Black Cat

Current Events

Black Cat was recently seen in The Amazing Spider-Man assisting Spider-Man in retrieving stolen vibranium from the Kingpin. Black Cat was last seen making her escape from the Kingpin’s building after stealing the vibranium. See Big Time story arc. She can also be seen in the Claws II mini-series with Wolverine as they fight in a post-apocalyptic future. Her investigation skills are also used in the latest X-Factor arc in which she is framed for murder by the group S.C.A.R.s.

Origin

Felicia Hardy is an only child and was born to Lydia and Walter Hardy. They were a wealthy family living in Queens, New York. Her father was a “travel salesman” and would go away on many business trips, leaving her mother to raise Felicia mainly by herself. Her father would constantly encourage her to be the best at what she does. However, her mother was not satisfied with “her best” and always pushed Felicia to win first place. Felicia would find interest in extracurricular activities such as cheerleading and gymnastics. When Felicia was thirteen years old, one day during cheerleading practice her mother informs her that her father had died in a plane crash over the Andes Mountains in South America. However, Felicia would eventually discover that her father was an infamous cat burglar in the newspapers, which allowed her to piece together the reason for her father’s “business trips.” One day, when Felicia was mugged, she learned of the excitement that comes in her father’s career. She decided to learn self defense and enrolled in a martial arts class. There, she was trained by Miyagi Kanryo in the Okinawan art of Goju Ryu. Felicia also took the time to learn how to pick locks and crack open safes.

As a freshman at Empire State University, she was date raped by her boyfriend, Ryan. Horrified and angered that he had stolen her life, and even though she knew the consequences, she decided that she was going to murder him. Felicia set her studies aside and underwent rigorous training, learning other different styles of fighting, and after several months was ready. She set out to find him, but he died in a car crash while he was drunk. She was angry that she could not fulfill her desire to kill him, so she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps. Felicia then decided to make a costume and stole many valuable items. Felicia then decided to don the “Black Cat” identity because of a few reasons, cats have nine lives and land on their feet, crossing a black cat is bad luck, she is a cat burglar, she has a pet black cat named Onyx, and her father was the Black Cat.

Creation

Originally, the Black Cat was never intended to be a character in Spider-Man, nor a cat burglar. Marv Wolfman was writing Spider-Woman and was planning to create a female villain for Spider-Woman. That character would turn out to be the Black Cat. Carmine Infantino drew the cover for Spider-Woman #9, which was suppose to be the Black Cat’s first appearance. However, the cover was rejected, and before Wolfman was about to have Infantino redesign the cover, he was switched to writing Amazing Spider-Man and took Black Cat with him. Now working on Spider-Man and after a cover rejection for Amazing Spider-Man #194, he would finally introduce Black Cat on July 1979. She was illustrated by Keith Pollard, giving him co-creation rights to Black Cat.

Major Story Arcs

Felicia learned that her father was dying and was determined to not let his lasting moments be in a jail cell. She decided to break her father out of prison, but with careful planning at first. She breaks into the police station in order to gain information on criminals that will work for hire. Felicia would quickly cross paths with Spider-Man and she is forced to fend him off, succeeding and escaped from Spider-Man. As she was breaking her father out of prison she crosses paths with Spider-Man again, however Felicia was prepared this time. Even though Felicia had a hatred towards men since her date rape incident, she felt she had a special bond with Spider-Man. She had set up a trap near Spider-Man, which caused an explosion allowing Felicia and her father to escape. This was one of many tricks Felicia would use to force opponents to believe that she emits bad luck. She takes her father home to her mother and revealed that the Black Cat was his own daughter. Her father attempts to persuade her not to make the same mistake as he did and follow him down a dark path. Felicia ignores it and leaves him and her mother alone. Meanwhile, Spider-Man discovers that Felicia Hardy is the Black Cat when he goes through Walter Hardy’s profile. Spider-Man would meet up with the Black Cat outside her home. The two begin fighting as Felicia does not want to end up in jail. Their battle ensues across the rooftops until they both slip off. However, Spider-Man was able to grab on to the ledge and hold on to Felicia. However, she slips and falls to what appeared to Spider-Man, to be her death. Felicia had become depressed after nearly dying, her father’s death, and that she believed no one would recognize her skills except Spider-Man. Felicia continued her criminal career and became one of the most notorious Cat Burglars in the city. However, her real plan was to force Spider-Man to come after her. Spider-Man had placed a Spider-Tracer on her that she could not remove.

Knowing that she could never lose him with the tracer on her, she decided to lure him to a room that showed her obsession of Spider-Man with clippings of newspaper pictures of him covering the entire wall. Spider-Man decided to take Felicia to the Mitchell State Hospital and checked her in for a six month stay. Since Felicia was not really insane and was only pretending in order to avoid jail time for her crimes, she easily breaks out of the institution and continues her career as a cat burglar. Felicia moves into an apartment of her own and hides under a new alias, Felicia Harmon. She would also disguise herself with a curly black wig. Felicia went straight to work and stole an original Ehrenreich painting easily. However, she would quickly discover that she was beginning to become bored with her current lifestyle as she gained no fame and always hid in the shadows. She begins thinking about Spider-Man again and realizes how much she misses the excitement of being around him. Felicia decides to hire a sky writer and had him write a message in the sky to gain Spider-Man’s attention. The message told Spider-Man to meet her at their “first date,” to which he receives and heads straight for the place. The Black Cat begins to flirt with Spider-Man and explains to him that she wants to quit her criminal career and help him fight crime. She continues to explain the reason for breaking her father out of jail and tries to rationalize that the people she stole from were the ones who stole the item first, or that they have enough money to buy a new one.

She then confesses that she would do anything just so the two of them could have a relationship together. Afterwards, she leaves him along with the painting that she stole with a note, saying that if he accepts her offer to meet her at the costume party the next night. When Spider-Man arrives to meet up with Black Cat, she reveals to him that meeting her there was so she could prove that she could aid him in fighting crime. Spider-Man and the Black Cat was forced to fight a massive amount of the criminal underworld. However, Spider-Man and Black Cat would come out on top, and Spider-Man began to believe that she was serious in becoming good. Later, Felicia decides to steal a statue from a show room despite Spider-Man’s disapproval.

The owner discovers who the two really are and forced Spider-Man and Black Cat to fight. Spider-Man was shot in the leg, but he was able to beat the enemies up. Felicia had made her getaway during the crossfire, but Spider-Man chased her down to the docks, where he webs her entire body. She tells Spider-Man that she’d rather die then go to jail and forces herself into the water. Spider-Man was still wounded and was unable to locate her whereabouts. Just afterwards, Captain DeWolff came to give her amnesty for her past crimes, but was too late.

Black Cat’s Relationship With Spider-Man

After an extended disappearance, Felicia had learned that Kingpin had a nuclear detonator that he was going to auction off. The Owl planned to use it against New York to hold the city hostage while Doctor Octopus had planned to detonate the whole city with it. Felicia decided to steal the detonator and she gave the detonator to Spider-Man, and instantly became one of Octopus’ enemies. Spider-Man tore off his mechanical arms though was still able to control them mentally and had held Hardy down while his men opened fire on her. Spider-Man had gotten Felicia to the hospital in time when they started operating on her multiple bullet and knife wounds. He quickly realized just how much he really cared for her. After Felicia recovered from her injuries, they soon began a relationship. Spider-Man decides to reveal his true identity to Felicia and brought her to his apartment. However, Felicia had a hard time accepting, as she could not understand why he wanted to live life as a civilian when he could use his Spider-Man alter-ego to become rich and famous. Spider-Man became hurt that she only loved Spider-Man and not Peter Parker. However, Spider-Man rationalizes it that since his previous relationships ended because he had to keep his identity from them, but with Felicia, she loved his alter-ego.

Their attentions were quickly drawn to muggers harassing an innocent person. Spider-Man tells her to wait there, but she decides to tag along anyways. The two of them easily defeat the muggers, however Felicia shows signs of fatigue due to just recently being released from the hospital. While Spider-Man was battling against Mr. Hyde, she decided to join the battle in hopes of proving to Spider-Man that she could take care of herself in battle. However, Spider-Man continued to shout orders at her, and despite her knowing his good intentions, became angered that he was giving her orders and continued to try and protect her. Black Cat decides to try and engage against Mr. Hyde herself, to which she realizes that she was overwhelmed by his strength. Spider-Man intertwined to try and help, but was punched through the roof. Felicia had believed that Spider-Man was killed on that punch. Cobra arrives and battles Mr. Hyde, where Black Cat sees an opening and trips him off his feet. After a near death experience, Felicia feared that the lack of powers (her “bad luck” was due to carefully planned traps set by Felicia herself to make her opponents believe she emits “bad luck”) would make her a liability for Spider-Man and was terrified that Spider-Man would be devastated if she were to die. During the Secret Wars, when Spider-Man had left, Felicia seeks a way to gain superpowers to aid Spider-Man in battle. She first tried Tony Stark, only to discover he was missing. She then tried Hank Pym, who did not return any of her calls. She then went to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four for help and was rejected.

Felicia would seek out a mysterious person who agreed to help her gain superpowers by using Dr. Farley Stillwell’s latent gene technique, similar to the Scorpion and the Fly. Felicia gained a latent mutant ability that allows her to emit bad luck to those around her. Felicia would soon learn that the mystery person was really the Kingpin, and Felicia was not pleased to hear the news. She had new powers, but was ashamed to tell Spider-Man. Angered that she had fallen into a trap by the Kingpin, and feared that he may call upon her for errands, and also fearing how Spider-Man would react if she told him. Felicia decides that it was best of she did not tell Spider-Man at all. She also thought up of an excuse if he asked her how she gained her new powers, she would just tell him that they were latent and she had them for a long time. She also decides that if the Kingpin orders her to do something, she just would not do it. She continued to search for Spider-Man, and while searching for Spider-Man in the Avengers Mansion, Vision offered her a membership to join the Avengers, but she turned it down. When Spider-Man finally returned from the Secret Wars with his new symbiote costume, her new probability manipulation power were starting to affect Spider-Man already, which is exactly what the Kingpin wanted.

The Break Up

Eventually Spider-Man would discover her powers and confronts her about them. Felicia decides to just tell Spider-Man exactly how, why, and who she gained the powers from. She then reveals that she gained the powers from the Kingpin which stunned Spider-Man. She tries to rationalize with him that the reason she did it was so she could continue sharing their adventures together. Spider-Man then begins to lecture her about going to the Kingpin for power, then all of a sudden the roof that they were standing on collapsed. Spider-Man realizes that the accidents he had been having were caused by Felicia’s latent ability. The two agreed to meet up with the Kingpin on the next night. The next night, Spider-Man arrives at Felicia’s apartment, where she gives him a cloth version of the black costume ( Spider-Man had just gotten rid of the black suit because he discovered it was a symbiote).

Spider-Man turned down her gift, and the two headed for the Kingpin’s building. However, the two were encountered by the Spot atop of Kingpin’s building. The Spot was successful in fending off Spider-Man and the Black Cat, so the two of them decided to regroup and try again later. However, Black Cat decides to go to Kingpin’s place by herself. Once she arrived, she discovered that Spider-Man had thought of the same idea. However, she decided to let him deal with the Spot alone while she headed straight for the Kingpin. Felicia finally confronted the Kingpin who revealed his plans to her. He tells her that he had wanted to get revenge on her and Spider-Man for stealing the detonator and letting it fall into Dr. Octopus‘ hands, which forced the Kingpin to leave “his” city. Felicia then asks how giving her powers would help him gain his revenge, to which he explains that her powers cause bad luck to anyone around her. And the longer a person like Spider-Man stays around her, they would eventually die. Horrified at the news, she runs out of the building as Spider-Man enters to fight the Kingpin. Felicia decided to think by herself, and eventually concluded that she had to break up with Spider-Man in order to keep him out of harms way. Just as she was about to break up with Spider-Man, he tells her that they are too different for each other, and that he could not handle the fact that she loved Spider-Man more then Peter Parker. Spider-Man then breaks up with Felicia. She was in shock and was angered that he was the one who broke up with her. Spider-Man realized something was wrong, and with the help of Doctor Strange he was able to take the hex off Spider-Man.

However, this also altered the hex’s source and altered Felicia’s powers, making her new addition of powers super strength, agility, balance, super vision, and claws, all much like a cat. Felicia thought this was a reinvention of her, so she rekindled her relationship with Parker and stood by Spider-Man as he was accused of murder. They tracked down this elaborate scheme and fought a mercenary called Foreigner. Parker thought his life was falling apart when he came to discover that Felicia was in fact causing this. He also discovered that Felicia had never forgiven him for their break up and had started a relationship with Foreigner to gain revenge against Spider-Man. However, Felicia would eventually realize her true feelings for Peter and double crossed the Foreigner. Felicia decides to leave the country and went to Europe to start a new life. This forced Peter to find a new relationship with Mary Jane Watson. Years later, Hardy returned to America and learned from Venom that Peter had gone on to marry Mary Jane, and started physically threatening her. She also started going out with Flash Thompson to spite Peter.

They had cared for each other, but he broke up with Felicia as soon as he discovered her secret and Felicia became a better person by making amends with Peter and becoming friends with Mary Jane. Spider-Man was later exposed to a device which removed all his powers by the Chameleon, Felicia had helped in finding the device and after battling the Scorpion and the Tarantula (Luis Alvarez), was successful in restoring his powers, however she had lost her own powers in the process. In order to regain her abilities, Felicia purchased equipment from the Tinkerer to help incorporate her abilities into her costume and occasionally teams up with Spider-Man. During Maximum Carnage, Felicia aided Spider-Man and Venom in their battle against Carnage. Felicia briefly accepted Venom’s beliefs that they had to kill Carnage to stop him. However, she decides to go down the same road as Spider-Man and helped him stop Carnage without murdering him.

New Life

Felicia later creates her own private investigations business called Cat’s Eye Private Investigations. The P.I. office specializes in body guarding, background checks, bounty hunting, and installing burglarproof security systems. She is also residing in Los Angeles, California. Felicia gets a call from her friend Meg who was panicking that her friend Tracia had not checked in for a while. Felicia agrees to return to New York to investigate her disappearance and was also hoping to see Spider-Man again. It has been five years since the two of them were in a romantic relationship, and Felicia was torturing herself over the fact that she was too spoiled back then, and it cost her a relationship with Spider-Man. She found a link between Tracia and a movie star named Hunter Todd, so she decided to head over to the Soho Grand Hotel where he was staying at. While there, Felicia sees a person creeping around the window and she decides to attack it. It turns out to be Spider-Man.

After the two recover, Felicia asks for Tracia Lane while Spider-Man asks for a teenage boy who died named Donald Phillips. Todd’s reaction assured the two that he knew the answers. Suddenly, Todd begins to overdose on Heroine, and the same happens to the woman he was with. Someone begins talking through the phone, to which Spider-Man answers. It was Mr. Brownstone, and he tells him that he is giving them an overdose and hangs up. The two of them argue for a bit on the rooftop, then they decide to go patrol the city until they see smoke from a building. They engage against the villain and defeats her easily. Afterwards they were thanked by Garrison Klum, and Spider-Man believes that man is Mr. Brownstone. Felicia and Spider-Man decides to ask the girl they just arrested who hired her to kill the guy, she eventually gives in when Spider-Man annoyed her too much. When they arrived to the house of the person who hired the hit, they discovered him and his wife chopped to bits, but the baby was allowed to live. Both of them decided to scare Mr. Brownstone, but that was all Spider-Man had planned. He said there was not enough evidence to catch him, and it angered Felicia. They get into a heated argument and then a fight. Felicia was able to web Spider-Man to the floor and she went after Brownstone herself.

Felicia sneaks into Brownstone’s place and tries to kill him, but he was not in his bed. He was behind her, but he didn’t pose a threat. He distracted Black Cat by talking to her while he heated up some Heroine. After he was done, he teleported the Heroine into Felicia causing her to overdose on Heroine. Felicia was now helpless and in Brownstone’s hands. Brownstone was attempting to rape her. However, Brownstone was killed before he could rape her and Felicia is charged with murdering Brownstone. Meanwhile, Spider-Man teams up with Daredevil to break Felicia out of jail. When they arrive, they discovered Francis Klum ( Garrison’s brother) holding Felicia, he makes Daredevil and Spider-Man fight each other and teleports out of Ryker‘s. It is revealed that Francis was the one who killed Garrison, and while he was teleporting Felicia, he told her about the times his brother sexually harassed him. He tells her that he saved her because he was sick of what Garrison was doing. Felicia wanted to get help for Francis, but he is scared that he will get the death penalty. However, she assures him that he is not to worry because he is sick. She tells Francis about the time she was raped, and what she went through afterwards.

Spider-Man and Daredevil arrive to the bridge that they were talking at, and sees flashes of Gwen and tries to prevent the same from happening to Felicia. Spider-Man was hurt when Francis teleported Felicia’s mask into his neck, then picks up a gun and points it at Felicia for betraying him. Spider-Man webs the gun, but he falls off the bridge and Spider-Man could not catch him, but Francis teleports mid-air and disappears. The next day, Peter and Felicia takes a walk in the park and she was ready to tell him what had happened to her during college. Felicia would later team up with Spider-Man and Puma to battle against Stegron. Stegron was planning to devolve the entire population of New York City. Eventually the three of them would be successful in defeating Stegron. Shortly after, Puma and Black Cat began a romantic relationship. While they were in bed together, it was noticeable that Felicia may have some feelings for Peter still. When Peter revealed to the world that he was Spider-Man, it greatly disappointed Felicia because she believed that they shared a “sexy” bond as she was one of the few who knew his true identity.

Civil War / The Initiative:

In the Civil War, Felicia joins Heroes For Hire but joins purely for money, apprehending any unregistered heroes and bounties. Black Cat discovered that Misty‘s old nemesis named Vienna is supplying super felons fake I.D.’s. Black Cat and the Heroes for Hire burst into action. It turned out to be a trap and they engage against other villains too. Then Paladin, Shang-Chi, and Orka arrive to help them. It turns out that Vienna was working undercover for Misty, and afterwards they add a few new members to the Heroes for Hire. Goliath had recently died during the Civil War, and Misty was enraged by it. The whole team went to talk to Tony Stark about it. Misty tells Stark that she will try and bring Captain America in peacefully. Black Cat and the Heroes for Hire decide to seek the help from Pixiu the Dragon in Chinatown. However, it was not too helpful as Captain America and his team are shielded by magic. Misty receives a call to investigate a crime scene.

They arrive at an organ transplant operation room, and decided to have Mr. Fantastic check it. He discovers that it is a Skrull DNA. Afterwards, they continue their mission and were able to locate Captain America’s hideout. They try to talk Captain America into surrendering peacefully, but he declines. Paladin then turns on the team and tries to arrest Captain America. A battle ensues and Captain America’s shield misses Paladin and hits Black Cat. Eventually, Paladin comes out on top and is calling SHIELD to come pick up Captain America. As it turn out, Captain America had switched places with Paladin during the confusion, and the person on the SHIELD helicarrier is really Paladin. Captain America parted ways with Heroes for Hire and they later discover that the black-market was surgically implanting super humans with Skrull organs. Meanwhile, Misty’s old nemesis, Ricadonna, broke out of prison and sent a bomb to Heroes for Hire headquarters.

She then put a hit on members of the Heroes for Hire, except for Black Cat. The team decides to split up to look for Ricadonna. Misty and Colleen went to get answers out of Toddler, while Black Cat and the others went after Ricadonna. Once humbug discovers where Ricadonna is, they all alerted Misty and Colleen, then the team went after her. A battle ensues against the super powered villains, and they eventually defeat Ricadonna. However, her lab was about to explode and Black Cat and the Heroes for Hire were able to escape via underground tunnel. Tony Stark then funded a new base of operations for the Heroes for Hire, and they get their first customer, a kid. He claims that super powered criminals stole his robot. Misty forces Humbug to go investigate with the kid. Meanwhile, Black Cat and the others are offered a job to bust up some criminals for robbing the man’s diamonds, and that he wanted them back. Meanwhile, Humbug and the kid were captured by the villains who stole his robot (which looked like Dr. Doom). Eventually Shang-Chi and Orka arrive to help him. However, the Dr. Doom robot kills Orka and Shang-Chi beats everyone up out of anger. After that everyone regroups and realizes that without the diamonds, they were not paid by the man.

Black Cat recently re-appeared after a several year absence. It seems she abandoned her private detective business and has gone back to thievery. However, it was revealed she is working for an unknown employer and things may not be exactly as they appear.

Grim Hunt

Felicia was caught between the Kravinoffs when she hears that a cat burglar has been snooping around New York. She later finds out that the cat burglar is Vasili Holpkin Sidorov, a servant of the Kravinoff family. Felicia learns that he has kidnapped her mother Lydia in order for her to steal an item for the Kravinoff’s family for their plans. Felicia agrees and after she steals the item, Felicia comes up with a plan to rescue her mother. Using a decoy, Felicia managed to sneak into the Kravinoff’s mansion and rescued her mother after disarming a bomb strapped to her chair.

Big Time

In Spider-Man: Big Time in an attempt to join The Avengers Black Cat asks to team-up with Spider-Man to get in their good graces. He agrees and she becomes his sidekick. They team up to go after the new Hobgoblin who has stolen reverbium from Spidey’s new employers. Together they break in to the Kingpin’s building – as they escape the building is brought down. Spidey is upset that Black Cat managed to steal something as they fled and tells her he can’t work with her anymore.

Superior Spider-Man

Eventually, Felicia grew tired of her superhero and criminal activities and started to save money to retire. As Otto Octavius, in the guise of Spider-Man, was about to head for a date with Anna Maria Marconi, he bumped into Felicia, who was in the act of a robbery. Felicia tried to flirt with him, not realizing who he really was, and got a tooth punched out for her trouble, leaving Felicia totally shocked and angry, swearing revenge after Otto wrapped her in webbing.

She was soon found by the police and sent to the Conway Penitentiary. Humiliated, Felicia’s stolen treasures were repossessed and her criminal contacts broke all ties with her. As she contemplated her predicament, she noticed a spider in her cell. Rather than immediately kill it, she realized it would be more satisfying to play with it first. One night, Electro destroyed the Penitentiary, and Felicia survived thanks to her luck powers. She got a new costume and begun stalking Spider-Man, who at the time was Peter Parker again, vowing to make him pay with his life, after she’s done playing with it.

Alternative Realities

Ultimate Universe

In the Ultimate Universe, Felicia is a possible mutant with cat-like agility and the ability to give herself or others good luck or bad luck. Her natural hair color is black and wears a white wig as part of her costume. When Felicia was a young girl, she saw her father sent to prison for being a cat burglar. Her father eventually died in prison and Felicia blamed the Kingpin for the death of her father and vowed to take revenge. Fifteen years after her father died, Felicia became an accountant for the company Fisk Enterprise and spent her nights stealing from Manhattan’s more prominent office buildings, under the disguise of the Black Cat. When a man named Mr. Moore offered to buy his way into the Kingpin’s organization with an inscribed stone tablet that the Kingpin desired, Felicia broke into his apartment and stole the tablet from his office safe. While escaping with the tablet, she encountered Spider-Man but used her bad luck powers to evade him. Video footage was captured of the two of them together and the police suspected that they were partners in crime. Intrigued by this accusation, Felicia decided to place an advertisement in the Daily Bugle newspaper, asking Spider-Man to meet her on the rooftop near the site of their confrontation. Spider-Man met her there and she flirted with in and brought him cheese and wine. However, their reunion was interrupted by Elektra, who was hired to retrieve to tablet. Felicia and Elektra battled, until Spider-Man intervened and both Felicia and Electra escaped. Spider-Man remembered the comments that Felicia said to Elektra about telling the Kingpin she was not her father, so decided to search the Daily Bugle records to find out her identity. He realized that if he could find these documents, so could the Kingpin so he raced to Felicia’s apartment to find her already in the hands of Kingpin. Spider-Man’s arrival gave Felicia a opening to break free and she fled to the roof of her apartment. The Kingpin and the assassin Elektra pursued her but just as they were about to reach Felicia, she threw the tablet in the harbor. Angry, Elektra threw her sai into Felicia’s chest and she fell from the roof into the sea, apparently dead.

Felicia returned several months later to help aid Spider-Man during the war between Kingpin’s forces and the Hammerhead. Felicia showed interest in joining Hammerhead’s forces if it meant she could get a chance to kill Kingpin. After the crisis was resolved, she kissed Spider-Man through his mask and showed that her previous interest in him had developed. However, Felicia had no idea about the age difference between her and Spider-Man and assumed that he left in a rush because he was a married man. When she unmasked him and realized how young he was, she was disgusted and due to the shock and embarrassment, she puked on his uniform and left.

After Ultimatum, she returned to New York City with a new Black Cat costume. She witnessed Kingpin being blasted out of his building and killed by Mysterio while she ready to snipe him across from his building. Disappointed that she was unable to kill Kingpin, Felicia focused on her second objective- getting the Zodiac Key from Kingpin’s safe. After the police search Kingpin’s office, Felicia returns and finds the safe, however, just as she opened it, Mysterio arrived. Felicia tried to make a deal with Mysterio that she would stay out of his way if he gave her the contents inside the safe. Mysterio refuses her offer and asks her to join him in a partnership, of which she suggests he gives her the safe as a goodwill gesture. Mysterio refuses to give up the safe and attacks Felicia and they battle for a short time before Felicia escapes through a window. Felicia tracks down Mysterio, who now has the key and just as she is about make her move, Spider-Man appears and attacks Mysterio. Their fight causes the destruction of Mysterio’s hideout. A week later, Felicia finds the key, but Mysterio confronts her again. He explains that the key is a relic that the Kingpin used during his reign in power and that she doesn’t know it’s true powers. However, Felicia uses it’s powers to escape. Later, Mysterio tracks her down at her apartment, offering a deal. Felicia explains that she doesn’t know how to activate it, but accidentally activates it and destroys a few blocks of the city. Guilty, she gives the key back to Mysterio. Iron Man and Spider-Man later appears, and with Felicia’s help, they defeat him. She later assist Spider-man helping the people affected by the blast.

Zombieverse

Black Cat’s history before the zombie plague struck is very similar to her 616 counterpart. She was one of the superheroes that was infected with the plague quite early and is seem by Spider-Man and Ashley J. Williams infecting Iron Fist and is later seen by Quicksilver attacking Scarlet Witch. She eventually becomes a part of the group of zombies who attack the Baxter Building, but are later stopped by Magneto. The Black Cat’s fate remains unknown, but it can be assumed that she was fried when the Power Cosmic Zombies tried out their new powers they attained.

Noir

During Marvel Noir, Felicia became a big part of the Spider-Man Noir story-line. She is the owner of a nightclub named the Black Cat (during the prohibition) and is the former lover of the reporter, Benjamin Urich. She worked as Urich”s liaison in his investigations which involved keeping files on New York’s corruptions and scandals that could take down many of the corrupted officials in the city. After finding the files, she secretly witnessed the death of Urich by his boss, Jonah Jameson who was in fact a disguised Chameleon working for the Goblin. Believing that it was indeed Jameson, Felicia confronted the Chameleon, who was still in disguise, in his office and shot him to death. The Goblin captured Felicia to try and get the documents and it was revealed that Felicia was once the Goblin’s lover. She managed to escape the hostage, but Urich’s files were out in the open and she was confronted by Spider-Man, who knew about her relationship with Urich. Felicia then became romantically involved with the Crime Master, but was secretly seeing Spider-Man behind his back. However, Felicia realized that despite her feelings, her and Spider-Man could never be together. While protecting Spider-Man from Sandman, the Crime Master found out about Felicia’s affair with Spider-Man and angrily slashed her face. Felicia returned home and was forced to wear a mask due to the permanent scarring to her face.

House of M

Felicia worked as a double agent for Luke Cage’s Avengers and was one of the Kingpin’s top assassins. She fed as much information to Luke Cage as she could, but was found out by the Kingpin who has Bullseye and Elektra beat her and throw her out of a window. She informed Luke Cage about the set up and stays with Luke’s resistance until the battle in Genosha.

MC2 Universe

In the Mc2 universe Felicia is not Black Cat anymore but, a mother. She was married to Flash Thompson and had two kids Gene Thompson and Felicity Hardy. Felicia divorced Flash and Gene lives with Flash and Felicity lives with Felicia. Felicia found out that she was a lesbian and has been dating a girl and Felicity does not really approve of it. Felicity was trained by her mother and wants to be a super hero. When Felicity found out that May Parker was Spider-Girl she blackmailed her and became her sidekick the Scarlet Spider. Felicia did not approve of this. Felicity recognized that she was in danger by being a super hero and stopped being one but, sometimes helps May with computer stuff. Ever since Felicity and Felicia’s relationship together has been better.

Earth-65

On Earth-65, Felicia Hardy is a famous French pop star and a former member of the band The Mary Janes. As a child, she and her father stole the Kingpin’s first dollar, which caused the Kingpin to have her dad killed in retaliation. Left alone, Felicia began singing on the streets, which eventually led to her becoming a professional performer. She was briefly part of the Mary Janes with Em Jay Watson, Gwen Stacy , Glory Grant and Betty Brant, but left the group behind to pursue a successful solo career. In the present, she returns to New York for a concert, and tries to kill Matt Murdock (her father’s murderer) when he shows up. However, she is defeated by Spider-Woman and sent to prison.

Personality

Felicia Hardy is often seen as a woman obsessed with Spider-Man always trying to keep his affection. For example, she once set up Spider-Man to be caught red-handed so he could become an outlaw and live forever with her. She is also superficial, asking Parker to put his mask back on as she couldn’t live with the thought of Spider-Man being an average guy. This is due to her greedy personality, from stealing many precious items as they get the better of her and she becomes reckless in her relationships. Even so, her obsession with Spider-Man shows that she is determined and has a strong will, and shows that nothing will get in her way.

Powers and Abilities

When the Black Cat was first introduced into comics, she was just an average human being that possessed no super-human abilities. However, she was an highly skilled martial artist and a top athlete and gymnast. After she decided to become a crime fighter and began her relationship with Spider-Man, she realized that her lack of super-human power may cause Spider-Man to be killed should he become over run by an enemy.

Former Powers

Feline Abilities- After Black Cat’s powers were removed by Doctor Strange, the process caused her body to be mutated which granted her with special abilities. These included superhuman reflexes, infrared eyesight (which enabled her to see in the dark), enhanced strength and retractable claws. Black cat also stated that she could smell pheromones which showed that she had a sense of smell like a animal. However, Black Cat lost these abilities completely when she was hit with a device that was designed by the Chameleon to remove Spider-Man’s powers.

Current Powers

Probability Field Manipulation- Black Cat was given the power of ‘bad luck’ by scientists whom were working for the Kingpin through a bargain they made with him. This power allowed her to affect probability fields, which caused improbable events of bad luck to happen to enemies that were within her sight. This power of hers was removed by Doctor Strange when it started to effect the ones she loved the most and it was discovered that it would eventually kill a person the longer they stayed around her. Black Cat’s power of bad luck has shown to have returned to her recently for unknown reasons and she now has more control of this power than ever before.

Abilities

Expert Thief – Black Cat is a skilled thief and is an expert in stealth, lock picking, escapology, evading and detecting alarms and cracking open safes.

Olympic Level Athlete- Black Cat possesses the reflexes, agility and stamina of a Olympic level athlete and is physically very strong and has enhanced physical endurance.

Olympic Acrobat- Black Cat is a very skilled acrobat and is capable of completing many difficult stunts and feats that a normal person would not be able to do.

Skilled Martial Artist- Black Cat has received training in many different martial artist and is most noticeable skilled in Goju-ryu Karate and Judo of which she uses regularly. She is capable of taking on several armed guards at a time and incapacitating them without getting injured herself. Her strength, when pushed too far enables her to defeat foes such as Sabretooth.

Appearance- Felicia is an attractive woman with an athletic yet highly voluptous figure, assets she uses to her advantage by constantly wearing the zipper of her skin tight leather one piece costume down exposing a large amount of her equally large breasts framed by white fur. this is meant to draw the eyes of her (male) opponents to her assets and leave them vulnerable.

Equipment

After Black Cat lost her powers to the Chameleon, she decided to buy some special equipment from the Tinkerer that would help her strength and agility to become more advanced.

Black Cat Costume- Felicia purchased a black leather costume from the Tinkerer which increased many of her natural attributes. This includes micro-servos that gives her peak human strength which enables her to lift approximately 800 lbs. The suit also enables her superhuman speed, which allows her to sprint at the maximum speed of about 40 miles per hour. The suit itself is also extremely tight and shows off a lot of her cleavage. which helps to distract her enemies.

Specially Designed Earrings– Black Cat’s suit also includes a unique pair of earrings that help her keep balanced while climbing walls or rooftops, similar to how a cat uses its tail to balance itself.

Contact Lenses– Black Cat uses designed contact lenses that enables her to see in the range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which allows her to see in the dark as clearly as she would in the daytime.

Retractable Claws- The gloves of Black Cat’s costume contain metal, retractable claws at the tip of each finger. They are razor sharp and are capable of tearing through most materials and enable her to scale walls.

Grappling Hook- Black Cat has a grappling hook device which is hidden in the fur of each of her gloves of which were designed by her father, Walter. These hooks enable her to swing from building to building in a way similar to Spider-Man, though not as fast. She can also use the device as a tightrope, wall scaling device, swing line or as a weapon in combat with an enemy. When the hooks are fired, they can be attached to building ledges or flag posts, which enables her to swing across buildings.

Motorcycle- Black Cat sometimes uses a motorcycle in a cat-like design.

Personal Data

Characteristics

• Height: 5′ 10″
• Weight: 120 lbs
• Eyes: Green, Blue(when wearing contacts)
• Hair: Platinum Blonde

Status

• Citizenship: American
• Place of Birth: Queens,New York
• Marital Status: Single
• Education: College graduate (Art major)
• Affiliations: Heroes for Hire, Spider-Man, Marvel Divas
• Occupations: Former cat burglar, private investigator, founder of Cat’s Eye Investigations, Registered superhero
• Known Relatives: Walter Hardy/ The Cat (father, deceased), Lydia Hardy (mother)

Other Media

Television

Spider-Man (1980’s)

Black cat was known by her criminal name throughout the episode: “Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man”, her only episode appearance of that show. She once tried to challenge Spider-Man on trying to stop her from stealing the maltese mouse while putting her plan of humilating Spidey as much as possible. She was voice by Morgan Lofting of G. I. Joe.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

In the Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Felicia Hardy is a blonde, high-class, girl who shows signs of being spoiled. She attends Empire State University with Peter Parker, Peter is also Felicia’s science tutor. Peter would try multiple times, to go on a date with Felicia, but she would constantly turn him down. Felicia had been saved by Spider-Man a few times before. Her mother, Anastasia Hardy, was a normal business woman and mother. Her father on the other hand, John Hardesky, was a well known jewel thief called “The Cat.” When her father was a young boy, he memorized the Super Soldier Serum during World War II. Two notable relationships that Felicia went through was Michael Morbius, who turned into a vampire, and Jason Macendale, who was revealed to be the Hobgoblin.

The Black Cat would finally make her first appearance in season 4, which was entitled Partners in Crime. Felicia had discovered that her father, John Hardesky, was the infamous burglar called The Cat and that he was being held prisoner on the SHIELD Helicarrier. This was because he had memorized the Super Soldier Formula, and that knowledge makes it too dangerous for him to be out in the public. Eventually the Kingpin would get his hands on Hardesky and force him to give up the Super Soldier Formula. To make sure Hardesky gave him the proper formula, they tested it on Felicia. She gained enhanced strength, speed, and stamina. Felicia was also able to alter her appearance, giving her white hair instead of her natural blond in the series. Eventually Spider-Man would arrive and they defeat the Kingpin. Afterwards, Hardesky says his farewells to his wife and daughter before he turns himself over to SHIELD, due to his knowledge on the Super Soldier Formula.

Most of season 4 is Black Cat teaming with Spider-Man to fight crime.

She continues to flirt with Spider-Man, who also plays along (Mary Jane fell into the dimension portal at the end of season 3). However, Felicia would reunite with Morbius, who was still in his vampire form. Morbius, Felicia, Spider-Man, and Blade would battle against Blade’s mother. Afterwards, Felicia would agree to go with Morbius, as she still has feelings for him. Black Cat would finally reappear in season 5’s Secret Wars. She was angered at Spider-Man for taking her as she was in the middle of fighting with Morbius and Blade. Eventually she agrees to help him out, and after the Secret Wars was over, she was returned.

She was voiced by Jennifer Hale.

Spectacular Spider-Man

Black Cat first appears as a cameo in the episode “The Uncertainty Principle” in her costume during Halloween. In the episode “Persona”, Spider-Man catches Felicia trying to steal the Symbiote. After some flirting and quite rhythmic sparring, Black Cat gets away. Spider-Man knows that she doesn’t have the Symbiote, but is unaware that it has began bonding to his own suit. Later, Chameleon, with the help of Mysterio and Phineas Mason, begins framing Spider-Man for crimes he did not commit. Eventually, Spider-Man seeks the aid of Black Cat. She helps him to infiltrate a boat-side robbery and stop Chameleon. At the end of the episode, Felicia kisses Spider-Man, hiding a necklace that she stole, behind his back. In season two, Black Cat returns for two episodes. In the episode “Accomplices”, she tries to steal the formula for the Rhino, but before she could, Hammerhead, Silver Sable, and other gang mobs appeared, as they were auctioning the formula off. Knowing the situation, she quietly walked away. In the episode “Opening Night”, She tries to break out her Father, Walter Harvey, in prison. Little did she know, Spider-man was also there due to testing out the new prison security. It is later revealed that Walter was the burglar who shot Uncle Ben. He decides to stay in prison to pay his debt. Thinking that this was because of Spider-Man’s influence she angrily says she will never forgive him before leaving. In this series, she is voiced by Tricia Helfer.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Black Cat appears in the episode “A Day in the Life,” voiced by Grey Griffin. She is introduced stealing an experiment Max Modell was working on at Horizon High, which is revealed to be a canister of black liquid recovered from space. She is confronted by Spider-Man, but manages to subdue him by using her bad luck powers. Black Cat then goes on a crime spree throughout New York, stealing various items (including a new smartphone prototype and a rare comic book), with her powers allowing her to thwart Spider-Man’s efforts to capture her each time. Spider-Man eventually catches up with Black Cat after she steals a car, and manages to defeat her by turning her own luck against her, causing the vehicle to crash. After webbing her up and turning her over to the police, Spider-Man notes that Black Cat was likely hired to steal the items by someone, but she refuses to give up the name of her employer. She is last seen in the back of a cop car, where it is implied that she plans to use her luck abilities to escape.

Film

Spider-Man 2

Felicia Hardy was intended to be added to the Spider-Man 2 film as a complexity to the relationship of Mary Jane and Peter, but this idea was eventually rejected due to the risk of over complicating the plot with new characters. Though, she would appear in the video game’s story based on the same movie. She was also intended to appear in Spider-Man 4 as one of the lead villains, albeit with some radical differences. According to director Sam Raimi, Felicia would’ve been depicted as the daughter of the Vulture, and would’ve become an armored villain known as “The Vulturess” following his death. Though this plan was scrapped when Spider-Man 4 was cancelled, actress Anne Hathaway had been cast in the role. Ironically, Hathaway would later go on to play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Felicia Hardy appears in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as an OsCorp employee who becomes Harry Osborn‘s personal assistant after the death of his father. She appears to have an in-depth knowledge of the company, and tells Harry where to find the spider venom and suit of armor that he eventually uses to transform into the Green Goblin. Though she does not display many characteristics of her comic counterpart, the franchise’s producers have stated they plan to have Felicia become Black Cat in future installments. She is played by actress Felicity Jones.

Silver and Black

Black Cat is currently scheduled to appear as one of the two main characters alongside Silver Sable.

Video Games

Spider-Man: The Video Game

A 1991 arcade game released by Sega, Spider-Man: The Video Game is a comic beat-em-up game where up to four players can play. The choice of characters are Spider-Man, Black Cat, Hawkeye, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, and their goal is to rid of the evil clutches of Dr. Doom and other villains such as Venom, Scorpion, Kingpin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, , Sandman, Green Goblin.

Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage

Another side-scrolling game for the Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/ Genesis in 1994. Black Cat played as a minor character who act as a support to Spider-Man.

Spider-Man

Created primarily by Activision and Neversoft in 2000, Spider-Man was a hit PlayStation game which was ported to the Nintendo 64, Mac, PC, Dreamcast and Game Boy Colour. Black Cat was again not a playable character but act as a support to help clear the web slinger’s name after being framed by Doctor Octopus. She was captured later on but Spider-Man saved her at the end. Jennifer Hale reprised her role from Spider-Man the Animated Series, voicing the charecter once more.

Spider-Man 2 The Video Game

This was the video game based of the successful movie Spider Man 2 in 2004. Black Cat only made a cameo sporting shorter hair.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

A 2007 game ported to various consoles and handhelds, Black Cat is a playable character who assisted Spider-Man in the game.

Spider Man Web Of Shadows

In the video game of Spider Man Web of Shadow’s released on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and PSP October 21st 2008. The Black Cat has a pivotal role in the game and adds to the Black suit side of the story. Allowing exploration of a darker side of the Black Cat attracts Spider-Man to that dark side as well if players choose that route in game. It was one of the first video games to focus on her moves, and made her moves more fluid and feline like. The fact that she was an integral part of the plot and not just a Cameo allowed insight into their complex relationship such as playful flirting and fully voiced cut-scenes.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance

Black Cat is a playable character in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance that can be unlocked by paying 23 Command Points. She can equip three different uniforms: Classic Black Cat (Infiltrator Class), Claws Black Cat (Scrapper Class), and Claws Black Cat (Infiltrator Class). Her attacks include: Cat Scratch, Unlucky Strike, Stroke of Luck and Nerve Chop.

Her bio Says: Child of a notorious cat burglar, Felicia Hardy took to the family business and adopted the persona of Black Cat to convince her adversaries that tangling with her would bring bad luck. She’s not a burglar anymore (much), but she’s still got the speed, power and reflexes of her namesake, enhanced by devices in her costume.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time

A clone of Black Cat features in the 2099 future timeline, voiced by Katee Sackhoff. She claims to be the real Black Cat having been kept alive through forced consumption of anti-aging pills produced by Alchemax, the corporate antagonist of the game. In actuality this version of Black Cat is nothing more than a clone, programmed with memories of the original Felica Hardy in a possible attempt to obscure Spider-man’s awareness of the current situation by misleading his feelings. She is bestowed with many technological/cybernetic upgrades, provided by Alchemax. On more than one occasion Spider-man must engage multiple clones of Black Cat.

Marvel: War of Heroes

Black Cat is featured in the card mobile game Marvel: War of Heroes. She appears in these cards:

• Black Cat
• [Sign of Bad Luck] Black Cat
• [Fickle Fortune] Black Cat
• [Wicked Bad Luck] Black Cat
• [Daddy’s Girl] Black Cat
• [If It Wasn’t for Bad Luck…] Black Cat
• [Crossing Your Path] Black Cat
• [Miss Fortune] Black Cat
• [Stormy Romance] Spider-Man & Black Cat
• [Vendetta] Black Cat
• [Nine Lives] Black Cat
• [The Little Things] Black Cat

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online

Black Cat is a playable Character in this game voiced by Tara Strong.

Her description says: Whether she’s scratching up bad guys or pilfering priceless prizes, Black Cat doesn’t need luck to show that she’s one of the best.

Marvel Heroes

Black Cat is playable character in the game. She was released as a villain/boss at first. Her bio in the game says: Daughter to a world renowned cat burglar, Felicia Hardy was raised to never settle for anything in life. Traumatized in college, Felicia trained herself to take vengeance upon those who had made her a victim. Deprived of her chance to kill her attacker, Felicia would take her father’s advice to its natural conclusion and follow in his criminal footsteps. As the Black Cat, Felicia made a substantial career for herself coming into constant contact with the superhero Spider-Man. Though determined to always have the best things in life, it was Spider-Man who taught Black Cat that maybe her skills could help more than they could hurt.

She was released in several costumes. Voiced by Jennifer Hale as a hero, and Ali Hillis as a Villain.

Marvel Future Fight

Black Cat is a playable character in the game. She is a speed type, and her description in the game says: Felicia Hardy grew up a spoiled daddy’s girl, intent of emulating her beloved father. When she discovered that he was the world’s greatest cat burglar, she was determined to follow in his footsteps and undertook rigorous training to master martial arts, lockpicking, and safecracking.

She was released with alternate uniforms:

• Black Cat – Modern
• Black Cat – Claws
• Black Cat – All-New, All-Different

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes

Black Cat is a supporting character in the game.

Marvel: Avengers Academy

Black Cat is a playable character in the game. Black Cat is voiced by Mel Gorsha. She was released during the “Spider-Man” event. Her recruitment quest is The Cat’s Meow!

Spider-Man (2018)

Black Cat appears in the 2018 Spider-Man game from Insomniac, voiced by Erica Lindbeck. She is the subject of a side quest where Spider-Man has to recover cat statues she left behind at her various robberies, which eventually leads him to her abandoned hideout. She is featured in full in the DLC mission The Heist, where she recruits Spider-Man to help her steal from Hammerhead, who has kidnapped her son. However, this turns out to be a ruse, as she never actually had a child, and really only wanted to steal financial information on the Maggia. She seemingly dies in an explosion, but returns in the Silver Lining DLC expansion.

Merchandise

• Black Cat was featured in ToyBiz’s toyline for the Spider-Man animated series.
• Black Cat was featured in ToyBiz’s 12″ Marvel Super Hero line.
• Black Cat was featured in ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends line as part of the “Spider-Man vs. Sinister 6” box set.
• Diamond Collectibles released a figure of Black Cat in the Marvel Select line. The figure came with a base depicting a heist in progress.
• Gentle Giant released a Black Cat bust.
• Black Cat was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Super Hero Squad line as part of a two-pack with Spider-Man.
• Black Cat was featured in the Superior Foes of Spider-Man Heroclix wave.
• Sideshow released a statue of Black Cat designed by J. Scott Campbell.
• Black Cat was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line.
• Hasbro released a Marvel Legends Black Cat figure as part of the Ultimate Green Goblin Build-a-Figure wave. A 90s-inspired retool was later released for the Marvel Legends Vintage series.
• A new Black Cat figure based on her modern design was released for Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as part of the Kingpin Build-a-Figure wave.

Popular Recognition

Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) was ranked 27th in Comics Buyer’s Guide’s 100 Sexie