The Black Cat holds a strange place in Spider-Man's life. His sometimes friend, sometimes girlfriend, sometimes enemy, sometimes ally shifts her role in the Spider-Verse depending on what suits her needs. But whatever part Black Cat plays, she plays it to her advantage and being cast as the hero or villain is almost incidental to the situation.

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Spider-Man has done his best to steer her in the right direction, but the Black Cat is her own person with her own goals. Frequently, those goals include stealing whatever isn't nailed down. If she actually has nine lives, she's come really close to using them all.

10 WORST: Faking Her Own Death. Repeatedly.

One of Felicia Hardy's first times out as the Black Cat was to break her father, a notorious cat burglar, out of prison. The plan went awry when she ran into Spider-Man, resulting in a hasty escape and faking her own death. Despite losing her father in the failed escape attempt, Black Cat still felt a kinship to Spider-Man and sought him out.

Spider-Man saw something good in her and decided to help her find the right path. How does she thank him? By faking her death, again. Generally speaking, it's hard to build a trusting relationship when one party keeps faking their own death.

9 HEROIC: Stealing A Dangerous Weapon

The Kingpin is a problem for everyone in the Marvel Universe, and Black Cat is no exception. Hardy learns about a detonator in his possession that both the Owl and Doctor Octopus are after. Each villain seeks to use the weapon for their own nefarious purposes which will inevitably put millions of lives in danger. Black Cat steals the device and hides it from all parties, bringing the focus of Doctor Octopus on her.

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The result is Black Cat being critically injured, being shot and stabbed multiple times. Spider-Man saved Black Cat by rushing her to the hospital, undoubtedly impressed by her sacrifice.

8 WORST: Abusing Spider-Man's Secret Identity

Black Cat Makes Spider-Man Uncomfortable

While Black Cat does have feelings for Spider-Man, she's more unsure about Peter Parker. When he initially revealed his dual identity to her, Hardy found it difficult to accept since she couldn't understand why anyone would want to spend time as Parker.

At one point, she uses this knowledge to help her current partner, The Foreigner, to manipulate Parker and try to set him up for murder. Spider-Man's civilian identity is one of the most closely guarded secrets among the Marvel heroes who know it. Parker tells very few people so Black Cat's lack of respect for it hurt him deeply.

7 HEROIC: Fighting Spider-Island

The events of Spider-Island were devastating for the island of Manhattan, though some might argue that changing the vast majority of the population into spider-like creatures isn't that much of a difference. Alongside Heroes for Hire, Black Cat was called in to help contain the nightmare and keep the problem from spreading.

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Unfortunately, she was accused of stealing an important piece of technology from Horizon Labs during the event. Black Cat maintained her innocence and was exonerated thanks to the efforts of both Spider-Man and Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil.

6 WORST: Power Insecurities

When she first became partners with Spider-Man, Black Cat claimed to have bad luck powers that impacted those she faced. As it turned out, she had no powers and used elaborate stunts to fake it. But Black Cat started to worry that her lack of superhuman abilities made her a detriment to Spider-Man in the field so he decided to get powers.

Then, she made the bad decision to go to Kingpin. He had assisted others in a similar fashion so he helped Black Cat get real bad luck powers as payment for a theft. It turned out Hardy fell into a trap as her powers also impacted Spider-Man and caused him great problems, which was Kingpin's plan the whole time.

5 HEROIC: Stopping The Thieves Guild

The Thieves Guild has been around for a long time in the Marvel Universe but faded into the background. When they decided to announce to the world that they were back, the Guild got attention by stealing items and equipment from various heroes.

As a member of the Guild in a somewhat limited capacity, Black Cat was able to gain entry to their base for her and Spider-Man. They fought their way through the Guild members, buying time until the heroes who had lost items got there. Black Cat made a decision to help the heroes and turn her back on her profession.

4 WORST: Becoming A New Kingpin

Tired of being used by people like Kingpin, Black Cat formed her own gang, building her own criminal empire with some success. Villains like Scorpion and Tombstone teamed up with her, Scorpion playing the part of her enforcer from time to time. After one of her gang members stole from her, Black Cat went on a mission to make a point to everyone.

Naturally, the best way is to make a point is by trying and set people like Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson on fire. That's not usually how a human resources department operates. Spider-Man was able to save everyone but the new, darker Black Cat made her point.

3 HEROIC: Creating An Anti-Venom

During the events in Venom Inc., one of Black Cat's men, Lee Price, took the Venom symbiote's spawn and became Maniac. As Maniac, he had the ability to replicate the symbiote and use those replicants to control people. This included Black Cat and Spider-Man.

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The new Anti-Venom freed Hardy and she became instrumental in stopping Maniac's plans. The end result of these events was Black Cat leaving her life of crime behind once again and returning to her life as a vigilante. For the first time in a long time, she and Spider-Man buried the hatchet and parted as allies, if not friends.

2 WORST: Black Cat Murders A Friend

Black Cat isn't always so good to all of her friends. During her run as a crime boss, Black Cat used a friend of hers who was a mind-control specialist to infiltrate the police and courts in New York. This quite naturally gave her a distinct advantage in her life of crime.

Her ultimate goal was to use the specialist to help her infiltrate and manipulate SHIELD, but that plan was cut short when the required information was lost. Cornered by some of New York's heroes, Black Cat made her escape but not before murdering the mind control specialist who had been helping her.

1 HEROIC: Saving Her Mother

Black Cat doesn't have a lot of family, but the family she does have she takes care of. When the Kravinoffs kidnapped her mother, Black Cat agreed to turn herself over to them in exchange for her mother. The Kravinoffs accept the deal and completely underestimate Black Cat in the process.

She sends a "decoy" in her stead which buys her the time to sneak in and try to free her mother. Despite the bomb the Kravinoffs set to try and kill both women, Black Cat is successful in her mission and saves her mother. Defeating the Kravinoffs isn't easy for anyone, making Black Cat's victory even more impressive.

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