Angela Cairn was a New York City police officer who survived an attack by the mutateVermin, who killed several police officers. Traumatized by this incident, Cairn tried to cover her pain and bitterness by becoming a tough cop. She was later drawn to a series of mutilations that strongly reminded her of Vermin and was captured by the "Mutilation Killer" and brought to its master Baron Zemo, who was responsible for creating Vermin and subjected her to his experiments. Angela was initially believed to have died from the experimentation and her body was disposed of in the East River; however, the experiment had turned her into a mute bat-winged entity known as Nocturne.[1]
She then encountered Spider-Man, who mistook her for the "Mutilation Killer", until the misunderstanding was cleared, when she battled and Spider-Man battled and defeated the Mutilation Killer. She refrained from killing the Mutilation Killer out of revenge and allowed the Killer to be taken away by the authorities. When Spider-Man tried to convince Nocturne to seek help, she chose to go on her own way.[citation needed]
Because of her condition, Nocturne found it impossible to continue living out her original life and took an earring that was given to her by her mother to help her remember who she was, while her loved ones believed her to be dead. She would later befriend the Puma, a former enemy of Spider-Man, and stayed with him for some time. Nocturne would once again re-encounter Spider-Man when the superhero was at a demoralized state. Unfortunately, the Puma went into a rage when he saw Spider-Man, causing a fight between them and accidentally slashed Nocturne across her face. After Puma fled, Spider-Man helped Nocturne and together went to find Puma. Once they tracked him down, Puma once again attacked Spider-Man; but this time Nocturne got between the two combatants and created an emotional conduit, infusing the pain of each into the other. The shock turned Puma back into his human form Thomas Fireheart, and Nocturne convinced Spider-Man to let Fireheart walk away in peace. For a second time, Nocturne refused Spider-Man's offer of help and left for parts unknown.[2]
