Catra is a character from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and is a main character in The Knights of the Multiverse. Originally a soldier in the Evil Horde, she and her best friend Adora were separated when the two went out "for a drive", and she ran into the rest of the main cast (quite literally) and joined with them to form the Crystal Knights. She is the driver/pilot of a Bartley unit to put her on the same fighting level as her teammates.
Personality[]
For as long as she could remember, Catra longed to be free. She always wished to see the world and know what dwells beyond the Fright Zone's borders. Her curiosity of the world, however, isn't enough to persuade her from her inclination to doing things her way. She's often late or absent to important events such as meetings and tests and elects to take the easy way out instead of putting forth actual effort. She refuses to respect authority and resents people who see her as weak and unworthy. She has a very headstrong and stubborn nature and refuses to give up or relent when she is focused on a goal. This attitude also makes her quite brutal in battle, with her being possibly the most violent and brutal of the Knights, as she'll pull rather dirty tricks on foes like go for their eyes and sometimes downright torture an enemy to get what she wants out of them.
She's also shown to be a bit of a slacker, like showing up late to training exercises. She's a true thrill-seeker, complaining about how boring her time in the Fright Zone was, having the occasional need to blow something up, and extreme excitement at doing something extremely dangerous. When faced with certain issues, such as saving fuel for a return trip, Catra brushes this off, saying it's a "future Catra problem".
Nevertheless, Catra isn't without a heart. She cares for people, especially Adora and the other Knights since they were the first people to actually treat her as, well, an actual person. Due to her poor upbringing as a child, she's often sympathetic and kind to the younger members of the team and sympathizes with the other children the team encounter that have less than favorable relations with their paternal figures, often being the major factor that motivates her to fight evil forces, always trying to protect them when the need arises (even if she only took personal responsibility for one of them). And while she definetly hasn't outgrow her slacker tendencies, she proves a skilled strategist, coming up with seemingly insane plans that... somehow manage to get everyone out alive.
She also hates being called cute, though not as much as she hates water.
History[]
Pre-Series[]
Most of Catra's past is unknown, only that she has feline origins and is not a typical Etherian. At some point in her early life, she was left orphaned under unknown circumstances. She was eventually taken in by the Horde as an infant, primarily raised by Shadow Weaver alongside Adora to become a child soldier.
Years later, to celebrate Adora's promotion to Force Captain, the two "borrowed" a land skiff to explore the forbidden Whispering Woods. Things get out of control and Adora falls off the skiff, and just before she ran right into a tree, a portal of some kind opened right in front of her.
Mini-Series[]
Trying (and failing) to regain control of her skiff, Catra ran into a large red robot. Literally, she crashed the skiff into its leg, and it sent her flying.
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
Abilities[]
- Catlike Instincts
Thanks to her feline half, several of Catra's instincts have been heightened, such as being able to hear & smell things from great distances and be able to see in the dark.
- Enhanced Strength and Agility
- Claws
Catra has razor-sharp claws on both her fingers & toes that allow her to grasp onto nearly any surface & allow her to climb with great ease and cut through most softer materials (i.e., they can't do much against the team's many robotic foes, though they can cut through the artificial skin of a Droid).
- Riding Suit
Catra occasionlly wears the Riding Suit that came as a component of her Bartley's Ride-Armor System. It makes completely bulletproof and crashproof. However, it does reduce her speed & mobility a good bit, so she only wears it when she really needs to (well, when she's not "suiting up" in the Bartley, at least).
- Beam Cannon
Catra usually carries around the same Beam Cannon she uses on her Bartley even she doesn't have the Bartley Armor equipped, a rifle that fires Photon Beams strong enough to pierce Droid armor.
- Auto Bazooka
Catra sometimes carries on her person the Bartley's hand-held rocket launcher for when she really needs things to go "boom".
Combo Attacks[]
- Blade Cross
Combo attack w/ Cosmo: Catra and Cosmo strike an enemy with their Ceramic Blades and Wing Cutter at the same time.
Relationships[]
Adora[]
For a time, Adora was the only friend Catra ever had. She would always stick by her side during training exercises (even ones she's turn up late for) and comfort her after their "meetings" with Shadow Weaver. This even extends to Catra not even having her own bed, preferring to sleep curled up at the foot of Adora's bed at night. However, deep down, she feels immensely jealous of her success, with her thinking that Adora was a hero and that 'every hero needs a sidekick'. This even led her to believing that Adora only saw her as a second and was being a hero for the sake of glory.
Cosmo[]
Much of a surprise to herself as it was to her fellow founding member companions, Catra took a shine to Cosmo especially out of all the members the team gained during their strife with the Renegades. When the two first met, the ex-Horde soldier immediately took pity on Cosmo when she saved the angel-like Droid from her demented creators, relating heavily to her desire to be free and living the way she wanted to (obviously reminded of how she felt during her time in the Horde). After the two managed to stop this plot (with some help, of course), the two continued to bond over stuff like them having some of the most unique appearances on the team, a bond that eventually and quickly evolved into sister-like love. As such, Catra can also be extremely protective of her at times, but can also be extremely proud whenever she manages to achieve something on her own.
Usagi Tsukino[]
When the two first met, Catra found a sort of kinship with Usagi, both being ignored and looked down upon for most of their lives. From there, the two formed a sister-like bond, with Catra taking the role of a cooler, older sister that's always trying to get her to do "cool"/stupid stuff.
Pink Diamond[]
Catra found herself annoyed and even a little disturbed by Pink with how much of a hugger she was (and, y'know, the whole "giant pink woman" part). And while she can still get annoyed by Pink's perkiness and cluelessness at times, as she's managed to open up & calm down more thanks to her friends' influence, this also included becoming closer to Pink, seeing the "ex-Diamond" as one of her best friends. She also very much acknowledges how strong a fighter she is and how scary she can even be when pushed too far.
Sunset Shimmer[]
Unlike certain other authority figures in her life, Catra actually respects Sunset a great deal, with the only time she really defies her orders is when she finds a fatal flaw in one of her plans.
Kamille Bidan[]
The closeness in the two's ages lead to a kind of sibling rivalry with Catra and the Gundam pilot. That said, the young warrior does respect Kamille a great deal, especially with (how like her) he's not one to put up other people's crap. He's the first real "leader-type" that she's actually found herself willingly follow orders from.
Starscream[]
Nyoka[]
Emily[]
Ayako[]
As a young "thrill-seeker" as they like to put it, Catra and Ayako get along swimmingly.
Roscarl[]
Meryl[]
Like most of the rest of the team, Catra understood Meryl's plight, and was more than willing to call out Kitty when she went too hard on her when her powers went out of control.
Atros[]
Catra was one of the first members to welcome Atros into the group with open arms, since she knew better than most the harm a terrible upbringing can do to a kid, even if they were an android. Although even then, she did make sure to keep a close eye on her in case she tried to fight Usagi or something "funny" like that just in case.
Shadow Weaver[]
Though she was her adoptive parent of sorts, Shadow Weaver certainly never treated Catra like it. Whenever she and Adora would get into trouble, Catra was always the one who beared the harsh punishment for the two of them no matter the circumstance. Because of this abuse, Catra was always openly blunt and disrespectful towards Shadow Weaver to reflect her feelings when they interact. It was also this clear line of separation would eventually lead to Catra's constant need to prove herself to everyone.
So one can only imagine how happy she was when her so-called caretaker showed back up as a part of the Guild.
Megatron/Heralds of Unicron[]
L.O.S.R.[]
Dr. Olban[]
Catra had it out bad for Dr. Olban for creating such a sweet girl as Cosmo and only wishing to use her as a weapon.
Axis Zeon[]
Cheetah[]
As a feline villain, Catra and Cheetah sparked a rivalry almost immediately.
Glemy Faction[]
Guild of the Multiverse[]
Notes[]
Catra's role on the team (in a technicality sense at least) is basically to serve as the Black Widow/Hawkeye of the team; they're one of the only member that doesn't have any special powers (or in this case, doesn't pilot a super-cool mech either) but still manages to contribute through sheer determination and the unique ways she helps with the bigger threats. Her dynamic with Sunset in particular is mainly inspired by the dynamic between the "heroines" of the Dirty Pair series Kei & Yuri, with Catra obviously fitting Kei's role of the abrasive "shoot first, ask questions later" tomboy of the two. This attitude also allows her to be somewhat of an audience surrogate by her being the main person that "calls out" some of the more ridiculous elements of the series, like whenever a villain's plan doesn't make all that much sense or whenever the Knights encounter a rather "stupid" looking enemy.
- Her dynamic with Pink is also meant to be a twist on her relationship with Scorpia in the original She-Ra series, what with Pink being the naive, absent-minded sort that really likes to make friends but can come off a little "strong" sometimes (though, of course, this friendship is meant to go about much smoother than that one).
Since she doesn't go through all the emotional baggage or do many of the horrible things her original counterpart had to deal with/caused over the course of her home series (similarly to Pink, but the argument could be made that what Catra did was a lot worse), Catra acts a lot less like a villain and more like just a wild teenager who just loves to get on people's nerves, similarly to characters like Rigby from Regular Show, and loves her newfound freedom for her terrible past.
Catra's appearance from the first season onwards is a combination of several of her designs from various points in her original show, including the short hair she gained in the fifth season, the jacket she wore in her short time in the Crimson Waste, and the black leggings she wore in the fourth season.
.png){kind=link}
- Also, as a fun little Easter egg, her sleeping clothes are based off of this gag of her from the episode "Roll With It".