Tom Cat

**Thomas "Tom" Cat** is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon short films, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Tom is a blue/grey anthropomorphic domestic short-haired cat who first appeared in the 1940 animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Tom was originally known as "Jasper" during his debut in that short, however, beginning from his next appearance in The Midnight Snack and onwards, he is known as "Tom" or "Thomas".

## Personality

Tom's personality has changed remarkably over the years, especially after the first episodes. For example, in his debut, he was quadrupedal and had normal cat intelligence. However, over the years (since the episode Dog Trouble), he has become almost completely bipedal and has human intelligence. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity. When acting as Jerry's antagonist, Tom is usually defeated (or very rarely, killed) in the end, although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry.

## Villainous Acts

### Cartoons

* Many shorts open with him tormenting Jerry despite never being provoked.
* Frames Spike for stealing the chicken from the refrigerator in *Tom's Photo Finish*
* Pins the blame on Spike Bulldog for the mess in the house and aggressive behavior and gets him thrown out of the house in *Spike Gets Skooled*
* Terrorizes Nibbles/Tuffy and swats him on the behind with a flyswatter in *The Milky Waif*
* Attempts to eat Jerry's animal friends, such as a duck, a goldfish, or a canary
* Attempts to eat Jerry Mouse on certain occasions
* Captures Jerry's Mermouse friend to sell her to a museum for money in *Tom's Mermouse Mess-Up*
* Attempts to steal gold from Jerry's claim along with Butch Cat in *24 Karat Kat*

### Movies

* Antagonizes his fellow competitors in the Fabulous Super Race in *The Fast and Furry*
* In *The Nutcracker Tale*, As one of the evil Cat King's captain, he (along with the other alley cats) crashes Jerry's party, imprisons La Petite Ballerina in a birdcage, and traps the toys. He also gathers his troops to try to stop Jerry and his friends from reaching the star
* In *Blast of To Mars*, he terrorized Jerry and accidentally caused the war between Earth and Mars by destroying the Martian city (in his defense he would team-up with Jerry to fix his mistakes (as Tom often does when he goes too far)).

### Videogames

* In the NES game *Tom and Jerry: The Ultimate Game of Cat and Mouse*, he kidnaps Jerry's nephew Tuffy and locks him up in the attic trunk, leading to Jerry Mouse to come to his rescue
* In the Game Boy Color game, *Tom and Jerry: Mouse Attacks*, he kidnaps Jerry's friends and family (Quacker, Uncle Pecos, Tyke, Tuffy and Muscles) and even imprisons Jerry himself under a cup in a mini game.

## Heroic Acts

* Teams up with Jerry to take on very naughty and devilish triplet kittens; Fluff, Muff and Puff.
* Rescues Dorothy's dog, Toto from the clutches of Miss Gulch, with Jerry's help.
* Protects the family baby from dangerous situations while Jeannie, the baby's negligent and irresponsible babysitter, was too busy talking on the phone with her friends to bother keeping an eye on the baby.
* Rescues Miss Red from Professor Moriarty.
* Joins Johnny Quest on a mission to rescue his father from Dr. Zin.
* Protects baby dragon Puffy (who mistakes him for his mother) from Drizelda's evil henchcats Tin, Pan and Alley and manages to return him to his real mother.
* Helps Dorothy Gale and her friends defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and find the Wizard of Oz.
* Helps Jack save Storybook Town from a greedy billionaire named Mr. Bigley.
* Saves Jerry Mouse on certain occasions.
* Helps save a girl named Robyn Starling from her wicked Aunt Figg.
* Saves Quacker from suicide in "That's My Mommy."