Black Cat is about to learn that it’s a lot harder to be an official superhero than it looks on the surface. Felicia Hardy is primarily known for being a world-class thief, which has often brought her into conflict with Spider-Man. However, Black Cat has also fought against evil and on the side of heroes like Spider-Man and the Avengers. It’s a delicate balancing act that Black Cat has been able to pull off, but it appears her new ongoing series will put Felicia’s altruistic motives to the ultimate test, and it all ties back to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
ComicBook spoke to writer G. Willow Wilson about the upcoming Black Cat series. The title spins out of events in Joe Kelly, Pepe Larraz and John Romita Jr.’s Amazing Spider-Man after the web-slinger suffers a beatdown at the hands of Hellgate. This leads Black Cat to try her luck at being a full-fledged superhero. Black Cat will find herself up against some of the bad guys in Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, all while the reader is left to wonder if Black Cat has truly turned over a new leaf.
We asked Wilson about Black Cat’s mindset heading into this new adventure, what her supporting cast will look like, what Black Cat is looking to get out of this change of heart, villains and threats readers can expect to see, possible romances, and how the status quo change in Amazing Spider-Man affects the series. We can also exclusively reveal the first look at interior pages for Black Cat #1 by Gleb Melnikov.
ComicBook: I went back and read your Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood story and you already have me excited to see what you’re cooking up. What’s Felicia’s mindset after she decides she wants to be an official super hero? Is it all for fame and glory?
G. Willow Wilson: Felicia decides to fight crime for entirely self-interested reasons–something fishy is going on with Spider-Man, and as a result, some new riff-raff starts elbowing in on her territory, so she decides to pick up the slack. But going from being perceived as a bad guy to being perceived as a folk hero goes to her head–and that’s where the trouble starts.
Is Black Cat going about this by herself, or will she be recruiting some of her old crew to help her?
There are a lot of cameos in this series — from characters who’ve appeared with Black Cat before, and also a few she hasn’t met yet. Felicia fans will be happy to see her henchmen Boris and Bruno return. And there are several potential romantic interests, including [redacted] and [redacted].
Lizard is the first villain readers will see, but what other threats will Black Cat have to face that fans may be excited to learn about?
Felicia quickly runs afoul of several classic Spider-foes, including Sandman, who I’ve never written before and is a fun old-school villain. But Sandman is down on his luck and working for somebody else, and that somebody else is two steps ahead of Felicia.
I’m a big fan of Gleb Melnikov, so happy to see him doing more Spider-Man-adjacent work. What has he brought to the collaboration process that readers may not know about?
Gleb is great — we have a very similar sense of humor, and I’ve loved seeing him add background bits and references to the book that I can then riff on. His facial expressions are amazing, which is important in a book like this. A series really thrives when the art and the script build on each other. I feel lucky to be working with him.
To wrap up, what does the future look like for Black Cat? Any romance in the air? Does Felicia have a cat lair? Will we get to see Black Cat interact with the more ruthless Earth-based Spider-Man that was revealed with the two Spider-Men announcement?
Yes, yes and yes! The changes in Spider-Man’s (or rather Spider-Men’s) status quo directly affect Felicia’s choices and kick off the first story arc. And the sheer number of romantic entanglements Black Cat has had over the years is just so much fun–rather than restricting her to one love interest, I’m kind of throwing in a bunch at once. She’s a ‘seize the day’ kind of character, so the possibilities are endless.
Black Cat #1 goes on sale August 20th. Let us know your thoughts on the series in the comments below!
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