Black Cat
Spider-Man Episode 44 The Black Cat Part 1
Black Cat Art by Terry Dodson.
Publication history
In 1979, creator Marv Wolfman was looking for a female foil for Spider-Woman. He decided to base a character on a Tex Averycartoon “Bad Luck Blackie“, in which a black cat brought misfortune to anyone in close proximity. The Black Cat’s costume and appearance were designed by Dave Cockrum.
When Wolfman changed writing assignments within Marvel Comics to The Amazing Spider-Man, he brought his character with him. He made considerable changes to the character and her appearance over this time; the Black Cat intended to debut inSpider-Woman had only her name and powers in common with the one who finally appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man. On the bottom of the letters page of The Amazing Spider-Man #194, a thumbnail of the intended cover for Spider-Woman #9 appears along with a rejected cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #194.
The Black Cat is sometimes mistakenly considered an homage to DC‘s Catwoman, yet Felicia Hardy’s signature low-cut black costume, cat burglar profession, and steady relationship to Spider-Man predate Selina Kyle’s similar depiction in comics by almost a decade. Catwoman originally appeared in comics as “the Cat”, a maskless pickpocket in a green dress and unrequited love interest for Batman, but later became a supervillain who used big cats for elaborate crimes. Although she was eventually given a black catsuit and was a romantic interest in the 1966-1968 live-action Batman television series, her modern incarnation combining these elements did not occur in comic books until 1987 with Frank Miller‘s Batman: Year One. Wolfman said in an interview, “I didn’t plan Black Cat to be in Spidey. I created her for Spider-Woman (look at the letter column of the first B.C. story and you’ll see). I then decided to leave Spider-Woman and moved her over. So, I never even thought of Catwoman when I did her. I got the idea for her from a Tex Avery cartoon, Bad Luck Blackie.”
Writer/director Kevin Smith began writing the Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do miniseries in 2002. After the third issue the series went on a hiatus until 2005, when Smith revealed he had finally finished writing the scripts. Smith has stated, “While I have zero defense for my lateness (particularly when folks like Bendis turn out great stories in multiple books on a monthly basis), I will say this: it’s a much better story now than it would’ve been had I completed it back in ’02.”
In the mid-2000s, she starred alongside Wolverine in a limited comic book miniseries titled Claws. A sequel to this miniseries, entitled Claws II, began publication in July 2011. Black Cat was a lead character in the 2006-2007 Heroes for Hire series.
Fictional character biography
The Amazing Spider-Man #194 (July 1979): The Black Cat’s debut. Cover art by Keith Pollard.
Felicia Hardy was born in Queens, New York. Her father Walter pretended to be a travelling salesman, but was a world-renowned cat burglar who, before his arrest, encouraged her to never settle for second best. If she loved basketball, she should work to become a basketball player and not just a cheerleader.
Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do reveals that, as a freshman at Empire State University, Felicia was raped by her boyfriend Ryan. Hating the idea of being a victim, she trained herself in various fighting styles and acrobatics, intent on killing her rapist. Finally, after months of preparing, she set out for revenge, but before she could find him, Ryan was killed in a drunk driving accident. Furious that she was denied the chance for revenge, Hardy decided to utilize her new skills to follow in her father’s footsteps. After amassing a fortune in stolen items, Felicia adopted her costumed identity.
She first donned the Black Cat costume in order to break her father out of prison. On the same night, she met Spider-Man. Unfortunately for Felicia, her father died, and she then faked her own death. Despite her antipathy towards men, Felicia felt a kinship with this lone hero; Spider-Man was the first man she felt she could trust and she grew to believe herself in love with him. Felicia looked for a way to earn his trust and continued with the Black Cat persona as a misguided attempt to attract his affection. Seeing the good in Felicia, Spider-Man made every attempt to have her criminal record expunged.
Felicia had been placed in a mental institution, but escaped. She joined forces with Spider-Man against the Maggia. She was granted conditional amnesty, and again convinced Spider-Man that she had died.
The Black Cat finally found the opportunity to prove herself after learning the Kingpin controlled an incredibly powerful detonator. The Owl planned to use the weapon to hold New York City hostage. Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus planned to use the weapon to destroy the city altogether. However, the Black Cat was able to use her abilities to steal the item first and protect it from all parties. She gave the detonator to Spider-Man and became the target of Doctor Octopus’ revenge. Although Spider-Man was able to tear off his mechanical appendages, Octopus was still able to mentally control them and hold the Black Cat still while his men opened fire. Spider-Man barely got her to the hospital in time and as they operated on the dozens of bullet and knife wounds, Peter realized just how much he cared for Felicia.
After she recovered, they began a relationship and soon Peter revealed his identity to her. Felicia had great difficulty accepting the fact that Peter was just a man beneath the mask and could not understand his need for a civilian life. Peter was hurt, but continued the relationship since it was the first time he did not need to hide his life as Spider-Man from someone.
I
Attribution unknown, artist Jack Kirby
Initially, the “accidents” which seemed to befall those who crossed the Black Cat’s path were merely well-planned stunts and traps. After her near-death experience, Felicia feared her lack of superpowers made her a liability to Spider-Man. She was terrified that his overwhelming need to protect her would eventually get him killed. So, Felicia sought a way to make herself Spider-Man’s equal. After learning Tony Stark was missing, Henry Pym would not return her calls, and being rejected by theAvengers and the Fantastic Four, Felicia was offered an opportunity to undergo the same process that was used to create the Scorpion and the Fly. The Kingpin chose to use it on the Black Cat as payback for a theft she committed. Scared and ashamed of being empowered by the Kingpin of crime, she decided to keep her new abilities a secret from Peter. While Spider-Man was gone during the “Secret Wars“, Felicia searched for him at Avengers Mansion; Vision offered her the chance to join the Avengers, which she declined, being interested solely in Spider-Man. Upon his return, her ‘bad luck’ power turned out to be infectious, and began to jinx Spider-Man, which was exactly the Kingpin’s intent. Feeling a wall of secrets growing between them, Spider-Man broke up with Felicia. Felicia then began a “Robin Hood crusade,” stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
Peter soon realized something was amiss with his own luck and enlisted the aid of Doctor Strange to remove the “hex” on him. By doing so, he altered the hex’s source and changed the Black Cat’s powers in the process. She soon found she had heightened strength, agility, balance, vision, and retractable claws. While burglarizing the mercenary known as the Foreigner, Black Cat was attacked by Sabretooth, the Foreigner’s hitman; Spider-Man saved her life.
The Black Cat updated her look and her attitude and rekindled her relationship with Spider-Man. She made peace with his need for a normal life as Peter Parker and stood by him while he was being accused of murder as Spider-Man. Together, they tracked down the source of the elaborate scheme to frame him and fought the Foreigner. Eventually, just as his life seemed to be coming together, Spider-Man came home to discover Black Cat discussing her plans to ruin his life. He followed her to find she had never forgiven him for breaking up with her and in revenge became the Foreigner’s lover. She then battled and defeated Sabretooth. Her apartment was fire-bombed by the Foreigner’s hitman Blaze, and she began living with Peter Parker. During her ruse against Peter and despite her anger, Felicia began to fall back onto her desire to love him. She soon donned another new costume. Spider-Man then discovered her association with the Foreigner. She cleared Spider-Man of a murder charge. In the end, the Black Cat doublecrossed the Foreigner and left for Paris to find a new life, which unexpectedly pushed Peter to find support and a new relationship with Mary Jane Watson.
Years later, the Black Cat returned to America, and went “shopping” with Dagger. She returned to her original costume, went to seek out Peter Parker, and in a chance confrontation with Venom learned that Peter had married Mary Jane Watson. Angry and jealous, Felicia began harassing the couple, taunting Peter as she dated his friend Flash Thompson. She began physically threatening Mary Jane, confronting her and swearing to ruin their marriage. She saved a powerless Spider-Man from the Scorpion, but then all her powers were rendered inert by one of the Chameleon‘s devices. She began to believe that she sincerely cared for Thompson, but he broke up with her when he found out her secret. The Black Cat later made up with both Spider-Man and Mary Jane, becoming close friends with them. She was one of the few to stand with Spider-Man and Venom against Carnage and his “brood” in the Maximum Carnage arc. Originally she sided with Venom’s belief that the only way to defeat Carnage was to kill him, but at the end, she fought alongside Spider-Man in his effort to battle the chaos with compassion. After Spider-Man used a device to remove his superhuman abilities, the Black Cat aided him in finding the device again in order to restore them. In the process, the Black Cat’s cat-like abilities were completely erased. She subsequently purchased equipment from the Tinkerer to incorporate into her costume in order to compensate for her lost abilities, and occasionally teamed up with Spider-Man.
After Spider-Man unmasked himself, the Black Cat was enraged, because she had felt that they shared a bond over knowing his identity, which she described as “sexy.” Though she is dating Thomas Fireheart (a.k.a. Puma), her new sexual interest notes that Felicia may still have some romantic inclinations toward Peter.
Civil War/The Initiative
The Black Cat became a member of the new Heroes for Hire during the on-going Civil War although Misty Knight believed that Felicia was just there for the money.
