As Spider-Man wasn’t the first spider-themed superhero, Black Cat wasn’t the first comic book cat-themed cat burglar with an ambiguous relationship with a famous vigilante.
Master thief Felicia Hardy was created by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, and Dave Cockrum and made her first official appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #194, in 1979. It wasn’t supposed to be her introduction as she was first drawn for the cover of Spider-Woman #9, before the story was even written. But Marv Wolfman left the book and brought his feline villain to another spider-titled series, the “amazing” one.
Black Cat, not Catwoman
When you think of Black Cat, this thief who likes to play cat-and-mouse with the authorities, sometimes a villain, sometimes a hero, it’s hard not to imagine how DC’s own Catwoman inspired Wolfman. Strangely enough, that was not the case.
As the creator explained it, in Back Issue #40, “Oddly, I hadn’t even thought of Catwoman. If I had, I wouldn’t have done it. I was watching a Tex Avery cartoon called ‘Bad Luck Blackie’ that caused bad luck to a pursuing dog and thought that would make for a great villainess for Spider-Woman, which was where I was going to use her.”
Originally, Black Cat was “designed to be a mystery villainess, very 1940s in design and very noir in approach.” But this changed as she was retooled to be more of an action character to face the Spider-Man.
It was then Dave Cockrum who provided the design for the Black Cat, giving her a voluptuous fur-lined, skin-tight costume and collar.
Vengeful Daughter, Cursed with Bad Luck
In the beginning, as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #195, Felicia Hardy became what her father was, a cat burglar. She idealized him to such an extent that when she learned that–unlike what she had thought all of her life–her father was not dead but in jail, she recruited a crew to assist her in his jailbreak. She did it out of love, without even considering that it was a criminal act.
Ironically, it was her father who had asked that she be told he was dead. He hoped that his misdeed would not influence her. This backfired greatly as she dedicated her life to becoming even better than he was.
After developing a romantic attraction to Spider-Man, Black Cat starts to help him to gain his trust. Soon, their feeling toward each other became reciprocated, and, after Black Cat was nearly killed in a fight against Doctor Octopus, he revealed to her that he was Peter Parker. But she’s more interested in Spider-Man than the man under the mask. She was looking for thrills and mysteries, not for a humble and broke regular guy.
Spider-Man is certainly thrilling and powerful. In fact, he was reluctant to partner with someone without powers, and this weighed on Black Cat. At that time, bad luck was not part of Felicia’s arsenal. While Peter was away fighting in the Secret Wars, Felicia found a scientist capable of giving her powers… then discovered that he was working for the Kingpin.
Her new powers consisted of enhanced agility and speed, but mostly of giving bad luck to those around her, even Spider-Man. This added to an already complicated relationship and led to a break-up.
As the years went by, Felicia Hardy disappeared and reappeared from time to time. She evolved and became less self-absorbed, but still walking on the fine line between being a hero and a criminal–sometimes going more on one side or the other.
Complement your reading of the origins of Felicia Hardy with our Marvel’s Black Cat Reading Order Guide, and continue to explore characters from the World of Spider-Man with the Story of Kraven the Hunter, the origins of Doctor Octopus, and our Your Guide to Marvel’s Spider Family!