Spider-Man 4: Why Black Cat Should Be the Villain of Tom Holland’s Next Time
At the end of No Way Home, Peter Parker makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the very fabric of his reality from collapsing altogether: He allows a magical spell to be cast which completely erases him from the memory of everyone. Where there was a supporting cast, there is now a completely blank slate. Ned Leeds and MJ don’t remember Peter Parker, Peter has to ultimately settle for a GED instead of a Midtown High diploma, and well, he’s lost his anchor after the Green Goblin murdered beloved Aunt May.
The movie ends with Peter finally settling into a very modest apartment, leaping out a window to fight crime, and spinning some webs, all dressed in a new comics-accurate Spider-Man costume. Many Spider-Man movies end with the superhero swinging through Manhattan, but this moment went on to take on special poignance in No Way Home. Due to the events of the film, the only thing Peter Parker has left in his life is Spider-Man.
However, this isn’t the end. A fourth Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland has already been confirmed. We haven’t seen the last of Ned or MJ either, though it’s quite likely that it takes a while before they re-enter Peter’s life again. However, fortunately, there’s an answer to this supporting cast void, and it’s a way to challenge Holland’s Peter while in his current state of life: The upcoming Spider-Man movie should introduce Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. the Black Cat.
Spider-Man has had various love interests over the final course of his history, but three stands above the rest: Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and finally the Black Cat. The two have gotten plenty of spotlight on film, but the same can’t be said for Cat. She was twice cut from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films, first with script edits on Spider-Man 2 and then with the cancellation of Spider-Man 4. Felicia Hardy also cameoed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was played by Felicity Jones, but only as an employee of Oscorp with no hints of her Black Cat persona.
The real reason why is precisely the right time to finally introduce Black Cat on the big screen is that her interest has always been in Spider-Man, and not Peter Parker. The duo met in their costumed identities after all, when Black Cat was introduced by Keith Pollard and Marv Wolfman as Spider-Man’s latest rogue in issue The Amazing Spider-Man #194. Black Cat’s face turn was motivated less by conscience and more by a wish to get closer to the mysterious masked man she fancied. Peter, then on an off period with Mary Jane, was happy to let her in.
When Peter pulled back his mask and revealed his true self to Felicia, she recoiled. She was only in love with the superhero, who for her was “the night and excitement and death-defying adventure!” For Felicia, the Black Cat is her truest self and she wants to be together with a Spider-Man who feels the same way about his masked identity. Her apathy towards the Peter Parker identity is what doomed their relationship.
