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Black Cat (Marvel Comics)

fictional character in Marvel Comics

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ912640 ↗
Source-derived summary

Black Cat is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Marv Wolfman and Dave Cockrum, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194 in July 1979 as an adversary of the superhero Spider-Man, although she later becomes his on-off love interest and ally.

In the Marvel Universe, Black Cat is the alter ego of Felicia Sara Hardy, the daughter of renowned cat burglar Walter Hardy. Trained in martial arts and acrobatics, she follows in her father's footsteps and initially comes into conflict with Spider-Man until the two fall in love, leading to a brief partnership in crime-fighting. Their relationship is complicated when it becomes apparent that Black Cat has no interest in Spider-Man's civilian identity as Peter Parker. Despite their break-up, Spider-Man's positive influence motivates Black Cat to remain an antiheroine willing to do the right thing when push comes to shove, and routinely returns to the hero's life as one of his most trusted allies. Black Cat has gained and lost superhuman powers several times throughout her comic book history, most notably possessing a "bad luck" aura capable of inflicting people in her vicinity with misfortune.

Since her original introduction in comics, the character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including solo series, video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Felicia Hardy made her live-action debut in the film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), portrayed by Felicity Jones, and an alternate version of the character based on the Marvel Noir incarnation named Cat Hardy appears in the television series Spider-Noir, portrayed by Li Jun Li.

Publication history

In 1979, creator Marv Wolfman was looking for a female foil for Spider-Woman.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Black Cat (Marvel Comics)” as fictional character in Marvel Comics. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1979, 2014—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Black, Marvel and Comics can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as fictional character in Marvel Comics. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q912640. VIAF identifies the subject as 651147905018279090429. The Library of Congress control number is no2016147794. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1979 and 2014.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Black Cat (Marvel Comics)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.