CAT

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human, technology user

Occupation: Cat Burglar; criminal for hire

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Formerly Belladonna

Enemies: Belladonna, Ray Donovan, J. Jonah Jameson, Charlie McGuire, Punisher (Frank Castle), Detective Lou Snider, Spider-Man

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Cat Burglar, Prowler

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York

First Appearance:
    (Cat) Amazing Spider-Man I#30 (November, 1965)
    (Prowler) Spectacular Spider-Man II#47 (October, 1980)

 

 

Powers/Abilities: The Cat has no superhuman powers.  He is an accomplished cat burglar, especially skilled at stealth and repelling down walls.  He uses rope, a grappling hook, a glass cutter, and other similar tricks of the trade.

While wearing the Prowler costume, he had large gauntlets which could dig large gouges into walls, and he could project Belladonna's neo-atropine gas, as well as razor-sharp fletchettes.

Height: 5' 10" Weight: 150 lbs.

History:
(Amazing Spider-Man I#30) - The Cat made a successful living as a cat burglar, his low-profile crimes keeping him under the attention of the super-hero element--until he robbed the apartment of one J. Jonah Jameson.  Though the Cat performed that burglary successfully, Jameson put out a $1000 reward for his capture, which attracted the attention of Spider-Man.  The Cat held his own against Spider-Man (who had underestimated him initially), but he was eventually found and brought in to the police while trying to hide from Spidey.

 

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#47 [fb]) - The Cat managed to steal the Prowler costume from the storage box of Hobie Brown.  He put on the costume himself and entered the employ of Belladonna.  Wishing to eliminate herself--and her sister, Desiree--as a suspect from the series of attacks on the fashion industry, Belladonna had the Prowler assault Desiree's place of business.  However, in the course of the struggle, the Prowler got into a fight with Desiree's bodyguard, Charlie McGuire, who ended up going over a railing and falling to his death.  Not having gotten a clear look at the intruder, Desiree mistakenly assumed it to have been Spider-Man, since he left by climbing down the wall.

 

 

 

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#47, 48) - Belladonna had the Prowler deliberately engage Spider-Man and then lead him into a trap.  However, she sprung the trap on the Prowler as well, leaving them both inside a vault which she then filled with her poison gas.  The Prowler quickly passed out, but Spidey smashed his way out of the vault.  The Prowler suffered some minor burns from injuries sustained in an ensuing explosion.

However, he recovered shortly thereafter, broke out of the hospital, and went to take vengeance on Belladonna.  He ambushed Narda Ravonna, Belladonna's civilian identity, in her apartment, easily overpowered her.  He would have thrown her to her death if not for the timely arrival of Spider-Man.  Spidey saved her, knocked out the Prowler, webbed them both up, and left 'em for the cops.

(Punisher War Journal II#4) - The Cat attended the wake for Stilt-Man (Wilbur Day), who had recently been killed by the Punisher. There, he encounted the Prowler, who tried to attack him. He and the other attendees at the bar the wake was being held in were secretly poisoned by the Punisher, who was disguised as the bartender. As the villains realized what was happening, the Punisher blew up the bar.

 

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Rumor smashers: I have heard people discuss this guy as the father of Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat. That's not true. Her dad (Walter Hardy) was a cat burglar--just not the Cat Burglar.  Gauntlet Dark Rider points out that this misconception may have stemmed from an origin story for the Black Cat in an episode of the Spider-Man cartoon from the 1990's.--Kyle

And here's another possible misconception to be cleared up concerning the Cat, as pointed out by Grant Rybicki, the Continental Op:
[T]he original story in Amazing Spider-Man I#30 had a weird mix-up regarding the Cat/Cat Burglar.  The gang working for the Master Planner (who was later revealed to be Dr. Octopus) also appear in that story, and several word balloons make the claim that they are actually working for the Cat.  Of course, the Cat didn't have any gang.  Stan Lee got mixed up when he was writing the dialogue for the story (Stan and Steve Ditko weren't talking at that point, and Stan just wrote the word balloons while Ditko did all the plotting).   This was fixed in the Marvel Tales reprint of the story during the 1980s.

Another character from my first year of comics reading--his Prowler incarnation, anyway.  Ah, nostalgia.

Profile updated/edited by Kyle Sims

CLARIFICATIONS:
He should be differentiated from:

and has no connection to:

images: (without ads)
Amazing Spider-Man I#30, p2, pan7 (Cat main image)
  p2, pan6 (Cat head shot)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#47, p9, pan6 (Cat without mask)
  p12, pan7 (Cat as Prowler)

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#30 (November, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Steve Ditko (artist)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#47-48 (October-November, 1980) - Roger Stern (writer), Marie Severin (pencils), Bruce D. Patterson (inks), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Punisher War Journal II#4 (April, 2007) - Matt Fraction (writer), Mike Deodato (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)

First Posted: 04/08/2003
Last updated: 10/25/2012

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters