Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, & Black Cat

Satisfied that his secret is safe, Spider-Man departs, and waits for the Stacy's to leave. As Spider-Man succeeds in capturing the Schemer, Gwen and George Stacy return to Parker's home to find it empty. They wonder if Peter was either kidnapped or willingly left with Spider-Man, this prompts George to call the local precinct. When Spider-Man is about to enter his apartment when he spies Harry Osborn, Gwen and George Stacy waiting for him. Sneaking some clothing, Spidey changes back into Peter Parker and enters the apartment. When Gwen sees the bruises on his face, she demands to know what sort of trouble he's in. When Peter isn't forthcoming with answers, she tells him not to call her until he can promise not to get involved with Spider-Man ever again, and leaves with her father. Coming to the conclusion that his spider-powers are fading for good, the ailing Peter Parker realizes that today is Gwen Stacy's birthday, and he hasn't been able to get her a gift. In a moment of desperation, he uses his fading spider-powers to steal a pearl necklace from the jewelry store but stops himself at the last moment. As Gwen's birthday party begins, Gwen becomes aware of Peter's absence and begins to get upset. The party is then suddenly shocked when Peter enters the party, Spider-Man mask in hand and tells everyone that because his powers are fading, he can finally reveal that he's Spider-Man. When George Stacy points out that Peter is feverish and sick, Peter realizes that he's putting Gwen through enough distress to cause hysteria and flees. Taking off his costume and disguising his face, Peter visits Hobie Brown and asks him to help fool everyone into once more believing that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are two different people. Peter then goes to visit the Stacy's home and explains to Gwen, George, Mary Jane and Harry that he was in a fever state and didn't know what he's saying. When Gwen doesn't immediately believe Peter, Hobie (dressed in Spider-Man's costume) enters through the window and his performance in front of everyone convinces the others that Peter's story is true. His mission accomplished, Hobie leaves the scene and stashes Spider-Man's costume where he was told. Afterwords, Peter departs from the Stacy home, secure in the fact that his secret identity has been protected, but still has an uneasy feeling as though he's walking on eggshells. Gwen and Peter's relationship was now back on track, but this was short lived due to the oncoming battle with Doctor Octopus. Death of Captain Stacy: As Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus battle on the rooftops on the ground there stands a child directly in the path of the falling bricks and Captain Stacy also in the crowd below pushes the child out of the way to save him. Unfortunately, Captain Stacy is hit full on with the bricks and Spider-Man goes down to save him. Pulling him out of the rubble and once atop the rooftop, Stacy dies in Spider-Man's hands, but not without first revealing that he knows Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Spider-Man is given instructions to look after Gwen Stacy, while Spider-Man worries that she may learn that her father died because of him. At the funeral of George Stacy everyone close to the late police captain is in attendance. Peter is there to support Gwen during this time; however, he begins to consider what would happen if Gwen who blames Spider-Man for her father's death ever found out that Peter is Spider-Man. Also in attendance is Sam Bullit, a man who was competing with George for the job of district attorney. When Gwen later asks to aid on Bullit's campaign, it's another advantage to Bullit. Spider-Man then heads back to his apartment. Entering he is suddenly startled when the lights are turned on by Bullit who had come there with Gwen Stacy, because he knew there was a connection between Parker and Spider-Man. Spider-Man has just been confronted by Sam Bullit and Gwen Stacy at Peter Parker's apartment. Spider-Man, hoping to talk sense into Gwen, grabs the girl and makes an exit. However, this is spotted by Robert Drake, who is out on a date. He changes into Iceman and attacks Spider-Man, whom he thinks will harm the girl, forcing Spidey to make an escape. Bullit thanks Iceman for his help and asks him to track down and capture Spider-Man. While dealing with the grief of her father's death, and Peter's sudden strange behavior, Gwen gets a call from her Uncle Arthur offering her to come out to England to live with them, a decision she needs to think about. She goes to see Peter to see if he wants her to stay; however, when she mentions her hatred of Spider-Man, it causes him to be reluctant to tell her to stay and Gwen, hurt, leaves Peter's apartment. Peter then storms off and loses his temper over how his alter ego constantly ruins his life. Swinging to Gwen's apartment, Spider-Man finds the land lady cleaning the place up. He learns from her that Gwen had left for the airport to go to England. Rushing there, Peter arrives moments too late, and watches in agony as her plane takes off. Realizing that his slow decision cost him the girl he loves, Peter leaves the airport. Now in England and away from Peter she is able to deal with her father's death. When Robbie Robertson learns that of what happened to Gwen, he sends Peter on "Assignment" to England on the condition he takes news photos for the Bugle while he's out there. Peter is about to see Gwen, when he notices the news reports about Spider-Man being in England and realizes that Gwen could put two and two together and figure out his secret identity. Cursing his stupidity, Peter is forced to go home without visiting the girl he loves. Meanwhile, Gwen learns about Spider-Man's heroics in London from her Uncle, who suggests that in her grief, she might have done the web-slinger an injustice. Gwen begins to realize that leaving Peter behind to move to England was a big mistake and decides to return back to New York and find Peter, and hopefully patch things up. When Peter returns home, he is greeted by Gwen. After a day out with Gwen Stacy, Peter decides that it's time he gets his personal life in order and tries to find a steady job. Disappointed that he doesn't have the money to take his girlfriend out, Peter arrives at Gwen's and tells her the news. Gwen tells Peter he's being silly and doesn't need to take her out and they opt to stay in, while she cooks them supper for a nice romantic night indoors. Gwen was also encouraged by Mary Jane to forget her bitterness towards Spider-Man. Peter still trying to improve his life with Gwen takes a formula to remove his powers making him normal, but the reverse happened. Peter panics, thinking of himself as a freak, he snaps back to reality when his phone rings, its Gwen, inviting him to come see a movie, Peter moans at her so that she'll hate him and forget him just in case they don't see each other again, Gwen gets the message and hangs up. Gwen Stacy sits at home worrying about what happened to Peter. When she calls Aunt May, she becomes even more worried when Aunt May tells her she hasn't heard from Peter either. After hearing about a monster in the Savage Land, Jameson figures this is the scoop that the Bugle needs to stay afloat and decide to bring some of his staff to the Savage Land in order to snap pictures of this elusive beast. When Joe calls Peter to secure him for the expedition, Peter instantly agrees as he needs the money. This upsets Gwen, and Peter decides to take her to the Bugle. When he arrives there Jameson sees what he's has thought was missing from this expedition to begin with: A woman's perspective and asks Gwen if she'd like to come. When they arrive a creature grabs Gwen and leaves, Peter tries to stop the monster but is swatted away and lands in a nearby river. Gwen is then taken to a man who's "adopted" the monster, none other than Spider-Man's old foe, Kraven the Hunter. As Calkin and Jameson go after the monster, they run into Ka-Zar and his sabertooth tiger Zabu and enlist his aid in trying to find Gwen. Meanwhile, Peter has changed into Spider-Man and begins his own search for Gwen as well. Gog has brought Gwen to Kraven the Hunter, who has decided to take Gwen as his mate. Spider-Man battles Kraven with the help of Ka-Zar who then rushes Gwen back to Jameson and Calkin. After thanking Ka-Zar for his help and bidding him farewell, they depart from the Savage Land. Peter and Gwen arrive back in New York safely. When Peter meets up with Gwen, he learns that they aren't going out on a date so much as checking in on Flash Thompson, who Gwen is worried about since he's come back from Vietnam. When Flash Thompson loses his temper over their concern, the couple decides to leave him be and go out for a romantic evening together. Gwen meets with Randy Robertson who is in a good mood after the Daily Bugle does a report of the protest against the police surveillance cameras. She is later confronted by Flash who apologizes for how he acted. When he tries to express his feelings for her, she stops him and tells him that her feelings for Peter are real. She then confronts him with the fact that that is not the only thing bothering him, Flash declines to talk about it. On his way back from the Daily Bugle Peter spots Gwen walking with Flash. He spots two military men pull up in a vehicle and escort Flash away, leaving Gwen in tears. Spider-Man wonders if this spectacle will change things between him and Gwen. When Peter tries to go off after them, Gwen stops him, calling him on the fact that everyone thinks him a coward. Peter is stuck by Gwen, unable to go after Flash's attackers as Spider-Man because Gwen would think Peter Parker is a coward. While at Harry Osborn's apartment, Gwen arrives and tells Harry that Peter has been "kidnapped" by Spider-Man. When Aunt May enters the room, Gwen lashes out at her when she calls Peter a boy, but she quickly apologizes for her outburst and the two make peace. After he rescues Flash he tells Spider-Man that the whole story will be great to tell Gwen. Spider-Man departs and wonders how Peter Parker is going to be able to compete with Flash's feelings for Gwen now that he's a civilian again. When he returns home, he finds Gwen and Aunt May waiting for him. When May suddenly changes her tone when she catches herself fussing over Peter, Gwen tells Peter how she and May had an argument about how she is too coddling over Peter. Peter, too tired to do anything passes out in Gwen's arm and she puts him to rest of the couch. When Flash arrives to tell everyone he's okay, Harry asks him to walk Gwen home. Peter wakes up only in time to see Gwen and Flash leave the apartment and assumes the worst before dropping back to sleep. When Peter returned home and tells Gwen that Aunt May has left, but tells her not to be hard on herself because her harsh words to Aunt May were long coming. Gwen and Peter then go searching for Aunt May as she has been kidnapped. After fevered dreams of Aunt May being held hostage and dying at the hands of Dr. Octopus, Peter is awakened by Gwen Stacy. She and Harry have summoned Doctor Bromwell after realizing how ill Peter was. After examining Peter, Doctor Bromwell determines that Peter is suffering from nervous exhaustion and possibly has an ulcer to boot. The doctor gives Harry a prescription for Peter and Gwen promises to take good care of him. While on the campus of ESU, Dr. Miles Warren confronts Gwen Stacy about the rumors he's heard about Peter Parker, she confirms them for him. She is then met by Flash Thompson, who makes a crack about Peter's ulcer. This upsets Gwen who tells him off and storms away. Gwen goes to the Daily Bugle, to see if they've heard anything about Aunt May. When Ned Leeds finishes the story, he was trying to tell Peter, that someone fitting Aunt May's description was hired by an employment agency and sent to a place in Westchester, Joe Robertson, Ned, and Gwen all leave to go to that location to see if May is there. Peter Parker appears shortly after Joe, Gwen and Ned arrive. When Peter meets with his Aunt May, she's called by Dr. Octopus briefly. When she comes back, she tells Peter that she's not coming back home, that Peter is a grown man and can make his own decisions, and that she's decided to stay here and keep watch of Dr. Octopus' home as per his request. Spider-Man web-slings across the city to meet up with Gwen for a date but can't help but keep an eye out for the Smasher. Meeting up with Gwen, Gwen feels bad for Aunt May's decisions of late because they were influenced over Gwen's criticisms of Aunt May's mothering of Peter, she reassures Peter that Flash is only a friend, and he has nothing to worry about. The couple then go to a fundraiser for Raleigh's campaign, where they meet with Mary Jane. During the event, Peter's spider-sense goes off, he notices the roof of the reception hall is about to collapse. Killing the lights Peter, with no time to change into his Spider-Man costume, tries to stop the collapse with his webbing; however, it's not enough, and unless he comes up with an idea fast, the roof will collapse and kill everyone there, including Gwen. Gwen and Mary Jane attend a youth rally for Raleigh. Peter joins Harry, Gwen and Mary Jane in driving a campaign truck for Raleigh's campaign. It's shortly attacked by the Smasher. Everyone gets out safely before the Smasher destroyed the truck. Peter calls from Canada to check in on Gwen, she tells Peter to come back to the States as quickly as possible because Harry has had a relapse from his previous drug overdose. Peter tells her that he has to finish business in Canada, but he will be back as soon as possible. Death and Post-Mortem: While waiting for Peter in his apartment, Gwen is ambushed by The Green Goblin announcing that he was looking for Peter, but he can kidnap Gwen instead to lure him into a trap. Gwen throws a lamp at the Goblin, who knocks her out with gas from a pumpkin, which he leaves in Peter's apartment for him to later find, before he brings the unconscious Gwen to the Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man later arrived to fight the Goblin, but Spider-Man was sick and not performing as well as usual. Before the fight began, Gwen awoke and overheard the Goblin announce that Peter is Spider-Man, sending her into a state of shock thinking that her boyfriend killed her father. Later, when Spider-Man goes to save her, Gwen wants to tell him to stay away from her, but her mouth is still frozen in shock. The Green Goblin pushes her off the bridge, while she feels nothing inside. Spider-Man caught her by a leg with a string of web. The sudden stop in midair snapped Gwen's neck, making it difficult for her to breathe. She was still alive during the battle, with the revelation of Peter's secret identity making her die feeling betrayed, but Gwen's last thoughts were asking herself what she did to deserve this. Spider-Man initially thought he had saved her, but when he pulled Gwen back up onto the bridge, he realized that she had died. In anger, Spider-Man almost killed the Green Goblin in retaliation, but chose not to do so in the end. The Green Goblin still seemingly died anyway when he was impaled by his own Goblin Glider in an attempt to kill Spider-Man (he was later discovered to have survived). The death of Gwen Stacy had enormous repercussions. Mary Jane, a close friend of Gwen, was deeply affected by her death. Consequently, Mary Jane became much more serious and compassionate. Gwen's death also drew Peter and Mary Jane into a closer friendship, and eventually a romantic relationship. The Punisher tried to hunt down Spider-Man, as he wrongly believed the hero to be Gwen's murderer. The Punisher had been manipulated into going after Spider-Man by a supervillain called the Jackal. The Jackal was once Miles Warren, a former professor of Gwen, who had secretly been in love with her. Following her death, Warren grew increasingly insane and adopted the persona of the Jackal. He also became completely obsessed with Gwen and created a clone of her. The Green Goblin manipulated the Jackal and the clone of Gwen and used both of them in the Clone Saga. Eventually, the clone established her own identity, but later was killed by her own prototype, who also later died. Sins Past: After Gwen’s death, a mad Harry Osborn created clones called Sarah and Gabriel Stacy from the DNA of Norman and Gwen, intending to make his father and best friend believe Norman and Gwen had twin children together. To sell the scheme, Mary Jane Watson was hypnotized by Mysterio to believe the same. However, though Peter was devastated to think of Gwen cheating on him with Norman, he somehow felt in his heart that it was not true, though he would not get confirmation of his suspicions for some time. Once Harry died, an A.I. of him controlled by Mephisto took over the cloning process of the twins, whose clone degeneration caused them to die over and over, and every time Mephisto would torture them in hell before sending them back resurrected with new bodies. Eventually the twins absorbed the A.I.’s consciousness and began tormenting Peter in the guise of Harry, all the while believing Gwen was their mother and believing the motivations of hate the Harry A.I. held for Peter. Dead No More: A new clone of Gwen Stacy was created years later by the new Jackal. The Jackal's new cloning technique allowed for the clone to possess all of the memories of the real Gwen up to the point of her death, which convinced both of them that the clone was in fact the real Gwen Stacy brought back from the dead. Unfortunately, this new cloning technique afflicted all of its subjects with cellular decay, which was prevented with the daily consumption of a pill. This new Jackal was in turn a clone of Peter Parker known as Ben Reilly. Gwen noticed the similarities between him and Peter even though he used a voice modulator to hide his identity. She went along with his plan to extend the reach of his new cloning technology for a better world since she saw some of Peter Parker within Ben. In order to investigate the Jackal's new enterprise, New U Technologies, an alternate reality spider-powered version of Gwen known as Spider-Woman kidnapped the cloned Gwen and impersonated her. The cloned Gwen was kept hostage by Scarlet Spider, but she returned to New U after the impostor was outed. At New U's headquarters, Gwen reunited with Spider-Man, who the Jackal had brought to his base to convince him to join forces. During a private conversation, Gwen forgave Peter for her and her father's deaths. She also tried to convince Peter to join the Jackal, but her reassurances that her and all of the people cloned back to life by the Jackal were the originals had no effect on him. All of the Jackal's clones, including Gwen, began to decay when their creator started to broadcast globally a frequency that accelerated the cellular degeneration.[98] Gwen helped Spider-Man by directing him to the Jackal's lab and stayed behind and confronted Green Goblin, Hobgoblin and Jack O'Lantern on her own to buy time for Peter. She set off a Pumpkin Bombs killing herself along with them. What remained of her after this was mere dust, which was collected by Weapon X and eventually reconstituted into Weapon X-31. Kindred and Judgment: Her corpse, along with others, was eventually dug up by Kindred in order to torment Spider-Man. After Kindred's initial capture, the bodies of Gwen and the others were taken by Carlie Cooper to her morgue in order to prevent the police from linking them with Peter and discovering he was Spider-Man. When Kindred revealed "himself" to Peter as Gabriel and Sarah, they battled before Mephisto killed the twins as they no longer served a purpose. Before dying, Sarah asks Peter if they never really had a mother, to which Peter answers that if things had been different Gwen would have loved them as a mother no matter what. When the Progenitor declared that humanity would be judged, it appeared to Peter Parker as Gwen Stacy with its thumb awaiting judgment. After observing Peter throughout the day and hearing a heartfelt confession from him, the Progenitor approved of Peter. As a reward, the Progenitor revived the real Gwen Stacy so that they could share a moment together, but only for a moment as she disappeared soon after. Abilities

• Gifted Biochemistry Student

• Investigative Skills: Following her father's footsteps, Gwen sometimes helped the police in some of their cases. Former Weaknesses

Pill Dependence: In order to avoid cellular degradation, Gwen had to ingest New U Pills daily. Notes

• The original comic featured a "snap" sound effect next to her head in the panel in which Spider-Man's webbing catches her, but some reprints of the story take out the "snap" sound effect. • In Amazing Spider-Man #125 (October 1973), Roy Thomas wrote in the letters column that "it saddens us to have to say that the Whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her. In short, it was impossible for Peter to save her. He couldn't have swung down in time; the action he did take resulted in her death; if he had done nothing, she still would certainly have perished. There was no way out." They also explained that Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas and Stan Lee had decided that she had to die because Peter Parker wasn't ready for marriage, and the relationship was too often off and on again. • In the 1987 edition of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Gwen’s death is attributed to the fall. • In Amazing Spider-Man #73 Peter catches a woman falling by webbing all her limbs, and in Amazing Spider-Man #120 he catches a man the same way. Meanwhile, he fails to web all of Gwen's limbs properly when catching her, likely from the haste of his concurrent battle with Green Goblin. • In Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #11, the Green Goblin attempts to kill Mary Jane the same way he did Gwen, but Spider-Man saves her by firing multiple web-lines. • In Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 4) #23 it's revealed that the whiplash of being caught by Spider-Man's webline was what killed Gwen, and that she was conscious up until the moment of her death. • In Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Gerry Conway speculated that Stan Lee had modeled Gwen after his wife Joan Lee, similar to Sue Storm. Trivia

• Several subsequent of Spider-Man's adventures have contained echoes of Gwen's death when other women have fallen great heights during Spider-Man's battles. On most occasions he has saved them by jumping after them and working with their momentum, rather than trying to stop them with his webbing. • Examples of this include Amazing Spider-Man #275, Web of Spider-Man #125, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #12, Superior Spider-Man #2, and Superior Spider-Man #31; with Peter saving Sha Shan, Joyce Delaney, Mary Jane Watson, Mary Jane again, and Anna Maria. In the final instance, Spider-Man acknowledged that he had been training thousands of times in case this situation happened again. • Aunt May was originally going to die in Amazing Spider-Man #121 instead of Gwen. • Gwen and Harry Osborn first met and became friends on Mother's Day. • Gwen Stacy was 20 years old at the time of her death. Name: Felicia Sara Hardy

Current Alias: Black Cat

Aliases

Nicknames:

• Cat

• Fe

• 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

Group Affiliation: Thieves Guild

Formerly:

• Secret Defenders

• Black Cat's Crew (leader)

• Inklings

• Heroes for Hire

• Cat's Eye Investigations (founder)

• Tiger Division

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

Gender: Female

Height: 5′10″ (1.78 m)

Weight: 120 lbs (54.43 kg)

Eye Color: Green

Hair: White

Unusual Features: Cybernetics, including claw implants in fingers and quantum device

Origin: Human cyborg

Formerly: mutate

Living Status: Alive

Reality: Earth-616

Place of Birth: Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York

Identity: Public

Citizenship: American

Occupation

• Adventurer

• cat burglar

• thief

• private investigator

• bounty hunter

former: crime-lordcriminal

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

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. 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 and, not wanting his daughter to follow in 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. Already a great gymnast, she decided to join karate classes to improve her fighting skills, quickly rising in 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 him, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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,[81] 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. 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. 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, Felicia tried to cheer him up 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. 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. 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: 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. 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 Beetle, she decided to break up with Peter, who maturely accepted it. Despite breaking up, they still remained friends and would check-up each other. In the Big Leagues: While freelancing for the Thieves Guild, Black Cat set her sights on the Scarlet Witch's impregnable vault of magical artifacts in her Emporium. After taking tears from six Satyrs, one of the Scarlet Witch's severed fingers and the Blindfold of True Vision, she successfully infiltrated the vault and got the Eye-Spy Cauldron. However, she still triggered magical alarms, leading to a chaotic confrontation with Wanda and her apprentice Amaranth Hawlut. Their clash caused Amaranth to lose control of her powers, driving Felicia temporarily insane. Wanda ultimately restored her composure, but as she dealt with Amaranth's power surge, Felicia escaped with the cauldron in hand. Around this time, Kang the Conqueror approached Felicia with a time-traveling heist: to steal a data codex containing information about the Missing Moment from the Grandmaster's Speculatorium. She agreed—on the condition her father, Walter, could be pulled from the past to join them. With help from the Technet, they pulled off the heist, outmaneuvered the Avengers, and escaped. However, when Kang revealed he planned to kill the Avengers and casino guests, Felicia and her father turned against him. Thanks to Felicia's bad luck powers, Kang was ultimately defeated by the Avengers, and she handed over the codex. After this, father and daughter were sent to the former's time, and he revealed that he'd figured out who she was. They embraced each other, and Walter told Felicia he was proud of her, shortly before the Black Cat was returned to her time. Personality: 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. 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: As a way to honor her father Walter Hardy, she trained herself in martial arts for years. 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. 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 expressing a desire for a "boyfriend... Or a girlfriend, for that matter" in Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1. • However, it wasn't until Black Cat (Vol. 2) #7, when Felicia Hardy shared a kiss with Odessa Drake, that she was seen kissing another woman. • 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.