Photo credit: Mr. Arcadra Photography

From the Author: Felicia Hardy's backstory is based on the events of the Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994).

Felicia Hardy is the daughter of Anastasia Hardy, a prominent New York philanthropist and patron of the arts. The family fortune was built on valuables stolen by Anastasia's ex-husband and Felicia's father, Walter Hardesky — the infamous thief known as the "Black Fox," who vanished many years ago. As it turns out, he had been held all that time in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. prison, because he had "stolen" (memorized) the formula for the Super-Soldier Serum. Due to this knowledge, the crime boss Kingpin kidnapped both him and his daughter, intending to test the accuracy of a recreated serum on her.

Felicia agreed to the experiment without hesitation — not only to protect her father, but also because she wanted to become like Spider-Man, who had saved her life several times and who she fell in love with. The experiment succeeded. Since her father was still being held captive, Felicia was forced to become one of Kingpin's agents — Thief, primarily tasked with stealing the assets and valuables he needed.

While working for Kingpin, Felicia waited for an opportunity to meet Spider-Man, because she wanted to show off her newfound strength, match it against his, and still dreamed of being with him. So at the first chance — when Spider-Man happened to be nearby during one of her heists — she deliberately exposed herself.

At first, Spider-Man treated Thief as just another super-villainess, but after she helped him several times in preventing other crimes, he began to hope that she might still become good. He started trying not to arrest her, but to stop her from breaking the law and persuade her to return what she stole — though he remained cautious of her and disapproved of her activities, refusing her offers to become partners.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are not yet married and have no children, but for several years they are a real family, and Peter no longer hides his secret superhero identity — Spider-Man — from his beloved.
Peter tried to build his ordinary life too, to teach natural sciences at a school, but superhero responsibilities constantly interfered. To contribute to the family, Peter is forced to continue working as a photographer for the Daily Bugle, and also freelances as a courier and a tutor. The family's financial wellbeing rests mainly on Mary Jane, who recently got a job at a modeling agency through connections of Felicia Hardy — her and Peter's friend since high school.
But what weighs on Mary Jane is not that, nor the fact that "Spider-Man" constantly comes between her and Peter — it's the guilt she feels over what seems to her to be a selfish desire to be first in her loved one's life, a wish that sharply conflicts with her awareness of the good Spider-Man does and the understanding that every hour Peter spends with her might cost someone else a life.
Mary Jane suggests that Peter and she live apart for a while and think about how they should proceed.

Peter focuses on superheroics.
Due to difficulties with Mary Jane, he begins to look more favorably on Thief's (Felicia Hardy, working for Kingpin but not yet using the alias "Black Cat") offers to help — especially after she confesses that she commits crimes under duress, blackmailed by one of the city's crime bosses. Sometimes he even takes time away from his Spider-Man responsibilities for leisure with Thief: casual conversation, city-wide "tags", playful attempts to foil her theft of a soda can and a burger. Peter begins to think that, because of Thief's superpowers and the media attacks she faces — similar to his own in sometimes — she might understand him far better than Mary Jane. Over time, photos and videos of them together appear more frequently in the media, and articles with increasingly salacious gossip about their "affairs" are published.
Despite their doubts, Peter and Mary Jane keep trying to mend their relationship. MJ is jealous because of the media coverage, but Peter tries to convince her that it's all lies and that his relationship with Thief is strictly friendly. He defends her, explaining that Thief is being blackmailed and he is obliged to help her — but Mary Jane is convinced that Thief is merely using Spider-Man. At the same time, Peter too is jealous because of MJ's revealing advertising photo shoots.
In the end, they are unable to reconcile for now, but both Peter and Mary Jane intend to keep trying.

Seemingly insoluble problems with Mary Jane, another wave of negative media attention, and financial troubles — all of this leads Peter to vent his frustration on criminals. This attracts a living symbiote entity, and when it bonds with him, Peter becomes "Spider-Man in Black": a stronger, more independent, and more aggressive version of himself — which causes even more tension with Mary Jane, who disapproves of Peter's new behavior.
Felicia, however, likes Spider-Man's new style — the more decisive and assertive Spider-Man in Black. Under her influence, he becomes even more selfish and daring, but also ruthless even toward petty criminals, which strengthens the bond between Peter and the Symbiote. Amid Peter's deteriorating relationship with Mary Jane, and outright media attacks on Spider-Man in Black over the "workplace romance" and his frightening brutality, Felicia becomes the only one who unconditionally supports Spider-Man and accepts him no matter what.
Spider-Man cheats on Mary Jane with Thief, keeping both his and her anonymity intact.

Meanwhile, Kingpin expresses displeasure with Felicia's actions against his men and her help to Spider-Man, demanding unquestioning obedience, reminding her that her father is still his hostage.
However, Felicia declares that under the circumstances, certain liberties are forgivable to her: as long as mass production of the Super-Soldier Serum hasn't been established, Kingpin cannot kill her, since he would lose a valuable agent and a "test subject"; nor can he kill her father, as he would lose leverage over her; besides, the Hardy name is too well-known for him to eliminate them entirely without consequences.
Neither Felicia nor Kingpin is willing to escalate the conflict, so Thief agrees to carry out the next assignment she deems acceptable, while Kingpin pretends to admire her boldness.

Thief continues to carry out Kingpin's orders while sometimes helping Spider-Man fight crime.
Thanks to Spider-Man in Black's strength and Felicia's knowledge of Kingpin's criminal infrastructure, together they seriously disrupt his plans — and, "in the process," delay the organization of Super-Soldier Serum production — although at the cost of collateral damage and instability in the city.
Worried about Spider-Man's uncharacteristic behavior, Mary Jane comes to Peter's apartment to try to talk sense into him, but finds not only him (masked) there, but also Thief, who are planning a new attack on Kingpin. During the ensuing argument, MJ almost accidentally reveals Spider-Man's civilian identity, but it turns out Thief already knows it.
She explains that she deduced it based on the fact that Spider-Man and Peter Parker, though close, never appear at the same time; wherever one suddenly disappears, the other often later appears; and Spider-Man regularly saves Peter Parker's loved ones — for example, Mary Jane. At the same time, Thief does not reveal herself and does not mention that the same logic applies to "Felicia Hardy."
Thief declares, "I just happened to be the only one for whom you were important enough to notice," convincing Peter to ignore Mary Jane's words and go with her to implement their joint plan.

Spider-Man in Black and Thief attack Kingpin's headquarters. While Spider-Man distracts Kingpin, Felicia frees her father. During the fight with Spider-Man in Black, Kingpin taunts him, saying that now he not only befriends thieves but also helps them break out of prison — thus Peter learns Thief's true purpose. After the battle, she explains who the captive was to her, calming Peter's indignation.
Peter hopes that now Thief will be able to "take off the mask" (meaning stop her criminal activities and possibly reveal her identity), but she replies, "Maybe someday," while hinting that Kingpin still has ways to blackmail her — and leaves to say goodbye to her father, who intends to go on the run.

Peter faces an emotional and personal crisis.
He seems to have ultimately ruined his relationship with Mary Jane, betrayed her and himself, ceased to be the "friendly neighborhood" hero in the eyes of the city's residents, helped a criminal escape, and in return got only a complicated relationship with Thief.
Taking advantage of his emotional instability, the Symbiote pushes Peter toward killing Kingpin — an act that could free Thief and make possible a normal romantic relationship with her. Peter shares these plans and feelings with Thief, but she not only refuses to reveal her identity, but also condemns Peter's intention to kill a man and tries to dissuade him.
But this only angers Peter / Venom (no longer just Spider-Man in Black), who insists he's right and is sure everything will turn out for the best. 
At that point, Thief reaches out to Mary Jane, who ultimately manages to get through to Peter, poisoned by negative feelings and trapped inside the Black Suit. MJ declares that Thief only needed a superhero, while she needed Peter Parker — who is so much more than just Spider-Man. After that, Peter rejects the Symbiote, which flees.
Peter and Mary Jane decide to try to rebuild their relationship one more time.

Later, Kingpin contacts Felicia, stating that if she does not agree to do a certain job for him, everyone will learn that Felicia Hardy is a wanted criminal and thief.
Felicia coyly replies: why threaten when you can politely ask — or pay.

From the Author: Felicia Hardy will acquire her "branded" ability to bring bad luck upon those around her a little later: when she attempts to rob the mansion of the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme — the Scarlet Witch — and will be cursed for it.
However, the curse's effect will also affect the Scarlet Witch herself at the very moment of its casting, causing Felicia's bad luck to threaten those around her with catastrophes of truly Biblical proportions!
This will be a short but fascinating story, during which Felicia will briefly turn into an actual — though talking — cat, after which she will adopt her well-known alias — "Black Cat."

P.S. The text above is a fabula or high-level plot, not a detailed and complete scenario or story.

P.P.S. The image was sourced from the Internet and was not created by me.

P.P.P.S. Yes, the text is still written by me.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

\[Source\](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbtuttXiC6T/)

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I'm a comic reader for only what? Three years? My first interaction with Black Cat was ofc MJ/BC: Beyond, I only read it because of her, because like many, I hated MJ because of Raimi, but not only I ended loving Felicia (because big booba go brrr) but also I ended up liking MJ as well (and reading the ASM saga from the 2000s made me realize how dirty the writers do her)

Reading up some BC arcs to better get her character, I get why SpiderCat is so good, they're so fun together, and their dynamic of teasing, especially on Fel's part (we all know Petey is a bottom) is so entertaining, and also add to the fact she was the first "villain" Spidey redeemed, it makes her special in a way

Now, y'all are obviously not into SpiderRed like I also am (I think both ships for him are fun), and I ended up frustrated on how MJ was done dirty by current writers (when I heard Paul died I screamed with joy you could not believe), and maybe, just maybe, seeing what Felicia was doing for him during this time, they can make SpiderCat a thing, it came at cost of MJ's character assassination, but with SpiderRed in the Ultimate universe, SpiderCat can exist in 616, BUT NOT EVEN THAT, Fel cheats on Peter with some random girl, like yeah, I love Fel with girls, BUT NOT WHEN SHE IS DATING PETER AS WELL (at least properly break up with him before that)

And with Spidey in space, he is away from both of them, and honestly, he should just give up romance atp, both his main girls flat out abandoned him and he doesn't seem to care about his new girlfriend (we all know it will not last), if they're not commiting to neither ship with him, just don't give him a girlfriend every issue, let him be on his own and just be a hero, whether solo or the Avengers idc, I don't think anyone takes the Spider-Harem shit seriously (for me at best it stops at the throuple and maybe Silk and Morrigan as friends with benefits and that's it, if I see art of him fucking Sue I'm crashing out at the person)

Honestly, the only good thing about modern stories is MJ and Felicia being friends now, even if at cost of what Spidey is in rn, even before I got into his stories, I've always hated love triangles, throuples are not always a option for most, especially if one of them is toxic af, hell, half the throuples I love are not even love triangles, just trios that have great chemistry with each other like Link X Midna X Zelda, Bayonetta X Jeanne X Luka, Red X Blue X Green, Rex X Pythra X Nia (this one is a foursome and actually canon so I'm cheating on it lol), and also thought ship wars are super stupid because both sides can get toxic really fast, tho I've seen more on toxic Felicia fans (not you guys ofc) than MJ fans, but you get the idea, I think both ships are good, even RedCat is good (because yuri and they compliment each other so well)

I have made AUs of mine where Peter gets with MJ in one and Felicia in another, and I have a RedCat one where he gets with Johnny (idk how that affects his mother/son friendship with Sue but you got it), and one with it as a throuple, I don't like turning one down to glaze the other, and especially it's the case with SpiderCat, I'd rather NOT adapt MJ than treat her like modern writers do, and I made her the reason Felicia confessed her love to Peter, same where MJ gets with Peter, and in either universe, Mayday and Felicia's child (named Felix) are best buddies and both of them are each other's godmother (in the SpiderCat universe I got MJ with Kaine, Flash can go fuck himself and may Paul rot with Mephisto in hell)

At this point, I give up, I choose to completely ignore every story post-Beyond and select few stories post-OMD and pre-Beyond, if Marvel is not gonna let Spidey be happy with any of them or both of them, why should I care? Hence why I explained my AUs, because I'm coping, I love SpiderCat, I love SpiderRed, I love RedCat, and I love the throuple, seeing the trio get disrespected constantly is not worth it, Peter suffering over and over and over again is not a personal arc, is straight up torture, and I don't wanna see a character I deeply relate to go through that constantly, Rivals is the only modern Marvel media I consume, and SpiderCat was made so much justice there

Anyway, thanks for my TedTalk

Genuinely, what hair product Fel uses? Her hair manages to be so elegant and fluid, like, I know ppl joke about "Oh use enough gel your hair will be like an anime character" but holy, I-I-I... I am in love, the elegance lover in me is FUMBLING right now 😭😭😭😭