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Felicia Hardy
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Felicia Hardy

431 appearances · Bronze Age · 1982–2026 · 11 key issues
Who is Felicia Hardy?

Felicia Hardy, daughter of a renowned cat burglar, trained herself to Olympic athletic perfection and followed in her father's footsteps as the Black Cat — a stylish, skilled thief who first crossed paths with Spider-Man as a costumed criminal before becoming his unlikely ally.

Few characters introduced in the Bronze Age have proven as magnetic and enduring as Felicia Hardy, who made her debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #226 in 1982, brought to life by the creative team of Roger Stern, John Romita Jr., and Jim Mooney. Over more than four decades — 411 catalog appearances and counting — she has woven herself into the fabric of Marvel's New York, sharing pages with luminaries like Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Captain America, and J. Jonah Jameson across titles ranging from The Amazing Spider-Man to Ultimate Spider-Man and Heroes for Hire. With eleven key issues to her name, collectors have long recognized that her appearances carry real weight in comics history. Simply put, Felicia Hardy is one of Marvel's most compelling and persistently relevant figures — a Bronze Age creation who has never stopped feeling essential.

Identity

Real name. Felicia Sara Hardy

Powers. Olympic-level acrobat, athlete and gymnast; expert cat burglar, lockpick, hand-to-hand combatant; bad-luck "probability field" power (granted by Kingpin's experiments, later lost); equipment includes retractable claws and grappling line

Affiliations. Solo cat burglar; allied with Spider-Man; Heroes for Hire; Defenders; briefly a costumed criminal/crime boss

★ First appearance
The Amazing Spider-Man #194
Jul 1979

Trivia

  • Long before she became the lovably roguish thief fans adore today, Felicia Hardy debuted as a flat-out villain — a far cry from the morally flexible antihero Marvel would eventually develop through her own solo and supporting runs.en.wikipedia.org
  • Marvel's official profile credits Black Cat with 'feline-based powers' including bad-luck manipulation, but those abilities were absent from her original concept entirely, added later in a retool that fundamentally changed how writers could deploy her on the page.en.wikipedia.org

Top series

Covers through the years — 1982–2023

The Amazing Spider-Man #226 1982
The Amazing Spider-Man #226
Web of Spider-Man Annual #2 1986
Web of Spider-Man Annual #2
Marc Spector: Moon Knight #5 1989
Marc Spector: Moon Knight #5
Marvel Swimsuit Special #1 1992
Marvel Swimsuit Special #1
Best of Marvel #1995 1995
Best of Marvel #1995
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #5 1999
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #5
Spider-Girl #36 2001
Spider-Girl #36
Ultimate Spider-Man #50 2004
Ultimate Spider-Man #50
Spider-Man: Red-Headed Stranger #[nn] 2009
Spider-Man: Red-Headed Stranger #[nn]
Women of Marvel #1 2011
Women of Marvel #1
The Amazing Spider-Man #4 2014
The Amazing Spider-Man #4
Civil War II #[nn] 2017
Civil War II #[nn]
Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond #1 2021
Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond #1
Mary Jane & Black Cat #1 2023
Mary Jane & Black Cat #1

Appearances (1–150 of 431, oldest first)

Super Spider-Man TV Comic (1981)
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1983)
The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976)
Marvel Team-Up Annual (1976)
#7
Superaventuras Marvel (1982)
#44
Marvel Age Annual (1985)
Web of Spider-Man Annual (1985)
Web of Spider-Man (1985)
#29
Strange Tales (1987)
#10
Marc Spector: Moon Knight (1989)
#5
Marvel Comics Presents (1988)
Marvel Illustrated: Swimsuit Issue (1991)
#1
What If...? (1989)
#21
The Infinity Gauntlet (1991)
#2
Homem-Aranha: O Que Aconteceria se Peter Parker Não se Casasse com Mary Jane? (1991)
Marvel Swimsuit Special (1992)
Spider-Man: Venom Returns (1993)
Spider-Man Unlimited (1993)
#1
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964)
#27
Felicia Hardy: The Black Cat (1994)
Venom: The Mace (1994)
#3
Spider-Man Megazine (1994)
#2
Beavis & Butt-Head (1994)
#10
Venom Super Special (1995)
#1
Web of Spider-Man Super Special (1995)
#1
Best of Marvel (1994)
Spider-Man Unmasked (1996)
DC / Marvel (1997)
#9
Uncanny Origins (1996)
Spider-Man (1997)
#13
Der sensationelle Spider-Man (1998)
#5
Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1999)
#5
Spider-Girl (1998)
Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions (2002)
#1
Ultimate Spider-Man (2001)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2004 (2004)
Venom vs. Carnage (2004)
G.L.A. (2005)
#2
Spider-Man / Human Torch (2005)
#5
Official Handbook of the Ultimate Marvel Universe 2005: The Fantastic Four & Spider-Man (2005)
Ultimate Fantastic Four (2004)
#22
Spider-Man: Breakout (2005)
New Mangaverse (2006)
#1
Free Comic Book Day 2006 [X-Men / Runaways] (2006)
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four (2005)
#11
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (2005)
#14
Marvel Adventures Flip Magazine (2005)
#14
Amazing Spider-Girl (2006)
#3
Spider-Man: Birth of Venom (2007)
Avengers: The Initiative (2007)
#1
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (2007)
Civil War Chronicles (2007)
House of M: Avengers (2008)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day - Extra (2008)
#1
Amazing Spider-Man: Extra! (2008)
#1
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2008)
#1
Spider-Man: Red-Headed Stranger (2009)
Spider-Man: Died in Your Arms Tonight (2009)
Spider-Man Noir (2009)
Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (2005)
#4
Spider-Man: Election Day (2009)
Civil War: Heroes for Hire (2009)
Amazing Spider-Man Family (2008)
#7
Marvel Divas (2009)
Mini Marvels Ultimate Collection (2009)
Spider-Man: The Gauntlet (2010)