The Cat (Spider-Man episode)

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"The Cat/The Black Cat"
Spider-Man episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 43-44
Written by	Sean Catherine Derek Stan Lee Marty Isenberg
Directed by	Bob Richardson
Produced by	John Semper
Production no.	312-313
Original airdate	The Cat: February 8, 1997 (1997-02-08) The Black Cat: February 15, 1997 (1997-02-15)
Guest stars
John Phillip Law (The Cat/John Hardesky) Lois Nettleton (Nora)
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Guilty" "The Return of Kraven"
List of Spider-Man episodes

"The Cat" is the second episode from the fourth season of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. It also marked the shows forty-fourth episode, originally airing on February 8, 1997. The episode began a plotline that would continue on the following episode, "The Black Cat", which aired later on February 15, marking the forty-fifth episode. Together they introduce the Black Cat to the series. ^[1][2]

[edit] Plot

[edit] The Cat

Spider-Man and the Black Cat

Doctor Octopus attempts to blackmail Anastasia Hardy into paying him ransom money in order to fund his dangerous experiments, by threatening to reveal that Felicia's father was the crook known as "The Cat". Spider-Man, having eluded Doc Ock from the Hardy's, gathers information which tells him Felicia's father is actually John Hardesky, and that he was incarcerated in S.H.I.E.L.D. for memorising a secret formula. The Kingpin manages to break the Cat out of prison by using the Chameleon, Hardesky's cell-mate, in an effort to retrieve the formula which has the ability to enhance human abilities. Herbert Landon is able to recreate the formula after the crime lord uses Felicia to provoke Hardesky to reveal the formula.

[edit] The Black Cat

The Kingpin blackmails John Hardesky into revealing a secret super-soldier formula by making threats against Felicia. After Hardesky reveals his secrets, Landon is able to recreate and improve the formula for the crime lord. Kingpin uses the serum to transform Felicia into a "black cat", and forces her to carry out his crimes until he can create more serum. Spider-Man, unaware of her identity, teams with the Black Cat to rescue her father. Hardesky, whilst held captive by the Kingpin, breaks into Landon's lab and deletes the formula. After the two superhero's are able to rescue Felicia's father, he decides to allow himself to be reincarcerated in S.H.I.E.L.D., as of his knowledge of the formula.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Character appearances

In at least one viewers eye, it has been believed that the Kingpin's role in the episodes are much more necessary than his previous appearances. This is partly because of the fact that many of the crime lords ideas in previous episodes are considered poor, notably his ambition to create an army of mutants. However, Doctor Octopus's appearance has been said to have been wasted. Viewers were pleased to see the Black Cat finally introduced, having only viewed the character as Felicia in previous episodes. Her introduction as a superhero has been described to have been done well, thus made the episode one of the characters best appearances. The first scene in which she featured with Spider-Man received popularity, as did her use of the spider-tracer the wall-crawler gave her mother. The character has been described to have been slightly arrogant. The fact that neither hero knew who the other was queried, partly because Felicia and Peter once dated, and that Felicia hadn't always treated Peter with much respect. ^[1][2]

[edit] Production

The episodes were considered to be rare occasions that events fell into place, with details of the plotline being resolved by the end of the second part. The animation has notably been highly praised in comparison to that of the first season. ^[1][2] John Semper mentioned in an interview with The Marvel Animation Age that he is somewhat proud of the fact that he linked the Black Cat to the origin of Captain America, alike to that of the viewers points of view, who considered the plotline to have handled Black Cat's introduction well. John Semper invented this plot rather than using the character's developement in the comics in which he considered ridiculous. John also revealed that he is very fond of John Phillip Law, who plays the voice role of John Hardesky in the episode. ^[1][3]

[edit] Cast

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "Partners in Danger Chapter 2: The Cat". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0706844/. 
• "Partners in Danger Chapter 3: The Black Cat". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0706845/.