fireheart was the last in line of men bred with the same mission, equipped with the power to stop the prophecy. To do this, His tribe endowed him with magical powers to compliment his considerable physical abilities. Through intense concentration, Thomas is able to transform his body to take on beast like attributes. He becomes larger and stronger as well growing a fine tan fur over his whole body. Along with razor sharp fangs and talons Thomas Fireheart resembles his name-sake the puma. While in this transformed state Puma possesses superhuman senses, strength, speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes. Thomas Fireheart studied under Master Muramoto and became an expert in numerous martial arts.

Creation

Puma was created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz in 1984 and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 256 (1984).

Major Story Arcs

Fireheart Enterprises

Tired of waiting around, Thomas Fireheart ran a lucrative business (Fireheart Enterprises) and also spent time as a mercenary for hire. Fireheart Enterprises became a multinational corporation with regional offices around the world, but it was based out of the tribe’s home of Hartsdale, Arizona.

Becoming a Mercenary

It wasn’t until his business became very successful that Thomas went on to become a mercenary selling his services as the were-cat known as Puma. Both of these ventures added the vast fortune he accumulated. It was as a mercenary that he first met the wall crawler. Puma was hired by The Rose to kill Spider-Man but was sabotaged by The Black Cat. He fought against Spider-Man, and learned his secret identity. He felt that he owed Spider Man an honor debt and soon they became allies. Puma offered Parker a job at Fireheart Enterprises as payment of this debt, but Spider-Man settled for Firehearts’s assistance in clearing his name on a crime he was wrongly accused of.

Fireheart when back to his business roots when bought fifty one percent of The Daily Bugle and made Robbie Robertson as publisher. Robertson went on to start a pro-Spider Man campaign. After an attack by Hobgoblin, Puma left the Bugle to join a super group known as The Outlaws. Members included Spider-Man, Sandman, Rocket Racer, and The Prowler. The Outlaws later clashed with the Avengers under the control of the manipulative shape-changer known as Space Phantom. After this shame, Puma felt that he owed Spider-Man an honor debt. He then payed it by selling the Bugle back to J. Jonah Jameson for one dollar. He later went on a vision quest into the desert of New Mexico and later was consumed by his “Puma” persona.

He attempted an assassination attempt on a US Senator, but was shot by the NYPD and ultimately stopped by Spider-Man. The Black Crow cast a spell removing all knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity from Fireheart's mind, and he was nursed back to mental and physical health by Nocturne. Since then he has been a blood sport fighter and has even grappled with Wolverine.

Animal Attraction

During a board meeting of Firehart Enterprises, Puma started to feel his animal side clawing its way out. He excused himself before he lost control, only to fight a stray dog in the alley by his office building. Once he had worked through his aggression he was slightly more clear-headed. He could tell he was being lured uptown and eventually caught the scent of Black Cat, who was also acting more feral and heading uptown. He picked a fight with her so that both of their heads would be clear, as they started to put the pieces together of what is happening to them.

They followed the lure to the Natural History Museum, where they found Lizard and Vermin fighting, similarly feral. They decide to engage the fellow hybrids to work through their aggression. Inside the museum was The Rock of Life, a meteorite that gave off radiation that affected the most animal in New York. It was brought to the museum by Stegron, who wanted to devolve the whole populace. Spider-Man showed up and was able to use his new Iron Spider suit to contain the rock’s radiation, ending the aggression.

Puma and Cat started dating soon after. Puma even got her a new motorcycle. However, Puma started to doubt their relationship when Cat obsessed over Spider-Man again. He had revealed his identity to the public, and Cat was struggling with not being one of the special few who knew. When the news broke that Rhino nearly beat Spidey into a coma, Puma followed Cat out into the city to get back at Rhino.

Modok’s 11

Firehart’s tribe lost their patience with him. He had been indicted on bribery and fraud charges as the CEO of Firehart Enterprises. To pay for lawyers to defend against these trumped up charges, he started taking more mercenary gigs as the Puma. His tribe disapproved specifically of his brutal assassination of a Vietnamese gang leader in Madripoor. He was ordered to remain on tribal land until they could decide on an appropriate punishment. As he left the meeting, he was confronted by a puma spirit that offered him five million dollars if he took a job in Brooklyn.

When he showed up to the meeting spot, Puma found 7 other bad guys recruited by MODOK. He needed each of their unique abilities (acrobatic skill in Puma’s case) for a heist on The Infinicide, temporal cartographers from the end of time, and their technologically advanced vault. However, while he and a few other members were sent into the vault, his powers disappeared. His tribe had summoned them back from him for disobeying orders to stay on the tribal lands.

After they made their escape, they were attacked by both The Mandarin and AIM, both of whom had inside men on the crew. The Spot was on The Mandarin’s payroll and the Chameleon was actually a Super Adaptoid, controlled by AIM. Puma was no use to the team without his powers, so Nightshade secretly dosed him with werewolf serum. Because Puma believed the totem returned to him out of choice, he felt a new sense of heroism to protect the teammates who had protected him while he was vulnerable. They managed to fight off both interlopers but thought they lost their prize, a new power source called The Hypernova. Luckily, MODOK expected betrayal and manipulated events so that AIM ended up with a faulty Hypernova that was liable to explode.

With the job done, Puma was paid what he was owed by MODOK, plus a share of the money promised to the traitors.

Hunted

Puma was one of a number of animal-themed superhumans who was targeted by Kraven the Hunter. He believed they brought shame to their animal symbols and needed to be punished. He had them rounded up to be hunted by rich trophy hunters using advanced weaponry in Central Park. Puma managed to survive since It was all a bigger ploy by Kraven to trick the prophecy that kept him immortal.

Venom War

Puma is recruited by Silver Sable for the Wild Pack. They are hired by Alchemax CEO, Liz Allan, to retrieve a special package from the The Life Foundation during an outbreak of zombiotes, mindless symbiotes that multiply and spread like an infection. This was seen as the perfect time to test the new Lethal Protectors Initiative upgrades, provided by Alchemax. Each of the Wild Pack members would be bonded to a symbiote and outfitted with a sonic emitter to keep it in check. Puma is bonded to Riot.

While they were attacked by zombiotes, the large container they were moving broke open. Inside, was a clone of Shriek, whose sonic scream was considered useful enough to clone. With their new ace in the hole, the team commandeered Dominic Fortune's steamboat ferry so that they could rig Shriek to an Alchemax sonic emitter out on the water, containing the zombiote horde to Manhattan island. Despite a betrayal from Strickland, which cost him his life, the Wild Pack were successful and made their exit, seemingly still bonded to their symbiotes.

Powers and Abilities

As a Native American bred to be the perfect human being, Thomas' body is at its peak condition. When he is transformed into the Puma, he has increased attributes that consider him as a superhuman. He gains superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and balance. He also gets an accelerated healing factor that allows him to recover from nonfatal wounds at a fast rate. Being in line with the Puma, Thomas have finely-tuned senses. He is also trained in martial arts and an expert in hand-to-hand combat. Thomas has access to technology and can investigate anyone that could pose a threat to him or to his tribe.Once he transforms into Puma, he becomes covered in a thin tan fur. He also gains razor sharp talons and fangs.

Other Media

Television

• Puma appears in the Marvel's Spider-Man episode "Take Two" as a member of Silver Sable's Wild Pack.

Video Games

• Puma appears in the video game adaptation of Spider-Man 2, despite not actually being in the movie. He only appears in the GBA and PC versions of the game, where he is a boss character working for Doctor Octopus. He has a group of thugs lure Spider-Man into a trap by stealing a car, and engages in a prolonged fight and chase across the city. After being defeated, Puma admits that the entire trap was merely a distraction so that Doctor Octopus could kidnap Mary Jane. He attempts to escape, but is webbed up and left hanging by Spidey. He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

Merchandise

• Puma was featured in Hasbro's Super Hero Squad line as part of a Spider-Man 3 two-pack with the movie version of Venom.
• Puma was featured in the HeroClix figure game as part of the "Web of Spider-Man" series.
• Puma was featured in Hasbro's Marvel Legends line as part of the Kingpin Build-a-Figure wave.