Religion: uplifted animal 
Name: Hobbes
Classification:
villain
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Illuminator #2 (Mar. 1993): "Sin-thesis!"
Creators: Glenn Herdling, Craig Brasfield, Frank Turner
Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes
Number of Appearances: 1
Enemy of: Illuminator
Worked for: Professor Baldwin
Species: tiger
Gender: male
Note: tiger/human hybrid
The Evangelical Protestant Christian super-hero known as the Illuminator encountered a strange tiger-like humanoid. The creature is known only as "Hobbes" because this is what the Illuminator dubbed it, in reference to the toy tiger from the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip.
It may be a matter of debate whether "Hobbes" can properly be identified as an "uplifted animal." This "creation" of controversial scientist Professor Baldwin is a hybrid tiger/human. It is not simply a human given tiger-like attributes. It is truly a complete hybrid of the two species. This in some ways is different from traditional "uplifted animals," which are mostly animals that have been imbued with human-like intelligence or characteristics.
It has been speculated that "Hobbes" is the result of Professor Baldwin's hybrid process, used on a tiger and a homeless vagrant, a human that the professor was certain nobody would miss or come looking for. Wherever the human half of "Hobbes" comes from, to whatever extent the creature retains the personality and memories of its original human half, it could continue to be classified in whatever religious affiliation category the human was in prior to the hybridization process. If the human half of "Hobbes" was indeed a homeless vagrant, then one can assume that he was not an active churchgoer in any congregation or organized religious group. He was probably, like most American homeless people, a drug or alcohol abuser and/or a person with severe mental disorders. If he was an active participant in any religious group his religious leaders and fellow congregants would have cleaned him up, helped him get off the streets, and would have formed the kind of ties and associations that Professor Baldwin was avoiding when choosing a victim for his experiments.
Illuminator #2 (Mar. 1993): "Sin-thesis!"
Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
- http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/profbaldwinill.htm#hobbes
- http://www.marvunapp.com/master/hoahon.htm
- http://www.marvunapp.com/master/bal.htm
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=94266
- https://www.comics.org/issue/131357/