Black Cat has been a part of Marvel comics for over four decades. While this isn’t as long as other heroes, it’s still a lengthy amount of time to continue to be a part of the universe. Over the last 30 years, the stealthy cat burglar has also made appearances in video games related to other Marvel characters and titles.
Most notable of her appearances are often Spider-Man games. The recent Marvel’s Spider-Man re-introduced the character and gave her a role in both side missions and DLC, so she'll hopefully have an even bigger role in the Marvel's Spider-Man sequel. In other titles she has served as both ally and anti-hero, often doing the right thing as long as it benefits her.
The 1990s
The 90s started Black Cat’s video game career with Spider-Man: The Video Game in arcades and Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage on the SNES and Sega Genesis. Released in 1991 and 1994 respectively, they make up Black Cat’s role in video games for the decade.
While it isn’t much, Black Cat’s appearances here speaks to how video games have grown and evolved. Her character continues to be prominent in games over 30 years later, and she is a consistent inclusion in Spider-Man games. She's tied to the character so much that the next two decades see her show up again and again alongside the crimson-clad wall-crawler.
The 2000s
The 2000s was the decade that started to set Marvel apart from some of its competition. While DC saw great success with its animated shows and the Dark Knight trilogy, the MCU was beginning and fan-favorite Marvel games began to release. This is the decade where classic titles like Spider-Man released on PS1 and Game Boy Color, while later on Spider-Man: Web of Shadows comes to almost every major console. Along with these appearances, Black Cat also shows up in a couple of other Spidey titles before the next decade.
- Spider-Man – 2000
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Spider-Man 2 – 2004
- While not a sequel to the 2000 game, it is instead based on the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies.
- Spider-Man: Friend or Foe – 2007
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – 2008
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LittleBigPlanet – 2008
- A Black Cat costume is included with Marvel Costume Kit 6.
The 2010s
The 2010s more than doubled the number of games that Black Cat appears in. This is partly due to the ever-increasing popularity of Spider-Man, who had two different movie franchises during this decade - with the MCU's Spidey series finally releasing a trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home this week. The Amazing Spider-Man movies received their own tie-in games, with both installments featuring Black Cat.
On top of this, there have been a greater number of Marvel ensemble games of varying genres, each of them bringing large casts of characters to play as. Disney Infinity, alongside games like Marvel: Future Fight and Lego Marvel Super Heroes, have been great ways to experience a lot of characters in one space. While they don’t always provide dedicated storylines, the enjoyment from being able to engage with fan-favorite characters is still there.
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Spider-Man: Edge of Time – 2011
- This version of Black Cat is inspired by Marvel 2099, the imprint that started with Spider-Man 2099.
- Marvel Super Hero Squad Online – 2011/2012
- Marvel: Avengers Alliance – 2012
- Marvel: War of Heroes – 2012
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The Amazing Spider-Man – 2012
- A tie-in game for the first Amazing Spider-Man movie. As a psychiatric patient, she escapes after Spider-Man attempts to break out Curt Connors from Beloit Psychiatric Hospital.
- Marvel Heroes – 2013
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes – 2013
- Marvel Puzzle Quest – 2013
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – 2014
- Broken out of prison by Kingpin and given powers through illegal experimentation, Black Cat is now tasked with killing Spider-Man in this sequel to the 2012 tie-in.
- Disney Infinity 2.0 – 2014
- Spider-Man Unlimited – 2014
- Marvel: Future Fight – 2015
- Marvel Avengers Academy – 2016
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 – 2017
- Marvel End Time Arena – 2018
- Marvel’s Spider-Man – 2018
- Marvel Battle Lines – 2018
While Black Cat hasn’t made any appearances in the current decade yet, there is plenty of time for her to show up. Marvel’s Spider-Man was the start of a narrative that will likely span across several games in the future. Hopefully, this will lead to a video game MCU that pulls it, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and the likely sequel together to serve as the start of a larger story.
Such an approach could benefit smaller characters like Black Cat by offering them their own respective titles. There are several Marvel heroes that should get solo games alongside Black Cat as well. In the meantime, her side missions are still worth a playthrough for any fans that haven’t yet completed them in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Through these missions, Marvel fans can see her cryptically taunting Spider-Man while hoarding as much loot as she can.