Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat has been a prominent and important figure of the Spider-Man mythos since her first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #194, so her being the focus of today’s post should come as no surprise. Let’s take a look at Felicia Hardy in the MC2.
Felicia Hardy makes her MC2 debut in the pages
of Spider-Girl #36 where she visits Mary Jane and reveals she got
back into town a few weeks prior and mentions her
kids, who unlike her, are not doing fine.
It’s in the following issue when Felicia accompanies Mary
Jane to an appointment that we get more details. Felicia believes Felicity
blames her for divorcing the children’s father, Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson.
When Mary Jane enquires about Felicia’s son Gene, however,
we don’t get a straight answer (Spider-Girl #37).
Felicia visits Mary Jane at the Parker family
home and is sorry to hear she didn’t get to see May as she hadn’t seen her
since she was a baby. Felicia also discloses to Mary Jane that Felicity
barely speaks to her. Before Mary Jane can finish their conversation,
she collapses to the ground (Spider-Girl #39).
Felicia calls the ambulance and at the hospital meets
with Peter and May. Felicia remarks she hasn’t seen May
since she was a toddler. After learning Mary Jane is doing well, Felicia
leaves to allow Peter and Mary Jane privacy with the doctor (Spider-Girl
#40).
During another visit to Mary Jane, once more at her home,
Felicia discusses concerns about her daughter Felicity. Felicia
believes that not only has Felicity not forgiven her for divorcing her
father, but also disapproves of her current lifestyle. Mary Jane assures
Felicia she’s entitled to live her own life regardless of how her
daughter feels about it. Meanwhile, Felicia just want’s her daughter to
open up and communicate with her (Spider-Girl #45). If Ms. Hardy
only knew what her daughter was up to…
In Spider-Girl #47, Mary Jane invites both Felicia
and her partner Diana over for a cup of tea. Diana mentions the
couple were previously living in Paris but have moved back so that Felicity
can reestablish a relationship with her father. When Mary Jane asks how
long the two have known each other, Felicia states ‘it’s going on six
years now’ and mentions that Diana used to be a contract operative
for her detective agency. While Felicia’s detective agency isn’t named
here, it’s presumably Cat’s Eye Investigations, which she first formed
in Felicia Hardy: Black Cat #4 way back in 1994. Diana thinks
one of the reasons Felicity ‘doesn’t approve’ of her is because
she believes her to be ‘some kind of opportunist’.
When Felicia learns of her daughter’s superhero
antics, she confronts Felicity about putting herself in jeopardy and humiliating
her in the eyes of an old friend aka Peter Parker. It doesn’t go down
well, with Felicity angrily responding that she isn’t crazy about Felicia’s
own decisions including leaving her father, quitting as the Black Cat and
beginning a relationship with Diana. Felicity departs with a
parting shot questioning if her mother is angry about her endangering her life
or because she patterned herself after the Scarlet Spider instead of the
Black Cat. Despite Diana’s attempt to comfort her, Felicia
remains convinced her daughter hates her (Spider-Girl #48).
After Felicity skips school, Felicia walks her
daughter in to the school despite her daughter’s protests, informing her that
she needs to stop acting like a child unless she wishes to be treated like one
and reminds Felicity of her appointment with the school guidance counsellor
within earshot of other students, inadvertently causing more of a scene. Felicia
has made this appointment for her daughter because she believes she may be depressed;
a fact Felicity throws in her face afterwards when she arrives home and
interrupts Felicia and Diana in a loving embrace (Spider-Girl
#53).
As I have noted
previously, this storyline unfortunately never saw completion, apparently
for one or more real-world reasons including multiple attempted cancellations
of the Spider-Girl title at the time. It would be over 20 issues before
we saw Felicity again in the series and Felicia and Diana
were lost in the lurch almost entirely, with Felicia making only a brief
appearance years later in Amazing Spider-Girl #3. It appears by this point
the relationship between Felicia and Felicity has improved, with
the pair heading off for lunch together happily.
That’s all for the actual MC2 appearances of Felicia
Hardy, but perhaps one day I may get a chance to detail one or two untold
stories involving the Black Cat in the MC2.
Until I find out my parent is a cat burglar and I take up
the family business, I remain
frogoat