The highly anticipated return of Daredevil, one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes, in MCU’s Daredevil: Born Again television series is only weeks away from hitting the small screens worldwide. The new series seems to be a continuation of Netflix’s Daredevil series starring the same main cast, which also finally confirms that Netflix’s Marvel universe is now officially a part of Disney and Marvel’s MCU.
Naturally, with the release of the new series trailer, the fans wasted no time in parsing through its frames in search of clues on the new story and the plethora of old and new characters that are scheduled to appear. Among them is a new vigilante character coming into the spotlight as Marvel throws Hell’s Kitchen into disarray once again, and that vigilante is Hector Ayala, also known as the White Tiger. The trailer shows him donning his iconic costume, but casual fans still remain oblivious to who the character is and what his powers actually are.
But before we discuss White Tiger’s powers and their origins, let’s discuss Hector Ayala, his background, and how he came to possess the Tiger Medallions and wield the powers they grant. Outside the pages of comic books, Hector Ayala was created by Bill Mantlo (the co-creator of Rocket Racoon) and George Perez and was the first character to use the name White Tiger. Hector Ayala’s White Tiger is the second Latin American superhero in mainstream comics, with DC Universe’s El Gaucho — a supporting character for Batman — being the first.
However, he was the first Latin American superhero for Marvel Comics, as well as the first US Latino superhero and the first Puerto Rican superhero. Hector is also the uncle of Angela del Toro (the fourth incarnation of White Tiger) and the brother of Ava Ayala, the fifth and current incarnation of White Tiger. In the pages of the comics, Hector was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, before he and his family, his parents Nestor and Maria, older sister Awilda, and drug-addicted brother Fillipo eventually moved to an apartment in South Bronx, New York.
The early Bill Mantlo and George Perez’s stories pained Hector as a Puerto Rican student attending Empire State University. While juggling coursework and worrying about financial constraints, Hector accidentally stumbles across three Jade Tiger amulets, which transform him into a superhuman form called the White Tiger — and wearing all three amulets at once greatly increases his powers and skill in martial arts. However, it’s worth noting that the amulets have a history of their own within the Marvel Comics universe and tie into earlier comic books.
According to comic book history, the amulets stem from the extradimensional realm K’un-Lun. Namely, the realm’s sorcerer-god Khan, aka Master Khan, used to ride a Jade Tiger to travel between Earth and K’un-Lun. However, Khan’s enemies stole the tiger, severed his head and forepaws, and used spells of concealment to prevent Khan from ever locating them. These were later found by Master Kee from 1974’s Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1, who turned the head and forepaws into three Tiger Amulets (often called Jade Tiger amulets).
Master Kee ends up granting these amulets to his students, Lin Sun, Abe Brown, and Bob Diamond, who become the Sons of the Tiger. These martial arts heroes later transcended The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu comic book series and appeared in numerous other Marvel IPs. However, after a number of heroic adventures, the internal strife between the Sons results in their break up, with each member angrily discarding his amulet in an alley outside the Sons of the Tiger Kung Fu School. Hector Ayala just so happens to come across and don them.
Costumed in all white and quite possibly embodying the Jade Tiger’s spirit, the White Tiger initially acts as a completely separate persona of unrevealed origin. Hector eventually learns of and merges with the White Tiger persona while retaining all the powers of the White Tiger while costumed. These include enhanced strength, speed, durability, and stamina, as well as accelerated healing and immense knowledge and skill in martial arts. The latter, however, gradually transfers over to Hector even when he’s not costumed, allowing him to develop a basic understanding of hand-to-hand combat.
Sadly, the trailer doesn’t reveal much, and we don’t know how the creatives at MCU are adapting White Tiger to the small screens. Is he just a highly-trained combatant who became a vigilante? Or is he really wielding the power of the aforementioned amulets? More importantly, what will happen with the character going forward, considering that Kamar de los Reyes, the actor portraying Hector Ayala in the upcoming series, tragically passed away after the filming of Daredevil: Born Again?
Whatever the case may be, White Tiger is definitely an underrated vigilante from the Marvel Universe, and he can be so much more than just a supporting character in an MCU series. Daredevil: Born Again is scheduled to hit streaming on March 4, 2025, and we’ll have to wait until then to find out.
Check out our interviews with the cast and crew behind the scenes below: