Publisher DC Comics Alter ego Leona Dorsey | Created by Chuck Dixon
Jim Balent Creators Chuck Dixon, Jim Balent | |
Abilities Cat-like speed and agility, superhuman strength and enhanced senses, and retractable claws. First appearance Catwoman #37 (September 1996) | ||
Panara is a fictional character who first appeared in the DC Comics' series Catwoman. She is a human/leopard hybrid, a wereleopard.
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Fictional character biography
A young woman, Ms. Dorsey, was diagnosed with an incurable disease. She sought the aid of a geneticist who specialized in radical cures for illnesses. He had trapped Catwoman, believing her to be a werecat, and thought she would have special DNA to use in Ms. Dorsey's cure, but found that she was a "mere human". Keeping Catwoman captive, he had his assistant bring him an leopard, and used its genetic code to alter Ms. Dorsey's physiology, in order to reverse her disease's symptoms, but it turned her into a humanoid leopard. Her personality now entirely animal, she killed her doctor and his assistant, and would have killed Catwoman, had she not outsmarted the killer cat creature. Ms. Dorsey escaped into the night.
Later, she resurfaced in the Batman/Wildcat mini-series as "Panara", named for the city in India where one leopard killed 400 people. She had been captured and forced to fight in a metahuman fight club, and escaped when Batman and Wildcat freed the prisoners.
Later, she met and fell in love with a werejaguar named Tezcatlipoca and the two began a killing spree, until they were stopped by Robin, and Blue Beetle, and sent to prison. Panara's whereabouts are unknown.
Powers and abilities
Panara is a wereleopard, and has all of the abilities of a big cat. Her strength, speed, and agility are greatly enhanced beyond human levels, as are her senses. She has excellent night vision, razor-sharp fangs, and retractable claws in her fingers and toes.
As a side effect of her animal form, her intellect is more bestial than a normal human, and she has trouble controlling her feral instincts.