Black Cat (Marvel)
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'''Felicia Sara Hardy''' was the daughter of world renowned cat burglar [[Walter Hardy]] who got married and retired from the life of stealing. From the marriage, he had a daughter named Felicia Hardy who came to idolise her father and though he was largely retired he still on occasion committed the odd burglary. He explained his frequent absences to his daughter as due to his work as a travelling salesman. The family did not live well off despite the thefts he made and though he could have earned in other ways Walter Hardy had become addicted to the thrill from crime. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) As a child, her father often took her out to games and played basketball with her. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #6) One day, she witnessed him paying his due to the New York City chapter of the [[Thieves Guild (Marvel)|Thieves Guild]]. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) When Felicia was 13 years old, her father was arrested for a crime he did not commit and was sent to prison. Her mother hid the truth about her father and instead told Felicia that Walter had died in a plane crash. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) At [[Empire State University]], she was a freshman when she met '''Ryan''' who seemingly protected her when she started from a boy that was drunk. She became smitten with him as he appeared as a charming decent person and Felicia believed him to be the love of her life as she began to spend more time with him. On one such night, he forced himself on her and raped Felicia with her being in a daze afterwards with her not reporting the crime nor going to therapy as she felt ashamed of herself. She then decided to devote herself to not being a victim and began to train for months in martial arts along with other skills whilst refusing all contact with Ryan. Felicia intended to strike back at Ryan but when she was ready he was arrested for a crime and thus she was denied her vengeance. In her dissatisfaction, she sought to steal something and on that night she stole her first diamond leading to her life as a burglar. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #6) During these early years, she learnt to be a cat burglar alongside '''Tamara Blake''' who became Felicia's oldest friend. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #4) Whilst she had believed her father had died, in time came to learn the truth that he was in prison with her attempting to set him free but the State refused to grant her appeals as the claimed he was still dangerous to society. This led to her honing her skills to become a skilled burglar as she sought to eventually free Walter Hardy from prison as she believed he had suffered greatly for a crime he did not commit. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) | '''Felicia Sara Hardy''' was the daughter of world renowned cat burglar [[Walter Hardy]] who got married and retired from the life of stealing. From the marriage, he had a daughter named Felicia Hardy who came to idolise her father and though he was largely retired he still on occasion committed the odd burglary. He explained his frequent absences to his daughter as due to his work as a travelling salesman. The family did not live well off despite the thefts he made and though he could have earned in other ways Walter Hardy had become addicted to the thrill from crime. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) As a child, her father often took her out to games and played basketball with her. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #6) One day, she witnessed him paying his due to the New York City chapter of the [[Thieves Guild (Marvel)|Thieves Guild]]. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) When Felicia was 13 years old, her father was arrested for a crime he did not commit and was sent to prison. Her mother hid the truth about her father and instead told Felicia that Walter had died in a plane crash. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) At [[Empire State University]], she was a freshman when she met '''Ryan''' who seemingly protected her when she started from a boy that was drunk. She became smitten with him as he appeared as a charming decent person and Felicia believed him to be the love of her life as she began to spend more time with him. On one such night, he forced himself on her and raped Felicia with her being in a daze afterwards with her not reporting the crime nor going to therapy as she felt ashamed of herself. She then decided to devote herself to not being a victim and began to train for months in martial arts along with other skills whilst refusing all contact with Ryan. Felicia intended to strike back at Ryan but when she was ready he was arrested for a crime and thus she was denied her vengeance. In her dissatisfaction, she sought to steal something and on that night she stole her first diamond leading to her life as a burglar. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #6) During these early years, she learnt to be a cat burglar alongside '''Tamara Blake''' who became Felicia's oldest friend. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #4) Whilst she had believed her father had died, in time came to learn the truth that he was in prison with her attempting to set him free but the State refused to grant her appeals as the claimed he was still dangerous to society. This led to her honing her skills to become a skilled burglar as she sought to eventually free Walter Hardy from prison as she believed he had suffered greatly for a crime he did not commit. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) | ||
| − | At some point, she became a member of the Thieves Guild and developed a good reputation with them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) She then | + | At some point, she became a member of the Thieves Guild and developed a good reputation with them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) She then looked to assemble a crew where they were to help her free her father from prison. Felicia then met with her mentor Black Fox and revealed that she had decided to take the name Black Cat as she set about becoming a master thief. (Black Cat v2 #5) After 2 years of training, she felt she was ready and started her criminal career by breaking into police headquarter where she found some key files. It was then that she began forcibly recruiting two criminals to help support her operations. This included a muscleman named '''Bruno''' when he was working for his boss and another was Dr. '''Boris Korpse'''. The next day, she proceeded for a meet-up with Emil Greco where she intended to purchase guns only for the meeting to be interrupted by [[Spider-Man]]. She fought the hero long enough for Greco to escape and ended up kissing Spider-Man to distract him long enough for her to depart the scene. With everything in place, she arranged with her crew the planned escape of Walter Hardy from prison. This saw Bruno and Korpse plant explosives that would allow their target to escape the walls of the prison. However, a complication emerged when Spider-Man arrived at the scene but the Black Cat ensured that the hero became trapped by falling debris. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) |
===Spider-Man=== | ===Spider-Man=== | ||
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==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
===Personality and attributes=== | ===Personality and attributes=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Felicia had said that she liked the men in her life to be mysterious. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) | ||
| + | |||
| + | She had said that she had no intentions of becoming a man’s house pet as she had the heart and soul of a stray. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11) | ||
According to her, she had never wanted children and did not even like babysitting when she was a teenager. Felicia felt that she never had the instinct of being a mother and reasoned it was not within her DNA. Despite that, she was noted to help save children even though she claimed she did not like kids. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #17) | According to her, she had never wanted children and did not even like babysitting when she was a teenager. Felicia felt that she never had the instinct of being a mother and reasoned it was not within her DNA. Despite that, she was noted to help save children even though she claimed she did not like kids. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #17) | ||
She had commented once that she was not a hero but rather a thief. Felicia had said that she had been born and raised a thief and would die as one. (Marvel Divas v1 #3) | She had commented once that she was not a hero but rather a thief. Felicia had said that she had been born and raised a thief and would die as one. (Marvel Divas v1 #3) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Black Cat had said that she always mixed pleasure with business. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11) | ||
Felicia idolised her father to the point that she sought to continue his tradition as a skilled cat burglar. This was despite the fact that Walter Hardy never wanted her to live a life tainted by the evil he had done. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) | Felicia idolised her father to the point that she sought to continue his tradition as a skilled cat burglar. This was despite the fact that Walter Hardy never wanted her to live a life tainted by the evil he had done. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) | ||
| − | During her first encounter with Spider-Man, she used her sexuality and | + | On Spider-Man, she claimed that she initially admired the masked hero and even kept a scrapbook on him. During her first encounter with Spider-Man, she used her sexuality to distract him and often flirted with him. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) She always loved Spider-Man's ability to still see hope even in the face of unimaginable madness. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #2) Spider-Man had sworn that no matter how flighty she could be the Black Cat had been one of his most loyal friends. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11) |
| − | Among her oldest friends was '''Tamara Blake''' who was a cat burglar like her with the two both learning the craft when they started out. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #4) | + | Among her oldest friends was '''Tamara Blake''' who was a cat burglar like her with the two both learning the craft when they started out. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #4) She had few girlfriends in her life and came to value those who became her friend. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #12) |
===Powers and abilities=== | ===Powers and abilities=== | ||
| + | She came to hone all her senses to their finest. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) | ||
| + | |||
| + | She later put herself through a training regimen to learn martial arts, gymnastics, the tricks of burglary and many more related skills. Felicia had also dedicated to learn every trick and move made by her father which she perfected for her own use. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) She had claimed that her gymnastic skill came to be better than the likes achieved by Nadia Comaneci. As the Black Cat, she had a surprising level of agility and speed. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) | ||
| − | + | Black Cat once gained sharp claws that could protrude from her fingers with these being a cybernetic enhancement provided to her by Dr. Tramma. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #12) | |
| − | A trail of bad luck followed her that played to her advantage with this impacting her enemies. This saw her foes being affected by bad luck thus hampering their activities whilst giving Felicia an advantage. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) | + | A trail of bad luck followed her that played to her advantage with this impacting her enemies. This saw her foes being affected by bad luck thus hampering their activities whilst giving Felicia an advantage. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) Doctor Tramma came to be responsible for restoring her bad luck powers. These were achieved through a quantum probability pulsator and part of a quantum rig. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #12) |
She was known to be a member of the Thieves Guild as she had a tattoo denoting membership and had good standing with them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) For a time, she operated her own private detective firm known as '''Cat's Eye Investigations'''. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #293) She had come to have her own loyal crew that consisted of self-declared '''Dr. Boris Korpse''' and former army helicopter pilot '''Bruno Grainger'''. (Black Cat v1 #1) | She was known to be a member of the Thieves Guild as she had a tattoo denoting membership and had good standing with them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) For a time, she operated her own private detective firm known as '''Cat's Eye Investigations'''. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #293) She had come to have her own loyal crew that consisted of self-declared '''Dr. Boris Korpse''' and former army helicopter pilot '''Bruno Grainger'''. (Black Cat v1 #1) | ||
Revision as of 10:07, 28 February 2022
Felicia Hardy is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Felicia Sara Hardy was the daughter of world renowned cat burglar Walter Hardy who got married and retired from the life of stealing. From the marriage, he had a daughter named Felicia Hardy who came to idolise her father and though he was largely retired he still on occasion committed the odd burglary. He explained his frequent absences to his daughter as due to his work as a travelling salesman. The family did not live well off despite the thefts he made and though he could have earned in other ways Walter Hardy had become addicted to the thrill from crime. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) As a child, her father often took her out to games and played basketball with her. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #6) One day, she witnessed him paying his due to the New York City chapter of the Thieves Guild. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) When Felicia was 13 years old, her father was arrested for a crime he did not commit and was sent to prison. Her mother hid the truth about her father and instead told Felicia that Walter had died in a plane crash. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) At Empire State University, she was a freshman when she met Ryan who seemingly protected her when she started from a boy that was drunk. She became smitten with him as he appeared as a charming decent person and Felicia believed him to be the love of her life as she began to spend more time with him. On one such night, he forced himself on her and raped Felicia with her being in a daze afterwards with her not reporting the crime nor going to therapy as she felt ashamed of herself. She then decided to devote herself to not being a victim and began to train for months in martial arts along with other skills whilst refusing all contact with Ryan. Felicia intended to strike back at Ryan but when she was ready he was arrested for a crime and thus she was denied her vengeance. In her dissatisfaction, she sought to steal something and on that night she stole her first diamond leading to her life as a burglar. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #6) During these early years, she learnt to be a cat burglar alongside Tamara Blake who became Felicia's oldest friend. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #4) Whilst she had believed her father had died, in time came to learn the truth that he was in prison with her attempting to set him free but the State refused to grant her appeals as the claimed he was still dangerous to society. This led to her honing her skills to become a skilled burglar as she sought to eventually free Walter Hardy from prison as she believed he had suffered greatly for a crime he did not commit. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195)
At some point, she became a member of the Thieves Guild and developed a good reputation with them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) She then looked to assemble a crew where they were to help her free her father from prison. Felicia then met with her mentor Black Fox and revealed that she had decided to take the name Black Cat as she set about becoming a master thief. (Black Cat v2 #5) After 2 years of training, she felt she was ready and started her criminal career by breaking into police headquarter where she found some key files. It was then that she began forcibly recruiting two criminals to help support her operations. This included a muscleman named Bruno when he was working for his boss and another was Dr. Boris Korpse. The next day, she proceeded for a meet-up with Emil Greco where she intended to purchase guns only for the meeting to be interrupted by Spider-Man. She fought the hero long enough for Greco to escape and ended up kissing Spider-Man to distract him long enough for her to depart the scene. With everything in place, she arranged with her crew the planned escape of Walter Hardy from prison. This saw Bruno and Korpse plant explosives that would allow their target to escape the walls of the prison. However, a complication emerged when Spider-Man arrived at the scene but the Black Cat ensured that the hero became trapped by falling debris. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194)
Spider-Man
She was later noted to had broken up with Puma and returned to a life of crime. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #606) This saw her regaining her bad luck powers after meeting the supervillain scientist Doctor Tramma who also enhanced her by giving her retractable cybernetic claws. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11)
Queenpin of Crime
Black Cat was in the process of revealing Spider-Man's identity on the camera but his face was masked by webbing created by Silk. Silk then took Spider-Man away from the scene thus thwarting Felicia's attempts at exposing the Wall-Crawler. She later went with Electro to the Bar With No Name though its patrons refused to let the pair enter as they were mourning the death of Francine Frye and refused to associate with Max Dillon. Black Cat then decided her new plan at revenge against the Spider which was targeting a Parker Industries demonstration at the waterfront where they were showcasing a new electro-trap. Disguising themselves as employees, they infiltrated the site where Black Cat took control the device which threatened to kill the people at the scene. She then caused the electro-trap to cause Max Dillon to go on overload and threaten to kill everyone. Spider-Man came to save Electro with Silk's help though Felicia managed to escape the scene. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #6)
This led to a formal partnership between her and Hammerhead with them working to remove the new Spider-Man. (Spider-Man v2 #16)
Her position came to be contested by up-and-coming and recently returned Diamondback Willis Stryker who had his own aim to be the reigning crime lord in the city. (Defenders v5 #1)
Hardy was later one of many crime bosses that were gathered for a meeting by Mayor Fisk though they were ambushed by Daredevil along with the other street level vigilantes to arrest them. (Daredevil v1 #600) She came to be sent to Ryker's Island with the others where during this time the city came under attack from the Hand. Seeking aid to fight them off, acting mayor Matt Murdock made a deal with the crime bosses where he would release them in exchange for their help in fighting the army of ninja besieging the city. Hardy agreed and she along with the others lent their aid in fighting off the attackers. (Daredevil v1 #603)
She began to work hard in impressing the Five Families that represented the great crime families in the world with her being offered a place at the table. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #793)
Fresh Start
When Spider-Man was split into two, one half that adopted the superhero identity completely met with Felicia intending to get back together with her but nothing came of this matter. The Black Cat later returned to New York when the Thieves Guild under the leadership of Odessa Drake embarked on a world wide heist as part of a power move to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with once again. This saw her teaming up with Spider-Man in recovering the stolen goods though Felicia wanted to take half the items to sell on the black market. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9)
She confessed to Spider-Man that the reason why she had acted differently to him was because she could not remember his secret identity. He then revealed that he had used means to make people forget his true identity. Felicia stated that this hurt her as once they were together and that she deserved to know as she felt close to him. Spider-Man then revealed his true identity as Peter Parker with a happy Felicia hugging him as all her memories were not restored to her. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #10)
Though happy, she tried to come to terms with the memories and her relationship with Spider-Man. It was then that she had a call from her former subordinate Hammerhead. Since she left the criminal underworld, he had formed an alliance with the Owl but Owsley had recently gone missing. Thus, he asked her to raid some of his hide outs for valuable items and to find him which she agreed despite her not wanting to go back into a life of crime. This saw her track Owl to a ship operated by Taskmaster and Black Ant who had recently been kidnapping people who were thematically based on animals. Whilst sneaking on the ship, she found a captive Billy Connors where she intended to abandon the boy to complete her mission. However, her conscience led to her abandoning the mission to save Billy when she was ambushed by Black Ant and Taskmaster who revealed that they had orchestrated for her to come on the ship to capture her as she was one of their targets. They had managed to convince Hammerhead to aid them as he gladly wanted to get revenge on his former boss. Before being knocked out, she used a Spider-Tracer to send a message to Spider-Man asking for his help whereupon she was captured. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #16.HU) She was kept with Billy at the Plaza Hotel where she found her kidnapper being Kraven the Hunter who revealed that he was using them as bait to hunt Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #17)
Fox then revealed the true intention of his goal to enter into the vaults of the New York City. It was because he was dying and wanted to meet the guild's new patron the Gilded Saint and bargain for immorality for himself as well as Felicia where in exchange he offered all of Manhattan. (Black Cat v2 #5)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Felicia had said that she liked the men in her life to be mysterious. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194)
She had said that she had no intentions of becoming a man’s house pet as she had the heart and soul of a stray. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11)
According to her, she had never wanted children and did not even like babysitting when she was a teenager. Felicia felt that she never had the instinct of being a mother and reasoned it was not within her DNA. Despite that, she was noted to help save children even though she claimed she did not like kids. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #17)
She had commented once that she was not a hero but rather a thief. Felicia had said that she had been born and raised a thief and would die as one. (Marvel Divas v1 #3)
Black Cat had said that she always mixed pleasure with business. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11)
Felicia idolised her father to the point that she sought to continue his tradition as a skilled cat burglar. This was despite the fact that Walter Hardy never wanted her to live a life tainted by the evil he had done. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195)
On Spider-Man, she claimed that she initially admired the masked hero and even kept a scrapbook on him. During her first encounter with Spider-Man, she used her sexuality to distract him and often flirted with him. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) She always loved Spider-Man's ability to still see hope even in the face of unimaginable madness. (Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1 #2) Spider-Man had sworn that no matter how flighty she could be the Black Cat had been one of his most loyal friends. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #11)
Among her oldest friends was Tamara Blake who was a cat burglar like her with the two both learning the craft when they started out. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1 #4) She had few girlfriends in her life and came to value those who became her friend. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #12)
Powers and abilities
She came to hone all her senses to their finest. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194)
She later put herself through a training regimen to learn martial arts, gymnastics, the tricks of burglary and many more related skills. Felicia had also dedicated to learn every trick and move made by her father which she perfected for her own use. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #195) She had claimed that her gymnastic skill came to be better than the likes achieved by Nadia Comaneci. As the Black Cat, she had a surprising level of agility and speed. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194)
Black Cat once gained sharp claws that could protrude from her fingers with these being a cybernetic enhancement provided to her by Dr. Tramma. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #12)
A trail of bad luck followed her that played to her advantage with this impacting her enemies. This saw her foes being affected by bad luck thus hampering their activities whilst giving Felicia an advantage. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194) Doctor Tramma came to be responsible for restoring her bad luck powers. These were achieved through a quantum probability pulsator and part of a quantum rig. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #12)
She was known to be a member of the Thieves Guild as she had a tattoo denoting membership and had good standing with them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #9) For a time, she operated her own private detective firm known as Cat's Eye Investigations. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #293) She had come to have her own loyal crew that consisted of self-declared Dr. Boris Korpse and former army helicopter pilot Bruno Grainger. (Black Cat v1 #1)
Notes
- The Black Cat Felicia Hardy was created by Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard where she made her first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #194 (July, 1979).
- On the characters creation, writer Marv Wolfman noted, "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."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man, Felicia Hardy appeared in the 1990s animated television series where she was voiced by actor Jennifer Hale. She was the daughter of Anastasia Hardy a wealthy businesswoman who ran the Hardy Foundation.
- In The Spectacular Spider-Man, the Black Cat appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actor Tricia Helfer.
- In Spider-Man, Black Cat appeared in the 2000s animated television series in the episode "A Day in the Life" where she was voiced by actor Grey DeLisle.
Films
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Felicia Hardy appeared in the setting of the live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Felicity Jones.
Video games
- In Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, Black Cat appeared as a NPC summoned hero in the console video game that performed a different attack if the player was Spider-Man or Venom. She also appeared in the panel cutscenes taken from the comic storyline.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the Black Cat appeared as a character in the Facebook video game with his own Dossier.
- In Marvel Heroes, the Black Cat appeared as an NPC and later as a playable character in the MMORPG video game.
- In Spider Man Unlimited, Black Cat appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game where she was voiced by actor Tara Strong.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, the Black Cat appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
Novels
Toys
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1979)
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual v1:
- Spider-Man and the Black Cat v1:
- Defenders:
- Daredevil:
- Superior Spider-Man v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v3:
- Spider-Man v2:
- Defenders v5:
- Silk v2:
- Defenders:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Black Cat v1:
- Black Cat v2: (2021)
External Links
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