10 Moments Marvel Have Chosen To Ignore
7. Black Cat Took Up The Mask As A Way To Get Revenge Upon Her Rapist
During the great Marvel "renaissance" back in the early 2000s, Hollywood came to comics. Unlike today, however, those who came weren't looking for source material for the latest billion-dollar movie franchise or TV show. They were instead life long comics fans who parlayed their success outside of the industry into high profile writing gigs. It was a win-win situation for the most part, with their names attracting a large audience to a project of lapsed fans and new readers, along with the titles monthly faithful.
The most prominent creator at the time was trendy "indy" filmmaker Kevin Smith, notable for films such as Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy. His star may have dwindled since those days but even now Smith's name still carries weight in certain circles. After successful runs on Daredevil and Green Arrow, the comics world waited with baited breath for his take on Black Cat, the blonde bombshell thief in the mini-series "Spiderman/Blackcat: The Evil Men Do".
Fans where drip-fed the six issues over a number of years, it got to the point where most believed the book would never be finished much like Smiths other book at the time Daredevil: The Target. When it was finally finished, we all learned to be careful what you wish for as Smith had rewritten Felicia Hardy's origin in a most unpleasant way.
Black Cat confesses to the villain of the story, a victim of sexual abuse himself, that she was raped during college and that it was this event that changed her life. She would train her body to the peak of human perfection. Learning combat skills, acrobatics, stealth, planning, lock picking. Anything that would help in her ultimate goal - revenge upon her rapist.
Gone was the debutant heiress who took to crime for the thrill and instead were left with painful adolescent cliche at best and an offensive, mishandled act of borderline misogyny at worst.