History
Early Life as Black Cat[]
Walter Hardy is the father of Felicia Hardy. He became a cat burglar at some point, adopting the costumed identity of the Black Cat. His skill as a thief eventually caught the interest of the Maggia, one of the great mafia organizations operating in New York. The Maggia, interested in the potential that Walter had, offered him a place to work with them, with Walter refusing to join. This attracted an unwanted attention to himself, and the Maggia began to hunt him. To avoid them, Walter let himself get arrested by the police, being locked on Ryker's Island. Knowing that the Maggia would now target his daughter to get to him, Walter managed to escape from Ryker's, faking his death by making the authorities believe that he drowned on the East River, and went into hiding creating a new identity for himself.[1]
The City That Never Sleeps[]
Twenty years later, Walter resurfaced now working as a detective at NYPD under the name of "Detective Mackey", while his daughter still believing him to dead. He asked his friend Captain Yuri Watanabe the contact of Spider-Man, asking the Wall-Crawler to help him to track down paintings stolen by himself years before, when he was still the original Black Cat. As Spider-Man looks for the paintings, Mackey relays his own backstory to the hero. After collecting all of the stolen art, Spider-Man returns to the precinct and discovers from the detective's disappearance that Mackey is actually Walter, who faked his death and took on an alias to ensure that the Maggia wouldn't go after his daughter Felicia. Before he leaves, Walter contacts him again, asking Spider-Man to not tell his daughter he's still alive and to take care of Felicia for him as he escapes with stolen art. It is safe to assume that he likely sold the art to further his retirement. The Daily Bugle would later release an article about Hardy’s return.[1]Attributes
Abilities
- Walter Hardy was a skilled thief and cat burglar.[1]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
When Black Cat:
- Black Cat's original Suit[citation needed]
- Black Cat's original Grapple Gun[citation needed]