| Todd Arliss was a champion Olympic swimmer. Following the Olympics, he planned to become a professional swimmer, having earned an estimated half million dollars in advances for public exhibitions. Before his professional career could get underway, however, he severely injured his back and legs while rescuing a man who had fallen overboard from a private craft. Although able to walk, he was told that he would never be able to swim again. Arliss spent a large part of the advance money he had received seeking medical help. He eventually discovered Dr. Lemuel Dorcas, a criminally motivated marine biologist who promised Arliss that he would be able to make him swim again. Under protests from his sister Diane, Arliss accompanied Dorcas to an undersea laboratory located off the North Atlantic coast. |
| Dorcas subjected Arliss to a great variety of experimental procedures, involving high-frequency radiation therapy that restored the damaged nerve tissue and ligaments. Dorcas placed Arliss within the "morphotron," an experimental device capable of imprinting upon a human being the genetic pattern of another creature, in this case a tiger shark. Dorcas had constructed a robot to search out and capture sharks for experimentation, and coincidentally it captured Prince Namor, the Submariner Namor and several sharks were used to provide a compound genetic pattern of great superhuman potential. Arliss was transformed into a superhumanly powerful amphibious creature. Dorcas provided Arliss with a specially prepared suit and mask, and dubbed him Tiger Shark. |
