Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)

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Black Cat
Name	Felicia Sara Hardy
Current Alias	Black Cat
Aliases	Nicknames: Cat, Fee-Fee, Kitten, Kitty, Kitty-Cat, Leesh, Licia, Miss Kyle, Party-Hardy Impersonations: Silver Sable Other Aliases: Ashley Moon, Doctor Carey, Elodie Gros, Felicity Harmon, Francesca Featherbottom
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Thieves Guild Formerly Secret Defenders, Black Cat's Crew (leader), Inklings, Heroes for Hire, Cat's Eye Investigations (founder)
Pet(s)	Lupin Raffles Simon Irene
Relatives	Parents: Walter Hardy (father, deceased) Lydia Hardy (mother) Other Relatives: Lou (niece)
Host of	Mania (former symbiote)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	5′10″ (1.78 m)
Weight	120 lbs (54.43 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Green
Hair	Platinum Blond
Unusual Features	Sharp claws in her gloves
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human mutate
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Adventurer, cat burglar, thief, private investigator, bounty hunter, former crimelord, criminal.
Education	College graduate (arts major), trained by various experts in burglary, gymnastics, judo, karate, electronics, and security systems
Base of Operations	Manhattan, New York City, New York
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard
First	Amazing Spider-Man #194 (April, 1979)
First	Amazing Spider-Man #194 (April, 1979)

I'm not a hero. I'm a thief. Born a thief. Raised a thief. Will die a thief.

—Black Cat[source]

Nimble and playful, Felicia Hardy is a cat burglar who lives up to her profession literally, stalking the nightly rooftops as the renowned and elusive Black Cat. Born to the master thief Walter Hardy, Felicia devoted herself to a life of crime at a young age after his arrest, being taken under the wing of her father's former mentor, the Black Fox. A thrill-seeker to a fault, Felicia finds her true reward not in the bounty she steals, but in the act of stealing itself. First crossing paths with Spider-Man while attempting to free her dying father from prison, the Black Cat quickly became tangled in the hero's web. A complicated romance blossomed for a short time, leading to a brief partnership in crime-fighting before they broke up. However, Spider-Man proved a positive influence that shaped Felicia into a more heroic figure, who became willing to do the right thing when push comes to shove, and routinely returns to the hero's life as one of his most stalwart allies.

Although naturally skilled and acrobatic, Felicia has gained and lost superhuman powers several times throughout the years, most notably possessing a "bad luck" aura capable of inflicting people in her vicinity with misfortune; the underhanded plot by which she first obtained these powers, from scientists working for the Kingpin, being one of the factors that strained her initial romance with Spider-Man. In addition from her role as a galvanic paramour for the web-slinger, the Black Cat has carved a reputation in the super hero community by herself, at one point opening her own private detective and security consulting firm, and joining Heroes for Hire alongside Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Felicia's shifting allegiances have also caused her to have similarly complicated relationships with her former lovers, like Thieves Guild leader Odessa Drake, or her first partner in crime, Tamara Blake.

Quick Answers

What is Felicia Hardy's superhero name?

Felicia Hardy's superhero name is Black Cat.

Provided by: Fandom

Who are some of Black Cat's relatives?

Black Cat's parents are Walter Hardy, a former cat burgler (now deceased), and Lydia Hardy.

Provided by: Community

Where is Black Cat's base of operations?

Black Cat usually operates in Manhattan, New York City.

Provided by: Community

When did Black Cat first appear in comics?

Black Cat first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #194, released April 10, 1979.

Provided by: Community

Who trained Black Cat?

Black Cat was trained by the Black Fox, her father's mentor, alongside fellow thief Tamara Blake.

Provided by: Fandom

History

Early Life

Growing up, Felicia Hardy was very close to her dad, Walter Hardy, who, unbeknownst to her, was a world-renowned cat burglar. When she was thirteen years old, he was arrested when and, not wanting his daughter to follow on his footsteps, he asked Felicia's mother Lydia to tell her he had died in a plane crash. Felicia was devastated, but soon found out the truth, and began looking into his deeds, feeling inspired by all the stories about her father's heists. As news of Walter's conviction spread, Felicia became an outcast in school.

Finding her dad's tools

Already a great gymnast, she decided to join karate classes to improve her fighting skills, quickly rising the ranks as she mastered the finer points of Gōjū-ryū. A few years later, she found her dad's lock picks and rapidly mastered their use as well.

Later in her teens, she got pinched after a heist gone wrong, but was freed from prison by the Black Fox, her father's mentor, who took Felicia as his new pupil, alongside fellow thief Tamara Blake, with whom Felicia became romantically involved.

Meeting Black Fox

They pulled many heists together for many years, but eventually she decided she had learned everything from Black Fox and decided to move on. Feeling Tamara wasn't ready and not wanting her to get pinched, she decided to leave without saying anything to her.

Becoming the Black Cat

After finding out her father had terminal cancer, she decided to provide him with a worthy ending. She donned the Black Cat costume for the first time and broke into the police precinct's files to identify ex-cons Boris Korpse and Bruno Grainger, who she paid to help break her father out of prison. She ran into Spider-Man, but successfully eluded him, bringing her father safely home, where he perished in the company of her mother.

First encounter with Spider-Man

Despite her antipathy towards men, Felicia felt a kinship with Spider-Man and felt she could trust him. Felicia looked for a way to earn his trust and continued with the Black Cat persona as a misguided attempt to attract his affection. However, she was still cunning enough to fake mental instability when captured, ensuring she was housed in a less secure facility. When she was released, Felicia initially agreed to go straight for Spider-Man, and the web-slinger even had his friend on the force Captain DeWolff begin drawing up amnesty papers. The Black Cat decided to pull one last big score, however, and attempted to manipulate Spider-Man into joining her life of crime. He tried to capture her again, but Felicia seemingly flung herself to her death rather than go back to jail.

The Black Cat had survived, but ended up being kidnapped by divers working for Doctor Octopus. She became his forced guest and learned of his plans to kill everyone in New York with a neutron bomb, whose activator was in the hands of the Kingpin. Considering it a good opportunity to prove herself, she escaped and used her abilities to steal the item first and protect it from all parties. She gave the detonator to Spider-Man and became the target of Doc Ock's revenge. Although Spider-Man was able to tear off his mechanical appendages, Octopus was still able to mentally control them and hold the Black Cat still while his men opened fire. Spider-Man barely got her to the hospital in time and, as they operated on the dozens of bullet and knife wounds, he realized just how much he cared for Felicia.

In serious condition

After she recovered, they began a relationship and soon Spidey revealed his identity to her, but Felicia had great difficulty accepting the fact that Peter Parker was just a regular man beneath the mask and couldn't understand his need for a civilian life. Peter was hurt, but continued the relationship since it was the first time he didn't need to hide his life as Spider-Man.

Gaining Powers

In time, Felicia came to fear her lack of superpowers made her a liability for Spider-Man. She was terrified that his overwhelming need to protect her would eventually kill him. So Felicia sought out a way to make herself Spider-Man's equal. After being rejected by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, Felicia was offered an opportunity to undergo a process similar to that used to create the Fly, which ended up giving her superhuman strength, agility and bad luck powers that affected those who meant her harm. Only after the process was completed did Felicia learn the power came from the Kingpin.

After Spider-Man disappeared during the "Secret Wars", Felicia scoured the city looking for him, even being offered an Avengers membership, which she declined. When Peter did return, he was unharmed and wearing a brand new costume.

With Spider-Man

Afraid of how Spider-Man would react, she kept her new abilities secret from Peter, even going as far as doing Mysterio' bidding to avoid revealing the truth. It was during this time that she had a quick reunion with Tamara Blake, after she playfully stole a carafe that had been given to Felicia by Peter. After some time, however, Peter began noticing her new abilities and confronted Felicia about it. She told him everything, upsetting him a great deal, but neither could fathom why exactly the Kingpin had helped her.

The Black Cat confronted Kingpin and learned her powers also affected those who spent long periods of time with her. Knowing she was close to Spider-Man, the Kingpin had hoped this would affect Spidey, turning the scales in his favor. Realizing her powers had already been messing with Spider-Man's luck, Felicia decided she had to stay far from him and break up with him. Before she could do so, however, Peter ended the relationship first, feeling she would never stop being reckless and selfish, effectively denying her to do the selfless thing for once.

Spider-Man eventually noticed something was amiss with his own luck and enlisted the aid of Doctor Strange. Strange determined there was a permanent "bad luck" aura around Spider-Man. Peter rightly connected the phenomena to Felicia, but unfairly assumed she did it on purpose. He told Doctor Strange to remove the jinx despite Strange's warnings it could have unexpected side effects on Felicia. Indeed, Strange's magic not only removed the jinx but apparently removed the Black Cat's powers in the process, right when she was in the middle of a heist.

Despite getting a broken nose while fighting the Foreigner's men, she managed to escape and return to her apartment. There, she got a surprise visit from Peter who told her of his role in her apparent loss of powers, infuriating her and leading to her kicking him out. Just as he left, she was attacked by Sabretooth, who was hoping to impress the Foreigner, but before any fight ensued, Spider-Man returned and protected Felicia against her will.

Different Look

Feeling a tremendous hatred towards Peter, but feeling she still owed him one for the last minute save, she began devising a plan. With a new costume, she confronted Strange, who told her that her powers weren't really gone, but merely mutated, which, as she would soon find, included night vision, extraordinary balance and retractable claws. Then, she was attacked by the Foreigner for stealing from him. Instead of killing her, however, he proposed a plan to destroy Spider-Man. Realizing this was her chance, she pretended to play along and do as she was told. She got back into Peter's life and rekindled her relationship with whim, making peace with his need for a normal life as Peter Parker, all the while disrupting his relationship with Mary Jane Watson. After Spider-Man got framed for murder (part of the Foreigner's plan), Felicia stood by his side, but, one day, Peter came home to discover Black Cat discussing her plans to ruin his life. She ran away, but he tracked her and the Foreigner down, with a fight ensuing. When the fight ended, the building was surrounded by the police, ready to take away Spider-Man for murder, but Black Cat playfully threw them an envelope with evidence cleaning up Spider-Man's name. Upon being cleared, he got home to find a letter by Felicia explaining the whole ordeal and revealing that, during her ruse and despite her anger, she had begun falling back in love with him. After this, Felicia went to Europe, where she laid low for a couple months.

Return to the US

Months later, the Black Cat returned to America to seek out Peter Parker and was devastated when informed by Venom that Peter had gotten married. Angry and jealous, Felicia began harassing the couple, physically threatening Mary Jane and taunting Peter as she dated his friend Flash Thompson. In time, however, she began softening up to Flash and moved past her feelings of anger and jealousy, even started getting along with Mary Jane.

With Flash

In the meantime, Peter had decided to stop being Spider-Man and had asked the mysterious Doctor Turner to remove his powers, but still found himself forced to intervene in situations where he was in dire need of his abilities. Understanding that Spider-Man had to exist, he enlisted Black Cat to aid him in restoring them. The tracked down Turner, only to find out he was in fact The Chameleon. With Chameleon and his allies being too much for Spidey to handle without powers, Black Cat provided a distraction, while he got his powers back. Just as Felicia couldn't take another beating, he entered the scene and defeated all his opponents. The Chameleon ran away, but Spider-Man destroyed the machine he had used to make sure no one could take his powers again. As he and Felicia watched the police arriving from a distance, Felicia realized the machine had actually suppressed her own abilities.

After feeling powerless to help a few times, Felicia decided to order some special equipment from the Tinkerer to incorporate into her new costume in order to compensate for her lost abilities. She helped Spider-Man a few times, and everything in her life seemed fine until she learned that Spider-man had delivered Flash in serious condition to the hospital. Incredibly upset, she broke into Peter and MJ's place to demand some explanations and telling him off for not asking for her help. She then attacked Tombstone, the one responsible for Flash's condition, soon being joined by Spider-Man. Once Tombstone was defeated, Felicia angrily told Spider-Man he had to stop pushing away his friends, or he'd end up without any.

New Costume

While Flash was recovering in the hospital, Felicia started reflecting on her life and concluded she wanted to pursue a more serious relationship with Flash, paying him a visit in the middle of the night to propose to him. To her surprise, he turned her down, revealing he knew she was the Black Cat all along and had only started dating her because of her proximity to Spider-Man. He now had real feelings for her, but was afraid she would resent his ordinary life, so he pushed her away. Felicia went on to open her own private detective and security consulting firm.

Expanding her Horizons

At some point after this, Black Cat, along with the mutant Wolverine, was kidnapped and forced to survive against multiple assailants on an uninhabited island. They managed to survive many traps, including the volcano in the middle of the island erupting, and tracked down the one who kidnapped them, Arcade. In the end, they left him tied up in the Savage Land.

After Spider-Man unmasked himself during the Superhuman Civil War resulting from the Superhuman Registration Act, Black Cat was enraged because she felt he had broken the bond she shared with him over knowing his secret identity. Though she was dating Puma, her new romantic interest noted that Felicia appeared to still have some romantic inclinations toward Peter.

In the aftermath of the conflict, Peter found a way to magically erase the public knowledge of his alter-ego. During the civil war, Black Cat accepted an offer from Misty Knight and Colleen Wing in the new Heroes for Hire. Felicia, along with her teammates, were assigned to apprehend any unregistered heroes.

Back Solo

Felicia eventually left Puma and resumed her life of crime, also regaining her bad luck powers by the hand of supervillain scientist Doc Tramma in addition to retractile cybernetic claws. Black Cat returned to Spider-Man's life when he stumbled upon her before a break-in. After spending the night together she and Spider-Man took the chance to rekindle their old relationship, with no strings attached and masks kept on at all times. They became an on-again-off-again team, working together against Mr. Negative and others. Felicia stole a vial of Peter's blood back from Negative and promptly sold it to a group of vampire wannabes, leading Spidey to Morbius. Around this time, Felicia was forced to work for Sasha Kravinoff after her mother was kidnapped. She was forced to steal back the lost family possessions that had been missing since the Russian Revolution.

Surprising Spider-Man

Felicia and Peter parted ways as a couple when Peter began dating Carlie Cooper. However, when Spider-Man was captured by Doc Tramma, Mary Jane Watson was able to contact the Cat to help her save him. Together they rescued Spider-Man and defeated Tramma. The next day Felicia invited Mary Jane out to lunch and the two of them became fast friends.

When a Wi-Fi hologram projector created by a scientist named Wasserschmidt at Horizon Labs was stolen, Felicia was framed and imprisoned. Escaping from custody, Black Cat tried to find who framed her, encountering both Daredevil and Spider-Man. The trio went to Wasserschmidt's apartment to find any clue, when they find Wasserschmidt himself in a secret room. According to Wasserschmidt himself, Terra-One Corporate forced him to commit the theft. While Spidey took Wasserschmidt to a hospital, Felicia and Daredevil went to Terra-One, there, they found the Black Spectre trying to get the projector.

Daredevil stopped them while Black Cat found herself with the mastermind of this plan, who wanted Felicia to get him a Omegadrive, a piece of technology with data about every criminal organization, which was presently in the hands of Matt Murdock, Daredevil's alter-ego. Felicia attempted to start an affair with Murdock in order to get into his apartment, but they didn't consolidate a romance due to Matt being was called to action. Felicia was tempted to steal the Omegadrive from Murdock, but opted not to, and departed, leaving behind a note warning Matt that Black Spectre was after him. In the end, she fell in love with Matt. Due to having betrayed Black Spectre, Felicia went into hiding until the matter was resolved.

Downfall and Rise to Crime Boss

Having grown tired of her superhero and criminal activities, Felicia started to save money to retire the Black Cat identity. During this time, Doctor Octopus had switched bodies with Spider-Man and taken over his life. When he bumped into Felicia in the act of a robbery, he attacked her abruptly and left her to the police. Felicia's stolen treasures were repossessed, and her criminal contacts broke all ties with her. After escaping when Electro destroyed the penitentiary, Felicia got a new costume and vowed to make Spider-Man pay for what happened to her, without knowing at this time the real Peter Parker was behind the mask once again.

Partnering with Electro

Having become heartless and revengeful, Felicia set out to become a crime boss rather than a simple cat burglar. She formed an alliance with Electro, another villain who suffered by Spider-Man's hand when Octavius was possessing his body, and used him as an enforcer to establish some dominance over the underworld. Felicia then set her sights on Parker Industries, Peter's own company, which began developing a project for a new super-prison. Felicia and Electro interrupted a Parker Industries press conference, drawing Spider-Man's attention and almost unmasking him in the ensuing confrontation; however, he was saved by his newest ally Silk. Black Cat and Electro then attacked a demonstration of a device developed to depower the latter, during which the device ended up fulfilling its task. After cutting ties with Electro, Felicia consolidated her role as a crime boss by assembling her own gang of super-powered villains.

Black Cat and her gang!

Now established as a major player in the underworld, Felicia bought the Bar with No Name and, later, allied herself with Hammerhead to take down the new Spider-Man, which marked the beginning of a formal partnership, as Hammerhead eventually became Black Cat's muscle and second in command. Felicia's position was soon contested by up-and-comer Diamondback, who initially tried to make business with Felicia, but later fatally injured her after she refused. Fortunately, the Defenders soon arrived at the scene and took Felicia to the hospital.

Not long after, Lee Price, stole the Mania Symbiote from Andi Benton and used to take mind-control of Felicia and her gang. When Peter and Flash Thompson, now wearing the Anti-Venom Symbiote, stumbled upon Lee's operations, Black Cat used what little free will she had to force herself to enter in contact with Anti-Venom, destroying the piece of symbiote controlling her. The rescue operation proved unsuccessful, however, as Peter and Flash ended up capture by Price.

Lee Price in control

In order to help them, Felicia joined forces with Eddie Brock to procure samples of the Anti-Venom serum developed by Alchemax, while Andi freed Flash. Together, the quartet then used it to free Spider-Man, who had fallen under Price's control. Finally, they launched their assault on Price. Price initially overpowered the heroes, but Black Cat discovered that the body of those once controlled by him developed immunity after being freed with the Anti-Venom. With this info, Spider-Man had Anti-Venom absorb a sample of his blood so to absorb its "Anti-Maniac" properties, giving him the boost necessary to neutralize Price.

With all that transpired, Felicia decided to leave her crimelord days behind her, assisting the Defenders when they fought Diamondback, and helping Misty Knight get to The Hood, who had declared himself as the "Kingpin of all Kingpins."

Fresh Start

After the Thieves Guild, an ancient society of criminals, set out to return to prominence by stealing equipment and gear from the superhero community, Black Cat sought Spider-Man's assistance to find and return the stolen possessions since she believed they were necessary to protect innocent lives, though she intended to keep a share of the loot. As a member of the Guild, she was able to infiltrate their hideout and confront them and their leader, Odessa Drake. The Thieves retreated after Spider-Man managed to alert the superhero community of their location, and their items were reclaimed. Afterwards, Felicia had a heart-to-heart with Spider-Man, and revealed her recent descent into villainy and mental state were greatly influenced by the fact that when she forgot Spider-Man's secret identity alongside the rest of the world, she additionally had lost all memories that revolved around his alter-ego, a significant part of her life that she still cherished. In response, Spider-Man took off his mask in front of Felicia, revealing his secret again to her once more and consolidating their friendship.

Spider-Man unmasks again to Black Cat

Upon hearing that her ex-partner Hammerhead was looking for her, Felicia went to his lair to confront him, only to learn he wanted help locating his partner, the Owl, who had been kidnapped. In exchange, he offered her the Owlsley Cave to plunder, and she reluctantly accepted. Felicia found the captors, Taskmaster and Black Ant, and discovered Billy Connors was also being held hostage there. Initially planning to rescue only the Owl, she changed her mind to save Billy but was ambushed, coming to the realization that Hammerhead had set her up. As she was about the be captured, she used a special Spider-Tracer from Peter to ask for help. Captive alongside Billy, she learned Kraven's plan to use them as bait for Spider-Man, which angered her. Felicia managed to escape with Billy, but they remained trapped in a sealed-off Central Park filled with dangerous hunters. Injured in an attack, she protected Billy until the Lizard arrived to save them. Once the force field fell, Felicia safely returned Billy to his home.

Felicia tried to cheer up Billy as best she could for the duration of their captivity, and shortly thereafter found out that Kraven was behind the kidnappings. When he made her understand that he wanted to use her and little Connors as bait to lure the Spider into a trap, Felicia went on a rampage, feeling insulted and humiliated. Eventually Felicia managed to escape with Billy, but unfortunately Kraven had transported all his prisoners to Central Park, which had been sealed off by a force field, and where robot-hunters were prowling ready to eliminate anyone. Shortly after, the two were attacked by one of those hunters, who managed to hurt Felicia, but when he saw that Billy was only a child he decided to let them go. Shortly thereafter the two were attacked again, this time by Kraven's clone. Felicia did her best to protect Billy, but was overwhelmed. Luckily the Lizard arrived in time to save both his son and Felicia and run away. After the force field collapsed, Felicia took Billy home.

The Ultimate Heist

When the daughter of a Maggia leader asked Black Cat to help her and her fiancé escape the Maggia martyr wedding, Felicia recruited the help of Spider-Man, and her old acquaintances Boris Korpse and Bruno Grainger. They formulated a plan to steal the money from the Maggia's catacombs which involved her and Spider-Man replacing the couple on their wedding. While the other members of her crew did their part, she and Spider-Man were able to get the money and escape.

The Iron Cat Armor

Afterwards, Felicia and her crew were hired by her former teacher, the Black Fox, to pull a series of heists in order to build a Randall Gate, which would allow them to rob the extra-dimensional vault of the New York Thieves Guild. The final piece was a dimensional resonator, which would be needed to function as a key to the gate. To get it, they would need to break into Stark Unlimited and use the Nanoforge within it to construct that key. Black Cat made it to the Nanoforge and was able to construct the key, but Tony Stark found out that his Nanoforge was active and headed there to investigate. To help in her escape, Black Cat then had the Nanoforge construct a Cat-themed suit and used it to evade Iron Man.

The ultimate heist had to take a step back due to Knull's invasion. When Felicia came across Captain America and other heroes fighting off the symbiote invasion, he told Black Cat to rescue Doctor Strange before he and many other heroes succumbed to the symbiotes. She then gathered her crew together and met with Dr. Steve to help her carry out the plan to "steal" Doctor Strange from Knull. She enlisted the help of Bats the ghost dog, who brought with him Dr. Strange's Yggdrasil Staff, and, using Dr. Steve's Anti-Venom Serum to protect her from the symbiotes, she successfully broke into the symbiotic prison and rescued Doctor Strange, but he remained unconscious. With Symbiote Dragons coming after them and no time to waste, Felicia attempted to use the Yggdrasil staff herself. The wild magic from Yggdrasil attempted to tempt Felicia in many ways in order to get her to consent into becoming a conduit for it. It nearly succeeded until it made the mistake of tempting Felicia into trying to make Spider-Man and her other former love interests into loving her. She balked at the temptation and rejected the magic. Doctor Strange, who had regained consciousness during her struggle, complimented her for resisting. She then asked him to teleport her crew to safety while she, Bats, and Strange would stay and fight the symbiotes.

The queen in black

When Marvel Girl used her psychic powers to inform the heroes about her plan to attack Knull directly, Doctor Strange asked Felicia to hand over the staff, using its magic to attack the dark god along with the other heroes. Following Knull's defeat after a deceased Eddie merged with the God of Light, Felicia returned to her activities.

The time for the heist finally came, as Felicia and Black Fox gained access to the vaults. When they faced the Gilded Saint that protected them, however, Fox surprised Felicia by striking a deal with him: immortality for himself and Felicia in exchange for the deed to Manhattan. Felicia lashed out at Fox and slit his throat, but he simply healed himself as the contract was already in effect. With Manhattan getting sucked into the vaults, Felicia reached out to Odessa Drake, and, upon hearing her out, Drake allowed Felicia to journey into the vaults. There, Felicia tracked the deed to Manhattan and set an explosive connected to a timer. Then, she asked the Gilded Saint to leave in exchange to being left out of the deal and the information that Fox would betray him. Finally, she met with Fox and began telling him about she'd done and, just as she was finishing, the explosive went off, causing the Gilded Saint to come for Black Fox. As he was being grabbed by the Gilded Saint he told Felicia he still loved her and was proud of her.

Team-Ups

Testing Peter with Cap

Following Peter Parker's hospitalization due to an encounter with the U-Foes, Black Cat snuck herself into an unconscious Peter's room to comfort him. Mary Jane caught her, but asked her to stay, as Peter had seemingly reacted to her presence. When Peter recovered enough to move, he attempted to fight crime by himself and nearly got himself killed. In response to this, Black Cat and Captain America teamed up to train Peter to get him back into fighting shape. MJ had given Black Cat the spider suit but Felicia withheld it from Peter believing he wasn't ready for it yet. Meanwhile, she and MJ teamed up to deal with the Hood and the two bonded. When Queen Goblin attacked the Bugle and MJ, Black Cat went instead of the still-weakened Peter. Unfortunately, she fell victim to the Goblin's gaze, ending up being saved by Peter. Satisfied, Black Cat and MJ returned the suit to Peter.

Some time after this, Felicia's old girlfriend Tamara Blake stole the Iron Cat Armor and attacked her to get revenge for getting their mentor killed. As Black Cat teamed-up with Iron Man and got herself a new armor, Tamara enlisted the hep of the rogue AI Madame Menace. Still, unable to beat them, Tamara desperately deactivated her suit's protective measures and gave Madame Menace complete freedom. Having achieved her goal, Madame Menace abandoned Tamara and began forcing every Stark Nuclear Reactor into melt down. In the face of this new threat, she joined forces with the Cat and Stark, succeeding in defeating Madame Menace after uploading the original version into one of her systems, causing the two to attack each other. As Stark flushed the system to get rid of both AIs for good, Tamara left the scene without saying a word.

What did Spider-Man do?

After a traumatic incident in Pennsylvania left Peter isolated, Felicia reached out to him, checking in first with Mary Jane and then personally. Peter brushed her off, but she offered him some advice and promised to be there when he was ready. Later, at Peter’s birthday, Felicia seemed jealous when she saw him talking with one of his exes Bobbi Morse. When their celebration was interrupted by Ultra Living Brain, however, Peter saved everyone. And Felicia, wanting to cheer him up, kissed him. Later, Peter asked her out, and she agreed to think about it.

Black Cat's birthday present to Spider-Man

When demons invaded New York, Felicia tried to protect Mary Jane, knowing Peter would want her to be safe. To Felicia's surprise she discovered Mary Jane now had powers of her own. They were then transported to Limbo by Belasco, who tasked them with finding a soulsword. Tensions rose when Felicia worried about revealing her returned feelings for Peter to Mary Jane, but she ultimately told her the truth and they worked together, retrieving the sword and sharing its power to defeat Belasco, who was planning to kill one of them. In the end, he was forced to let them go, returning them to New York with a stronger bond of friendship.

Once more dating, Peter accompanied Felicia to an upstate spa retreat to open up about his split with Mary Jane. There, they thwarted White Rabbit enterprise of renting tech to wealthy criminals. After leaving them for the authorities, Peter opened up to Felicia about his love for Mary Jane likely changing from romantic to cordial. Felicia then kissed Peter passionately saying that was what she wanted: for Peter to be honest with her. Sometime later, Felicia and Peter attended a wedding event in Oregon. Felicia invited him to dance but Peter was reluctant. Just as he was about to join Felicia, he saw a thief steal the wedding gifts. By the time he got back after stopping the thief, the last dance was finished and Felicia was annoyed with him. Peter later invited Felicia to stargaze with him all night to help her forgive him.

With time, Felicia came to the conclusion she missed the adventurous dynamic of hero and villainess of their relationship and, after discussing it with Bettle, she decided to break up with Peter, who maturely accepted it. Despite breaking up, they still remained friends and would check-up each other.

Personality

I know I shouldn't feel guilty. I'm just doing this to protect our relationship. I'm... I'm doing the right thing. So why do I feel like it's so wrong?

—Black Cat[source]

Greedy, vengeful, and cynical, much of Felicia Hardy's life has been shaped by loss and trauma -- leaving her a jaded woman who looks out for herself at the expense of others. Despite scoffing at the idea of being a super hero, Felicia has frequently acted as a vigilante anti-hero - largely due to Spider-Man's influence on her; and has also at-times gone straight and used her powers for good as both a vigilante and a private investigator.

Encouraged by her father to always be the best, Felicia channelled her rage and humiliation at having been raped into following in her father's footsteps as a cat-burglar. After adopting the persona of the Black Cat, Felicia reveled in the freedom it gave her and all-but completely discarded her civilian identity, being perplexed by Spider-Man's unwillingness to do so as well.

Hating feeling weak more than anything, Felicia bargained with the Kingpin to obtain superpowers after nearly being killed by Doctor Octopus, but this cost her relationship with Spider-Man and wasn't enough to save her from nearly being killed by Venom. When promised limitless power by a mental avatar of the divine magic of Yggdrasill, Felicia nearly accepted when offered limitless riches and revenge against everyone who'd ever wronged her, but was outraged and disgusted when it suggested she use her godhood to brainwash her former lovers into becoming her personal harem.

Felicia's often-ruthless vindictiveness can be shown by her swearing revenge on Spider-Man after the Superior Spider-Man beat her to a pulp and left her for the police, disregarding Peter Parker's explanation that Otto Octavius had swapped minds with him; her hatred towards Eddie Brock for the time he almost killed her; and her rage towards Lee Price for having humiliated and enslaved her. While she eventually forgave Spider-Man, she continues to hold an intense grudge against Eddie despite his efforts to redeem himself - sneering that he would always be a loser and a monster in her eyes. Despite this, she is willing to set aside her grudges and work together with her enemies when faced with a threat she can't overcome alone.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Tychokinesis: The Black Cat's original "bad luck" powers were imbued by scientists working for the Kingpin through a bargain made with him. After they were removed by Doctor Strange, Felicia sought help from a supervillain scientist Doc Tramma. She grafted cybernetic enhancements to Felicia's body, namely a quantum probability pulsator, that causes "bad luck" to other people. This power allows her to subliminally affect probability fields, which would cause improbable, though not impossible, events of "bad luck" to occur to enemies within her line of sight. As the Black Cat grew ruthless, her "bad luck" powers became more effective. This power also affects magic (manipulation of local probability fields), giving Felicia some protection against magical spells. The Puma's heightened senses detected Black Cat's bad luck superpower as a distinct aura, more active when she was under attack, but failed to identify its specific effect.
• Claws: As part of the cybernetic enhancements grafted by Doc Tramma, Felicia possesses the ability to extend her nails into sharp claws.

Former Powers

After her original powers were removed from her by Dr. Strange, a side-effect of the process mutated her body and granted her certain feline abilities including superhuman agility, reflexes, infrared vision, and retractable claws. However, after being exposed to a device designed by the Chameleon to remove Spider-Man's powers, Felicia lost these abilities as well.

Abilities

• Expert Thief: Felicia is a skilled (somewhat reformed) thief skilled in stealth, picking locks, escapology, evading alarms and cracking safes.
• Olympic Level Athlete: She has reflexes, agility, and stamina of an Olympic level acrobat, and is capable of many exceptional feats. She is physically very strong and athletic and has great physical endurance.
• Skilled Martial Artist: She has been trained in several martial arts; most notably Okinawa Goju-ryu Karate and Judo which she specializes in. Felicia is capable of taking on several armed assailants and incapacitating them without being injured herself. Her strength and, when pushed too far, ferocity in battle has proven to be overwhelming enough to defeat the mutant assassin known as Sabretooth.

Weaknesses

Proximity to Other Probability Manipulators: Felicia's powers malfunction when near other people with the ability to manipulate probability.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Black Cat's Costume: The costume she currently uses was designed by the Tinkerer, created using leather material, and is designed to increase many of her natural physical attributes far beyond normal human levels by means of micro servos embedded into it.
  • Enhanced Strength: The Black Cat's costume increases her physical strength to levels beyond the natural limits of a woman of her weight and physical build. In fact, her strength is increased to the maximum of human potential, enabling her to overhead press approximately 800 lbs with maximum effort.
  • Superhuman Agility: The costume she wears also possesses various implants. Without these implants, she has the agility of an Olympic level gymnast. However, the implants augment her natural agility to levels that are beyond the capability and physical limits of the finest human athlete.
  • Retractable Claws: The gloves of the Black Cat's costume contain steel micro-filaments that form retractable claws at the tip of each finger when she flexes her fingers by triggering a magnetic surge which condenses the filaments into polarized talons. These claws are highly durable and razor sharp, allowing her to tear through most substances and to easily scale walls.
• Equilibrium Earrings: Felicia wears earrings obtained by the Tinkerer that interact with the balance centers of her brain to grant her enhanced agility and balance, increasing her natural bodily equilibrium and allowing her to accomplish feats beyond the capabilities of the finest human athlete.
• Electromagnetic Contact Lenses: Felicia wears contact lenses obtained by the Tinkerer that allows her to see in various ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as infrared and ultraviolet light. When wearing these contacts, Felicia's eyes appear to have blue irises as opposed to the green irises that Felicia naturally possesses.

Transportation

Grappling Hook: The Black Cat has a miniature grappling hook device hidden in the "fur" of each glove, designed by her father Walter Hardy, which enables her to swing from buildings in a manner similar to Spider-Man and Daredevil despite lacking the associated speed of either. She can also use the cable from this device as a tightrope, wall scaling device, swing line, or as a weapon in combat.

Notes

• Felicia Hardy was confirmed to be bisexual after sharing a kiss with Odessa Drake in Black Cat (Vol. 2) #7.
• In 2006's Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #6, Felicia tells a story from her freshman year at Empire State University that involved her getting raped by another student named Ryan, putting her down a path that would lead to a life of crime and eventually her becoming the Black Cat. At the time of release, this was already a problem continuity-wise, since 1997's Uncanny Origins #10 had established she already had trained martial arts and lock-picking since her early teenage years. Later, this became impossible to fit with continuity, as Felicia was said to have been recruited by the infamous Black Fox shortly after her father's imprisonment and remained with him for years, leaving only shortly before trying to break her father out.

Trivia

• Felicia had been educated in a Catholic school.
• As of Black Cat #1, Felicia was in her mid-twenties.
• Felicia tells people that she's allergic to mushrooms, though she isn't because she thinks that mushrooms are gross, except for truffles since she finds them classy. She think it's embarrassing to tell people that and kept it to herself.
• Black Cat's ringtone was Temptation by New Order.

See Also

• 488 appearance(s) of Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 22 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 67 minor appearance(s) of Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 106 mention(s) of Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 9 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 1074 image(s) of Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 74 quotation(s) by or about Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
• 6 item(s) used/owned by Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Felicia Hardy on Marvel.com
• Felicia Hardy on Wikipedia.org