Catra

In She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985)

Catra first appeared in animated media as one of Hordak's Horde captains in the 1985 He-Man and She-Ra feature film The Secret of the Sword. In the Filmation cartoon series, Hordak leads the Evil Horde, with Catra as one of his minions. Early proposals had Catra as the main antagonist, but Mattel later tied the Evil Horde characters to the Princess of Power toyline to integrate it with the Masters of the Universe franchise. Catra occasionally acts independently of Hordak, even betraying him to Skeletor in an attempt to overthrow him.

She has a particularly intense rivalry with fellow female villain Scorpia and, along with other Horde members, holds an intense hatred for the character Imp. Catra possesses a magical mask given to her by Hordak, which he stole from the imprisoned Queen of the Magicats. Sliding the mask from her forehead over her eyes transforms her into a large panther, retaining speech and gaining greater strength. She also demonstrates teleportation on one occasion, possibly from the mask.

The Magicats reveal a power called Freezefire that generates an energy beam encasing targets in ice, but Catra loses knowledge of it when her mind is wiped. The Magicat Percival states that once the mask is used for evil, it cannot be used for good. Catra owns a pink lion named Clawdeen, who appears once, scaring rebels into Cage-Mines before being trapped by Bow.

In She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018–2020)

In the 2018 series, Catra and Adora grew up together as adolescents, raised by Shadow Weaver, who acted as both their trainer and a mother figure. While Adora often tried to shield Catra from Shadow Weaver’s mistreatment, Catra felt bitter about the way Shadow Weaver favored Adora. Unlike Adora, Catra understood the Horde’s deceptive nature and went along with it to pursue her own goals and stay close to Adora. When Adora left the Horde, Catra refused her invitation to join her and felt personally betrayed by her friend’s departure.

There are suggestions throughout the show that Catra and Adora had romantic feelings for each other, which deepened Catra’s fear of being abandoned. Catra used the chance to prove her worth and quickly became a Force Captain under Lord Hordak. Even though she failed to capture Adora, she gained the loyalty of the brilliant Princess Entrapta, which gave the Horde advanced technology for an attack on Etheria. That attack also failed, but Catra still impressed Hordak enough to take Shadow Weaver’s place as his second-in-command.

Over the next two seasons, Hordak grew doubtful of Catra because of her pride and tendency to prioritize personal grudges over the Horde’s interests. After Shadow Weaver tricked Catra into helping her escape exile, Catra was sent to the Crimson Waste as punishment. There she became the leader of a bandit group and nearly left the Horde, but returned when she learned Shadow Weaver had joined the rebels, feeling that Adora had been chosen over her once more.

This resentment drove Catra to deliberately risk Etheria by activating a dangerous portal, knocking out Entrapta, sending her to Beast Island, and lying to Hordak that Entrapta had betrayed them.

Did You Know?

• Catra appears in the Robot Chicken episode 'Slaughterhouse on the Prairie', voiced by Eden Espinosa, where she is impaled on Scorpia's tail by She-Ra.
• Comic Book Resources listed the original incarnation of Catra in He-Man: Eternia’s 15 Mightiest Villains.