Puma Totem Warrior

            Throughout its history, the American Indian tribe to which Puma belongs has maintained legends foretelling the coming of a being of immense power who would pose a tremendous threat to the entire world.
             Fireheart began a lifelong course of rigorous training to perfect his enhanced abilities and animal senses. While he did not believe the legend of the ultimate threat, he did take his job as tribal guardian seriously, and so committed himself to this task. During this time he also became corporate director of Fireheart Enterprises and built it into a multinational corporation involved in a wide variety of endeavors.
            Puma trained in the martial arts under a sensei known as Master Muramoto. He proved to be Muramoto’s most talented student, but duty to his tribe along with his corporate responsibilities drew him back to New Mexico.
            Bored with the routine of his position in the business community, and faced with few worthy challenges as Puma, Fireheart decided to amuse himself by occasionally accepting dangerous assignments as a professional mercenary. His talents came to the attention of the Rose, a lieutenant of Wilson Fisk, alias the Kingpin, who awarded Puma some of his most challenging contracts. One such assignment was to kill the Slayer.
            Puma traveled to New York City, where he tracked down the Slayer and attacked her. the Slayer narrowly escaped, saved by the intervention of the Black Cat. A second battle placed innocent bystanders in danger, and while saving them, the Slayer was injured. Displeased that his own actions had nearly injured innocents, and impressed by the Slayer’s heroism, Puma departed. Before he could resume the hunt, the Rose withdrew the contract, and Fireheart returned home.
            Some months later, Puma was contacted by his uncle the priest (shaman) of their tribe. Shaman announced that the threat for which Puma spent his life in training had arrived on Earth. The being of infinite power was identified as The Beyonder, an entity from another dimension who had come to Earth on a personal quest for new experiences and fulfillment. Still unconvinced of the legend’s validity, Puma nonetheless traveled to New York City and sought out the Slayer’s help in confronting the Beyonder. the Slayer tentatively agreed and the two traced the object of their search to a cult founded by the Beyonder, which promoted a philosophy of “Cosmic Oneness.” Upon their first confrontation, the Beyonder simply transported Puma to downtown Tokyo in an instant. Faced with such unimaginable power, Puma became convinced of the Beyonder’s threat and committed himself to the Beyonder’s death. Puma then discovered that the Beyonder had made contact with Master Muramoto. The sensei and the Beyonder attempted to convince Puma that there was no threat, but Puma remained firm in his commitment. He returned to New York City, as did the Beyonder and, at the Beyonder’s urging, Master Muramoto.
            Puma once again tracked down the Beyonder, with the Slayer again on hand. Preparing for his kill, he witnessed the sensei’s death as the inadvertent result of the Beyonder’s actions. Enraged, Puma became totally committed to his role of opposition to the Beyonder, and so found himself in a state referred to as “harmonious alignment with the Universe.” As a result, he was imbued with immeasurable power of an unknown mystical nature, enough to kill his intended victim.
            The Slayer, realizing her own inability to affect the outcome of the battle, decided to leave, noting that the entire scenario could be an illusion created by the Beyonder. Puma overheard her and began to doubt his own senses and his role in the course of events. With the return of doubt, the immense mystical power left him. He was unable to kill the Beyonder, and he returned to New Mexico without completing his mission. The Puma’s current activities are unknown.