Origin
Most mutants manifest their abilities at puberty. Sadly, this was not the case for the young mutant known as Catseye. She first manifested her ability to turn into a cat as an infant and was abandoned by her parents. Remaining in her feline form, she was raised by stray cats on the streets of Boston, and became quite feral. Emma Frost discovered her and recruited her into the original incarnation of the Hellions, giving her the human name Sharon Smith, and code-naming her Catseye.
Creation
Catseye was created by Sal Buscema and Chris Claremont and first appeared in New Mutants #16 (1984).
Major Story Arcs
Hellions
Naive and something of a free spirit, many of Sharon’s teammates saw only her youth and comparative lack of sophistication. Emma Frost, however, knew that Sharon’s personality belied a ferocious intelligence. Sharon was capable of total recall from her photographic memory and instinctively knew when she was being lied to. Under Emma’s guidance, Sharon progressed from total illiteracy to upper grade school reading levels in less than a year. Because of her feral upbringing, Sharon retained several feline qualities while in human form, as she had been forced to provide for herself since infancy. She much preferred to remain in her cat or were-cat form, finding her human form ugly and ungraceful. When she was in human form, she almost always kept her tail in full sight.
The Hellions often found themselves in competition with the New Mutants, and upon her first meeting with Wolfsbane, Catseye smelled Rahne rather than attack her out of animalistic instinct. Realizing that they shared a kindred spirit, Catseye said that the two of them should be friends. When Rahne was later transferred to the Massachusetts Academy, she and Catseye shared a room and became close friends, bonding over their similar abilities. The two teams ended up becoming quite fond of one another, but were separated after Magneto realized he had been manipulated into transferring his students and promptly took the New Mutants back to the Xavier Institute.
Later on, Catseye and Wolfsbane met at a formal dress party. As neither of them were enjoying themselves they sneaked off, leaving their dresses behind to romp in their animal forms.
New Warriors
Emma Frost would later incite a confrontation between the Hellions and the New Warriors over the membership of Firestar, a member of the Warriors who was once a Hellion. The battle came down to a game of numbers – who could defeat who. Catseye easily won against Night Thrasher, viciously tearing through his armor. While the Hellions lost overall, Catseye remained undefeated.
Death
Tragically, Catseye was killed by time-traveling mutant Trevor Fitzroy. He attacked a party held by Emma Frost with the intent to kill Emma. Some of the Hellions perished in the fight against him while others, including Catseye, were captured and drained of their lifeforce to fuel Fitzroy’s powers.
Necrosha
Catseye has returned to life alongside with other dead Hellions and attacked the X-Men on Utopia. She was resurrected by Eli Bard on behalf of Selene by means of the Transmode Virus. She was sent to attack Emma Frost, her former teacher.
Powers And Abilities
- Catseye has the mutant power of ailuranthropy, the ability to become a cat. She can transform into either a house cat or a human-panther hybrid, the latter of which appeared to be her favorite form. In her panther form, she had superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, as well as addition to keen senses, razor-sharp claws and teeth, a prehensile tail, and a healing factor. In her were-cat form, Catseye retained her human intelligence, and ability to speak.
- In her human form, she retained some catlike features such as slitted pupils and a tail.
- Catseye was exceptionally intelligent and possessed a photographic memory.
Status
- Known Relatives: Parents (unnamed)
- Citizenship: Citizen of the United States
- Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts
- Marital Status: Single
- Occupation: Deceased (Formerly: student and adventurer)
- Education: High School Level at the Massachusetts Academy
- Gender: Female
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: In human form: 120 lbs (55 kg.)
- In cat form: unrevealed
- Eyes: Lavender
- Hair/Fur: Lavender
- Unusual Traits – Even in human form, Catseye retains her tail and cat-like slits in her eyes.
Alternate Versions
Earth #295 – Age of Apocalypse
In the alternate reality of Age Of Apocalypse, Catseye was also a member of the Hellions, a group of young students located at the Massachusetts Academy. After the fall of Apocalypse, Magneto made it his mission to search out all renegade mutants. His first target were the Hellions, who were caught unaware at their home. Catseye was able to temporarily escape, but was soon found by Wolfsbane and was brought in to stand trial.
Earth #94040 – WHAT IF: Jean and Scott married sooner?
Such a small thing like a marriage was all it took to flip the reality of Earth #94040 upside down. Jean and Scott married many years sooner then the mainstream reality and forever changed the lives and future of the X-Men. When forming the “All New, All Different” X-Men he picked a team that never happened in Earth #616. The team included Storm, Colossus, twins Northstar & Aurora and Catseye. During the destined battle with the mutant island Krakoa the team would arrive with Professor X and a battle quickly ensued. In this reality things were very different, the X-Men died including Professor X. Their bodies would later be found upon the arrival of the Avengers. Thus ending the Legendary X-Men.
Other Media
Games
X-men: Battle of the Atom
Catseye is featured in the mobile card game “X-Men: Battle of the Atom” based on the comic book story with the same name. Her cards are:
- [Undead Hellions] Catseye
- [Undead] Hellions
She is also featured as a boss in the Nechrosa Event.