Walter Hardy

The Cat (Walter Hardy) is a fictional anti-hero from the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Keith Pollard, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194 (July 1979).^[1]

The Cat is a world-renowned cat burglar who was arrested due to his various acts of burglary.

Fictional character biography

Father of Felicia Hardy and the husband of Lydia Hardy, this sneaky man was the only one who knew the formula of making a so-called Super-Soldier. The reason for that was because of when he was a just a boy, a group of Nazis (including the sinister Red Skull) used Walter to sneak inside a building where an experiment was taking place turning Steve Rogers into the amazing hero called Captain America. Walter used his astonishing picture-memory to memorize the formula that made Captain America and brought it back to the Nazis, but refused to give it to them after finding out that if he told them the Axis Powers would probably win World War II.

After The Cat's arrest, his daughter Felicia later adapted his devices and methods.

Powers and Abilities

The Cat has a miniature grappling hook device, which enables him to swing from buildings in a manner similar to Spider-Man, though not quite as fast. He can also use the cable from this device as a tightrope, wall scaling device, swing line, and/or as a weapon in combat.

In other media

Television

• The Cat also appeared in the Spider-Man episodes "The Cat" and "The Black Cat", in which he had the name John Hardesky and was voiced by John Phillip Law. Similar to the comics, he was tricked by the Nazis to spy on the Captain America experiment and had a picture-memory of it. When he found out who the real Nazis were, he evaded them and managed to give them the slip. Years later, he is shown in protective S.H.I.E.L.D. custody until Kingpin had Chameleon replace him so that the Kingpin can get the formula from Walter Hardy to make his own super-soldiers. Upon learning it, Kingpin decided to have a "family reunion" by having Doctor Octopus kidnap Felicia Hardy. After a reacquaintance with her father, she became a test subject to the super-soldier formula resulting in Felicia becoming the Black Cat. After some encounters with Black Cat, Spider-Man followed her to Kingpin's hideout and freed her and Walter. Walter managed to dispose of the super-soldier serum before Herbert Landon could duplicate it. With Kingpin's plan thwarted, Walter was willingly returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

• Walter Hardy appeared in the The Spectacular Spider-Man episode "Opening Night" voiced by James Remar. This version is an amalgam of him and the burglar that shot Uncle Ben. In a flashback accessed by the symbiote, he is shown robbing Sullivan Edwards and escapes in the elevator like in the movie. After Peter was told by Aunt May that Uncle Ben has been shot, Spider-Man finds out that the one who did this was chased to an abandoned warehouse. Though the burglar falls out of the window like he did in the movie, Spider-Man saves him and leaves him for the police. In "Opening Night," his identity of him being the father of the Black Cat was revealed to Spider-Man. Black Cat came to bust him out of the Vault at the time when Spider-Man was testing it out. Even though Black Cat wanted him to escape with her, Walter decides to remain in the Vault to atone for the murder he committed.

Film

A unnamed man with similar aspects to Walter Hardy appeared in the 2011 film, Captain America: The First Avenger. After Steve Rogers (portrayed by Chris Evans) transforms into Captain America, an assassin who attending the demonstration of the Super Soldier Serum, destroys the equipment and kills Dr. Abraham Erskine before stealing a vial of the Serum. After a long chase through New York City, Steve manages to stops the assassin, who commits suicide via cyanide capsule.

References

1. ^ Comic Vine, Walter Hardy first appearance.