Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Dave Cockrum, who introduced her in The Amazing Spider-Man #194 (July 1979). Felicia was born in Queens, New York to world-renowned cat burglar Walter Hardy. Although she grew up as a normal teen with interests including cheerleading and baseball, she eventually learned of the excitement that comes in her father’s career.

Her happy life was shocked by tragedy during her freshman year of college when a guy she trusted raped her. In response, Felicia enrolled in various martial arts classes with the sole intent of killing her rapist. But when he was killed in a drunk driving accident, she was denied the chance for revenge.

After donning the Black Cat costume, Felicia utilized her new skills to follow in her father’s footsteps. When she learned that her father was dying, Felicia was determined to break him out of prison. It was during the attempt that she crossed paths with Spider-Man, with whom she felt she had a special bond.

Although she initially had no superhuman abilities, a test induced by the Kingpin later gave her the psionic ability to affect probability fields. This “bad luck” power caused anyone in her immediate vicinity that she perceived as a threat to be susceptible to freak accidents. It also caused problems for anyone spending long periods of time around her, whether or not she considered them to be a threat.

For a time, Spider-Man and Black Cat were adversaries, but eventually they fell in love. This romantic relationship motivated the Black Cat into becoming an antiheroine, who worked alongside Spider-Man as his partner. When it became apparent that Black Cat was only attracted to his alter ego and had little interest in his life as Peter Parker, the pair broke up.

Despite the separation, Black Cat continued to serve as one of Spider-Man’s most trusted allies and for years the pair enjoyed an on-again, off-again romance. Unfortunately, much to Spider-Man’s dismay and annoyance, she later lapsed back into her criminal ways.