Felicia Hardy is the daughter of Walter Hardy, a world-renowned cat burglar. After suffering a traumatic experience as a college freshman, she trained herself in various fighting styles and acrobatics and, after deciding to follow in her father's footsteps, adopted the costumed identity of the Black Cat. She has the subconscious ability to affect probability fields, producing "bad luck" for her enemies. The character was originally depicted as a supervillain and adversary of Spider-Man, but over time the two fell in love, which motivated her into becoming both an antiheroine, and his partner. However, their relationship grew complicated after it became apparent that Black Cat was only attracted to the alter ego of Spider-Man and had little interest in the hero's civilian life as Peter Parker. After their break-up, Black Cat maintained her role as one of Spider-Man's most trusted allies and for years the pair shared an on-again, off-again romance before she eventually lapsed back into her criminal ways (much to Spider-Man's dismay and annoyance).