Bronze Tiger
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Bronze Tiger (Ben Turner) is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He is a martial artist who first appeared in Dragon's Fists, a novel by Dennis O'Neil and Jim Berry, starring Richard Dragon. His first DC Comics appearance was in Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter.
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[edit] Detailed history
[edit] Childhood
Ben Turner came from an upper middle class black neighborhood in Central City. Already at the age of 10, Ben Turner killed a man. A white burglar was assaulting his parents when Turner went berserk, grabbing a kitchen knife and stabbing the man until he died. Turner would later admit that he didn't feel sorry that he had killed the man, but that it had ended too soon.
At 13 Ben Turner turned to martial arts in hopes of controlling those rages. Nonetheless, the conflict still gave him a kick that did not serve to solve his problems. Young Turner even felt joy as he continued to learn more and more methods of hurting people, eventually surpassing even his teachers. This continued violence lead him into more trouble as he performed crimes to satisfy his needs.
[edit] Controlling the anger
Since this need for violence would ultimately send him either to jail or the electric chair, Turner saw that he had to truly control his anger, and as soon as he was old enough, he traveled to the far East. There he studied with several different martial arts masters, all of which ignored his quest to control the joy and rage, but rather tried to exploit it.
Eventually, he came upon the O-Sensei, who took him in and showed him how to successfully control his anger. While there he would meet Richard Dragon, the two becoming close friends, and they were recruited by the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence) agent King Faraday. The two were not only good friends but a great team as well.
[edit] Becoming the Bronze Tiger
Eventually, they were assigned to take down the League of Assassins, but they were discovered, and the League killed the Tiger's fianceé, a woman named Miyoshi. Ben himself was also captured by the League, and came under the control of their Sensei, who seduced Turner to study with him. Unlike the O-Sensei, this Sensei promised Turner that they could completely divert the anger, so that he would never have to deal with it again.
To accomplish that, Ben created the tiger mask he would later wear, and channeled his anger within it, and giving it a name: The Bronze Tiger. Ben felt he was now finally able to live his life free of the rage, but the Sensei had other plans. The anger of course, had never really left, simply relocated, and when Ben Turner put on the mask at the behest of his Sensei he became the Bronze Tiger, the joy of dealing death personified.
It was apparently during this time that the assassin David Cain's daughter, Cassandra, was born. As the Bronze Tiger, Turner took part in the child's highly abusive training, along with other members of the League, such as Merlyn. His role in the abusive training of Cassandra was something Turner would later consider one of his greatest shames.
As the Bronze Tiger, Ben was feared around the world, and the Sensei was smart enough to ensure that Ben hardly ever took off the mask, sending him on a new mission as soon as he finished another. For a time, his identity was secret and he became one of the most wanted criminals, the Bronze Tiger being a professional assassin, killing on three continents.
[edit] Running up against a Wall
A captured agent was able to discover the Bronze Tiger's identity, but the CBI was still unable to capture the Tiger, until The League of Assassins, under the leadership of The Sensei, attempted to break away from Rā's al Ghūl's organization (known as The Demon). Sent to kill Kathy Kane (Batwoman) in Gotham City, the Bronze Tiger would end up fighting, and defeating, Batman while another assassin killed Kathy Kane. (Post-Crisis it was determined that Kathy Kane had never become Batwoman, and had merely been a friend of Batman's. Another character named Kathy Kane became Batwoman in 2006, and seems to be a completely different character. There are currently no indications that the death of the "original" Kathy will be addressed. Since the Kathy killed by the League never became Batwoman post-Crisis, it currently seems that their shared name should just be considered a coincidence).
It was then that King Faraday recruited Rick Flag and Nightshade to retrieve the Bronze Tiger from the League. Flag was able to single-handedly fend off the Bronze Tiger, while Nightshade and Faraday took out any unwanted observers. Eventually, Faraday got his shot, and was able to pump the Tiger full of tranquilizer darts.
The Sensei's work had been successful though, and even without the mask, Turner was still his lackey, until that rage and anger ran up to one woman that could not be scared: Amanda Waller. She deprogrammed the Bronze Tiger, and slowly but surely she rebuilt his mind, the Tiger was able to face his past and once again return to being Ben Turner. He burned the tiger mask, leaving behind the anger and the past, swearing to never kill again.
[edit] The Suicide Squad
Amanda Waller would proceed to use the Bronze Tiger for her new team, the Suicide Squad. Although she wanted him as the leader, the higher-ups insisted that Col. Rick Flag take up command of the squad, with Ben as second-in-command. Already on their first mission, it was shown that the Tiger had not yet fully shaken his anger, when he faced Jihad-member Ravan in combat.
The two fought, but the Bronze Tiger had the upper hand, yet refused to lay the killing blow upon Ravan, instead opting to break his back. Although the Bronze Tiger stated that he had sworn that he would not kill, he later admitted that he wanted to see Ravan suffer, and that is why he had not killed him. Ravan swore to kill Ben.
One of Belle Reve's (Suicide Squad HQ) ground crew, Flo Crawley, fell in love with Ben, but he spurned her advances, especially when the voluptuous Vixen joined the team. Ben and Vixen would pursue a relationship together, and were a happy couple for quite a while.
During the team's second encounter with the Jihad, the Bronze Tiger was once again bested Ravan in combat, but instead of leaving him, he was able to convince Ravan to join the Suicide Squad. The two would form an uneasy alliance, but were still a great team together.
The Bronze Tiger was one of the Squad's 'good' members, and was usually opposed to the actions of the criminals he worked with, something that almost came to a head when the team was forced to apprehend rogue member Rick Flag, who was going to kill a US Senator. Ben feared that the morally less capable members of the team would end up killing Flagg, but to Deadshot's credit, Rick Flag was left alive (although forced to flee from the police and leave the Squad), although Deadshot opted to kill the Senator himself. This ultimately led to the public reveal of the Suicide Squad, and Amanda Waller being put on trial.
Without Rick Flag, Ben Turner became the leader of the Suicide Squad. He proved himself capable on the ensuing missions (although usually disobeying the orders of his superiors), but when half of his team had been kidnapped by Duchess (secretly Lashina), Ben Turner once again disobeyed his orders and assembled a small squad composed not of the criminals in Belle Reve, but of Arkham Asylum. Finding their way to Apokolips with the help of the Forever People, Ben was able to rescue his squad, although not without casualties, amongst them Flo Crawley.
Although, technically speaking, the Bronze Tiger had not disobeyed his orders, he was summoned by Sarge Steel (one of his superiors), who wanted to see how much of the old Bronze Tiger still resided within Ben. Before this small gathering, Ben recounted his history, and Sarge Steel ended up showing him a replica of his tiger mask, asking him to put it on, to show he had truly tempered the beast.
Ben snapped during the meeting, and ran away, leaving Vixen behind and traveling to the East (where he spent some time as a janissary). Shortly afterwards, the Suicide Squad was disbanded and Amanda Waller was jailed.
[edit] The Squad reformed
Eventually, after a year, Amanda Waller was able to reform the Squad, as a freelance group no less, and among her recruits was the Bronze Tiger. During the following missions, Ben Turner was shown as a deeply troubled man, distancing himself from Vixen, and trying to instigate a conflict between him and Ravan. Ravan, seeing what the Tiger was trying to pull, declined to face Ben in mortal combat, even going so far as to laugh in Turner's face. On that same mission, Vixen was hurt in a battle with a meta-human operative of the Mossad, which seemed to re-awaken the Ben Turner of old, and he saved her life.
A short time later, Vixen left the team, and she parted on relatively good terms with Ben, seeing that both had changed, and they could no longer be in a relationship. She was no longer angry with him and thanked him for saving her life, as she walked out of his.
The Bronze Tiger would go on several more missions with the Suicide Squad, and in their last, in an enchanted forest, he came face to face with the personification of himself as the Bronze Tiger.
| "You somebody I know?" "I am your anger. I am your pride. I will be your death." "Perhaps. But you will no longer be my master." From Suicide Squad #65, by John Ostrander |
Defeating the Bronze Tiger, Ben pulled off the mask to see himself when he was young. Putting on the illusionary mask, Ben Turner finally came to terms with who he was, and with the rage that was within him, becoming a complete person once again. After this final mission, the Suicide Squad was disbanded.
[edit] After the Squad
Shortly after leaving the Squad, Turner was part of the Knightquest: The Search story arc in the Batman books, which covered Bruce Wayne's search for Jack Drake (father of Tim Drake, the most recent Robin) and Shondra Kinsolving, who had been kidnapped. When the kidnappers were traced to Santa Prisca, Batman enlisted the aid of Bronze Tiger, Green Arrow, and Gypsy to help him. The group ultimately failed to stop the kidnappers before they left Santa Prisca, and Wayne was forced to continue his hunt alone. Gypsy, a member of the short lived Justice League Task Force became romantically involved with Tiger, who trained her in martial arts.
[edit] Tiger and the Dragon
The Bronze Tiger recently re-appeared in the (2004) Richard Dragon title alongside his old buddy Richard Dragon.
[edit] The Tiger Dojo
Recently Cassandra Cain became curious as to who her birth mother was. Believing it to be Lady Shiva, she tracked down Turner to Detroit, where he had opened the "Tiger Dojo". After his time with Richard Dragon he had apparently decided to call Detroit his home and committed himself to giving direction to "lost children". Humbled that Cassandra had remade herself into Batgirl, Turner apologized for what he had done to her, stating "We made you into a warrior. You made yourself into a hero."
[edit] One Year Later
In Checkmate (vol. 2) Bronze Tiger rescues Rick Flag from a secret Quraci prison, where Flag had been imprisoned for four years. Notably he is seen wearing a variant on the costume he wore while with the League of Assassins, complete with a tiger head mask (according to writer Nunzio DeFilippis he wears the mask to prove it longer has power over him[1]). Afterwards, Amanda Waller appears at the Tiger Dojo, revealing to Ben that she leaked the information about Flag's whereabouts. She then enlists their aid in tracking down a supposedly rogue Suicide Squad team, a team which in reality was being run by Flag and Turner at Waller's behest.
[edit] Powers and abilities
- The Bronze Tiger possesses no meta-human powers, but is a superb martial artist, who has bested such great martial artists as Batman before. Turner defeated Batman in Detective Comics #485 (1979), a side result of which was the death of Kathy Kane. He would face Batman again shortly after. Even though Batman had taken every possible precaution for the rematch, neither fighter was able to gain an advantage, and the fight only ended when one of the League members shot Batman with a poisoned dart.
[edit] Trivia
- There has been debate for years among comics fans regarding who is the greatest martial artist in the DC Universe. Ben Turner has remained one of the mainstays of these debates, along with Batman, Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), Richard Dragon, Constantine Drakon, Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), and Lady Shiva.
- A flashback in DC Comics Presents #39 (1981) would show Richard Dragon discovering that Turner had been brainwashed into becoming the Bronze Tiger by Prof. Ojo, then used by Barney Ling (a treacherous spy that Dragon and Turner had worked for). Dragon and Turner proved to be equals in the fight, which only ended when Ling was accidentally knocked out a window.
- In the Brotherhood of the Fist storyline (1998), Ben was one of the world-class martial artists targeted by the Brotherhood.
[edit] References
- ^ "Not a mistake. We decided he'd be in the mask for a reason. Ben wears it to show that, to paraphrase from The Man In The Iron Mask, he wears the mask - it doesn't wear him (at least, not anymore)." - Nunzio DeFilippis Comic Book Resources Forums, October 24 2006
