Ava Ayala is the third person to be the White Tiger. She has always idolized her brother Hector, the first to assume the mantle and become an active Hispanic hero. He is her role model. But, one day, Gideon Mace attacked her house, injuring Ava and killing her parents and sister Awilda. Hector was devastated and gave up on being a hero.
After Hector’s death, Angela Del Toro – Awilda’s daughter – inherited the White Tiger amulet. But when she was corrupted by Hand ninjas, she had to be imprisoned. The tiger amulet fell into Ava’s hands; as a teenager, she decided to join Avengers Academy, hoping she would learn how to be a great hero.
After that, she had many adventures with the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers. Her past with Gideon Mace and not fully controlling the Tiger God, the spirit that gives power to the amulet, are constant problems she faces. The character is captivating and should be more talked about and explored. If you like her, try to check her appearances in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series; she is a relevant character in Spider-Man’s team.
Joining Avengers Academy
Avengers Academy: The Complete Collection Vol. 3
Collects: Avengers Academy (2010) #21-39
After the Avengers Academy opens up for anyone that wants instruction, Ava joins as a new full-time student. She is really proud of her brother and heritage, which results in some confrontations with Reptil because she thinks he could do more as a Hispanic hero.
To Ava being a hero means that you need to give your all to it. Not only that, the White Tiger is an inspiration to many people. So she takes everything extremely seriously, not throwing it all away for money or any other reason.
But, even so, she has doubts, as she knows her brother wouldn’t want her to be the new White Tiger. Besides being hard to control, the amulet takes over your life. It’s a common trope but one that always gets me thrilled.
Young Avengers by Gillen & McKelvie: The Complete Collection
Collects: Young Avengers (2013) #1-15, Marvel Now! Point One (2012) #1
Ava Ayala helps the Young Avengers in a fight.
The Ava Ayala Cut (every issue she’s in): Young Avengers (2013) #12-13.
Avengers Arena Vol. 3: Boss Level
Collects: Avengers Arena #13-18
Reptil is missing, so Ava is questioned, but she doesn’t know much about what happened to him.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Avengers Arena #13.
Avengers and Battling the Tiger
Mighty Avengers Vol. 1: No Single Hero
Collects: Mighty Avengers #1-5
White Tiger is now part of the Mighty Avengers, with Luke Cage, Power Man, Spectrum, Blue Marvel, and another mysterious member. The Superior Spider-Man appears a few times too, but Otto isn’t interested in joining their team.
If you like White Tiger, Mighty Avengers is a must-read. The first volume starts developing her character a bit more. We have moments like Ava saying she knows the Tiger is the one that killed her family and that it will kill her one day too. Throughout the story, we are gonna see even more issues focused on her, and they are all amazing.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Mighty Avengers #1, 3-5.
Collects: Infinity #1-6, New Avengers (2013) #7-12, Avengers (2012) #14-23 and Infinity: Against the Tide Infinite Comic #1-2
Ava helps the Mighty Avengers fight Proxima.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Infinity #3
Mighty Avengers Vol. 2: Family Bonding
Collects: Mighty Avengers #6-10
In Aveners Arena, Arcade took 16 teen superheroes to Muderworld to make them fight to the death. After learning that, Ava starts patrolling even more. During one of her patrols, she finds out that Gideon Mace, the guy that killed her parents, is walking free. For the first time, we see the Tiger God fully taking control of her and how destructive it can be to her and her friends.
After threatening the Tiger God, it gives her all of his power. Initially, it’s something that seems quite good, but wait for New Avengers (2015) and you’ll see the bad sides of the deal.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Mighty Avengers #6-8.
Mighty Avengers Vol. 3: Original Sin – Not Your Father’s Avengers
Collects: Mighty Avengers #11-14
The third volume has a bigger focus on other characters and parts of the story, but White Tiger still gets some nice moments. In the end, she and Power Man start dating.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Mighty Avengers #12-14
Captain America Vol. 5: The Tomorrow Soldier
Collects: Captain America #22-25, Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration
Unfortunately, she’s just a background character in this one.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Captain America #25.
Captain America & the Mighty Avengers Vol. 1: Open for Business
Collects: Captain America & The Mighty Avengers #1-7
Gideon Mace has been killed, so now we see White Tiger and Power Man investigating what happened. But the Beyond Corporation, creatures from the Neutral Zone that killed Mace, are not to be messed with; they transformed the man into an unrecognizable monster. When Ava sees him, she can only think of the past, and her fury gets the best of her.
But, as I said, the Beyond are not to be messed with. They also transform Ava, Power Man, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones into monsters, leaving Captain America to fight against them alone.
The one who defeats the Beyond Corporation for good is Spectre, and it’s incredible. After she solves the problem, everyone comes back to normal.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Vol. 1: Perfect Bullets
Collects: S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6
The Ava Ayala Cut: S.H.I.E.L.D. #1.
Captain America & the Mighty Avengers Vol. 2: Last Days
Collects: Captain America & The Mighty Avengers #8-9, Captain Britain & The Mighty Defenders #1-2, Avengers Assemble #15AU
The “Secret Wars” event is really close, so it starts impacting the series (if you wanna know more about it, give our reading order a read). As the world is ending, Ava tries to reunite with her family, but they still are too scared of the Tiger and force her to go away. It’s a heartbreaking scene, but it’s also beautiful that even after that, Ava spends her last hours helping people as the White Tiger.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Captain America & The Mighty Avengers #8-9.
New Avengers: A.I.M. Vol. 1: Everything Is New
Collects: New Avengers #1-6, material from Avengers #0
Now, White Tiger is part of the Avengers team created by Roberto Da Costa, A.K.A. Sunspot. When the Maker, an alternative version of Reed Richards, creates his own evil organization and attacks innocent people, it’s for the New Avengers to shine. If you want things to get even crazier, don’t worry, they also fight an evil Cthulhu monster in space.
Hawkeye Vol. 5: All-New Hawkeye
Collects: All-New Hawkeye #1-5
The Ava Ayala Cut: All-New Hawkeye #2
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Vol. 1: The Coulson Protocols
Collects: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6, material from All-New, All-Different Point One #1
It’s part of the “STANDOFF” event. You can actually just read the New Avengers issues and understand pretty much everything relevant to White Tiger’s story.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #3-4.
New Avengers: A.I.M. Vol. 2: Standoff
Collects: New Avengers (2015) #7-11
The Maker releases Angela Del Toro, the previous White Tiger, and gives her the tiger amulet from his universe. When Angela meets Ava, two Tiger Gods appear and fuse, creating an even stronger version of the ancient creature. It chooses to stay with Angela and abandons Ava, leaving her desperate and powerless.
Besides that, Ava still calls herself White Tiger, not believing she should give up only because she has lost her powers. When S.H.I.E.L.D. attacks the New Avengers during the “STANDOFF”, Ava helps her friends control a robot and fight American Kaiju (Pacific Rim style!).
The Ava Ayala Cut: New Avengers (2015) #7-10.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It’s True
Collects: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #5-8, GLX-Mas Special #1 (first story), The Thing #8 (pages 1-8), Age of Heroes #3 (Squirrel Girl story)
The Ava Ayala Cut: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8.
Power Man and Iron Fist Vol. 2: Civil War II
Collects: Power Man and Iron Fist #6-9, Sweet Christmas Annual #1
The Ava Ayala Cut: Power Man and Iron Fist #6.
New Avengers: A.I.M. Vol. 3: Civil War II
Collects: New Avengers (2015) #12-18
Maker’s version of the Avengers, called the New Revengers, strikes the heroes. Ava fights Angela and destroys the amulet. After the entire villain team is defeated, Ava says she thinks she’s done being the White Tiger; she wants to help people differently. Also, Ava knows the Tiger is out there, waiting for new prey, even with the amulet destroyed.
The Ava Ayala Cut: New Avengers (2015) #14-18
Defenders Vol. 2: Kingpins of New York
Collects: Defenders (2017) #6-10
Ava and some other heroines help the defenders catch the new Kingpin.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Defenders (2017) #9.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 8: My Best Friend’s Squirrel
Collects: Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015) #27-31, Material From Not Brand Echh #14
The Ava Ayala Cut: Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015) #27.
Daughters of Liberty
Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates Vol. 1
Collects: Captain America (2018) #1-12
She is part of the Daughters of Liberty, a group formed in the 18th century to protect freedom at all costs. Now, they work together to help Steve Rogers clean his name.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Captain America (2018) #7-9, #12.
Collects: Marvel Comics #1000
In celebration of Marvel’s 80th anniversary, a lot of writers gather to create short stories about characters and events from the Marvel universe. Ava Ayala and Angela Del Toro work together as White Tiger in the story “Heirs of the Tiger”.
Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates Vol. 3: The Legend of Steve
Collects: Captain America (2018) #13-19
White Tiger takes a more active role and, during issues #13 and #14, she and Cap go on a mission together.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Captain America (2018) #13-14, #16.
Valkyrie: Jane Foster Vol. 2: At the End of All Things
Collects: Valkyrie: Jane Foster (2019) #6-10
Only a small cameo.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Valkyrie: Jane Foster (2019) #6.
Collects: Contagion (2019) #1-5
The Ava Ayala Cut: Contagion (2019) #3-5.
Empyre: Aftermath Avengers (2020) #1
Collects: Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1
Collects: Women of Marvel (2021) #1, Marvel’s Voices (2020) #1 (“Punishment” story), Girl Comics (2010) #1-3.
In “Saturday Morning in Harlem”, the Daughters of Liberty defend the city.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Women of Marvel (2021) #1.
Captain America By Ta-Nehisi Coates Vol. 5: All Die Young Part Two
Collects: Captain America (2018) #26-30
Again, White Tiger helps Captain America in a mission.
The Ava Ayala Cut: Captain America (2018) #29.
Marvel’s Voices: Community (2021)
Collects: Marvel’s Voices: Community (2021) #1
You can find Ava battling the Tiger God again in the story “Legados”.
Leave a Reply