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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 (301–431 of 431, oldest first)

Doctor Strange (2023)
Mary Jane & Black Cat (2023)
Extreme Venomverse (2023)
#2
Amazing Spider-Man by Zeb Wells (2023)
Marvel's Voices: Pride (2023)
#1
Death of the Venomverse (2023)
Alligator Loki (2023)
#1
The Spectacular Spider-Men (2024)
Marvel Masterworks: The Spectacular Spider-Man (2017)
Daredevil: Mayor Fisk (2024)
Dead X-Men (2024)
#1
Carnage Epic Collection (2022)
#3
Wolverine (2020)
#42
Superior Spider-Man (2024)
Avengers West Coast Epic Collection (2018)
#7
Jackpot & Black Cat (2024)
Atos de Vingança (2024)
Edge of Spider-Verse (2024)
#4
Amazing Spider-Man (2021)
Spider-Society (2024)
Venomverse Reborn (2024)
West Coast Avengers (2025)
#1
Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider (2024)
Ultimate X-Men (2024)
#9
Ultimate Spider-Man (2024)
Daredevil Collection von Chip Zdarsky (2025)
#1
Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman (2024)
Avengers (2023)
Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2023)
Uncanny X-Men (2024)
Godzilla vs. Spider-Man (2025)
#1
Spider-Society: Enter... the Spider-Versers (2025)
Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man (2025)
#1
Symbiote Spider-Man by Peter David Omnbius (2025)
Amazing Spider-Man Modern Era Epic Collection (2025)
#14
X-Men (2024)
Spider-Man Noir: Omnibus (2025)
Howard the Duck by Zdarsky & Quinones (2025)
Black Cat (2025)
Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe (2025)
#2
Spider-Man '94 (2025)
Michel Fiffe Portfolio (2016)
#2
Fantastic Four (2025)
Spider-Man '94: The Return (2026)
X-Men: Age of Revelation - World of Revelation (2026)
DC / Marvel: Superman / Spider-Man (2026)
#1
Amazing Spider-Man 1000 / Queen in Black CGD 2026 (2026)
#1
Peter Parker de spektakulaire Spiderman (1983)
#14