Power of the Tantu Totem

[Mari McCabe]

Written by Kal-El

So far as The House of El goes, we've always been carefull on who to do our origins stories, last night, myself and GL had agreed to go with a Superheroine from DC comics, a jewel from africa, abilities like cats and tigers, a lady that not many of us have ever heard or known of. Ladies and Gents, Be prepared to meet Mari McCabe.

Mari McCabe grew up in Africa, the daughter of the Reverend Richard Jiwe. Her father had inherited a magical totem that had supposedly been given to the ancient hero Tantu by the trickster Anansi the Spider of African folklore and myth. The reverend's envious and corrupt half-brother, General Maksai, killed Richard for the totem, and Mari fled to the U.S., where she found that her beauty gave her remarkable success as a fashion model.

Soon, Mari recovered the Tantu totem and under the codename Vixen, used its amazing animal power to become a member of Detroit-based Justice League of America. Sometime later, General Maksai tried to force her to turn the totem over to him, but received his comeuppance when he used the totem in selfishness, and was killed by Vixen after he was transformed into a gored Ox. After the League disbanded, Vixen joined the Suicide Squad, striking up a failed romance with teammate Bronze Tiger. For a short time she was a member of the International Ultramarines Corps until the group left to protect a poket universe. Vixen is now a active member of the reorganized Justice League of America.

Vixen possesses the Tantu Totem, which magically enhances or helps Vixen control her innate animal mimicking ability. In the past, Vixen has mimicked the telepathic and physical abilities of Gorilla Grodd, the flight of a hawk, the swimming ability of a dolphin, the speed of a cheetah, the echo-location of a bat, the wall-crawling of a spider, the jumps of a cricket, the constriction of an anaconda, the strength of a bull elephant (12 tons), the senses of a wolf, the agility of a monkey, the debilitating shock of an electric eel, the regenerative abilities of earthworms (Yeah..even earthworms..), and the ability to spit venom like a spitting cobra. She has even been shown to be able to channel the powers of extinct animals, such as the saber-toothed tiger, domestic animals like the Doberman pinscher and even human.

Recent adventures have caused a shift in Vixen’s animal mimicking abilities, to the point that she is no longer able to mimic the abilities of animal. She can now only temporarily endow herself with the powers or weapons of other superhuman beings within her immediate vicinity. Vixen has used her power to successfully mimic the null-gravity ability of Geo-Force, the superhuman speed of Jay Garrick, the electro-magnetic powers of Black Lightning, the alien powers of Superman and the energy of Green Lantern’s ring.

It is unknown if there is a time limit on how long Vixen can retain the abilities of other super humans or if there is a limit on how many abilities she can mimic. There does seems to be a limit on how far Vixen can reach for super human abilities, as she was unable to switch Black Lightning abilities for those of Superman. It should be noted, that without the totem, Vixen’s natural scanning range is about 150 feet. Exactly what part the Tantu Totem plays in Vixen’s mimicking abilities is now unknown.

For more media attention for the Vixen, all fans can get a view of her in the Justice League Unlimited Animation series, where she's stuck in a love triangle with The Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Hawkgirl.

Thanks For Reading Cool Cats, I'll catch you guys later.