Black cat Has undergone a symbiote makeover, blending with Venom on a variant cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #32. Released back in October 2023, the cover reveals what could be the cat burglar’s biggest redesign yet. Many of Marvel’s iconic characters have had a turn at becoming “venomized,” and Felicia is a perfect candidate for the process.
The Amazing Spider-Man #32 Has the creative team of Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Marcio Menyz and Joe Caramagna. The issue features the titular hero facing off against Kraven the Hunter and Queen Goblin (not to be confused with Madelyne Pryor’s Goblin Queen). More interesting than the issue, however, is a variant cover for it by Pablo Villalobos.
The cover, featuring Black Cat, was a retailer exclusive, but it has the potential to be one of Felicia Hardy’s greatest looks. Although not the first venomized version, it is one of the best yet.
The gift redesign of black cats continues to surface in variant covers
Symbiote makeovers provide amazing heroes and villains with stunning looks
Marvel’s Black Cat doesn’t have a lot of powers in a traditional sense, but the ones she does have can be more powerful if combined with a symbiote bond. Originally given to her by Kingpin, Felicia has a bad luck ability, paired with the ability to alter probability. This doesn’t always prove beneficial for her, especially when negatively impacting her allies. Shift between a life of crime and allies to Marvel’s heroes, Black Cat’s minimal powers would be enhanced by a symbiote bond, and she would receive additional physical boosts from the blend..
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Already Black Cat maintains a black and white color scheme, which already matches the symbiote perfectly. Part of what makes a Venomized Black Cat so intriguing is that her basic look has been upgraded, without losing most of what makes her so easily recognizable. The concept was presented several times on variant covers, including one by Mark Brooks for Black Cat #2 (2019) and another by Guillem March for Amazing Spider-Man #16 (2015). Each of these was exclusive to various events and shops including, ComicXposure, Comic Sketch Art, 616 comics, unknown comics, comic traders, And Fandom Comic Shop.
Venomized black cats would spruce up Felicia Hardy’s wardrobe
Felicia’s on-and-off relationship with Spider-Man has always been strained by her love of the masked life, her impressive thieving skills, and her bad luck aura. Adding the Venom symbiote into the mix would likely cause even more issues between the two. Black Cat would be a much filter enemy against everyone she could face if given the chance to merge with a symbiote. She didn’t have many alternative looks, sticking with her fur-trimmed black suit for decades. Her biggest shift came with the PS4 game’s costume, Spider-Man. Otherwise her fashion is usually quite stagnant relative to other Marvel characters.
Already Black Cat maintains a black and white color scheme, which already matches the symbiote perfectly.
The Venom makeover is sleek, exuding power and beauty simultaneously. Mark Brooks also had variant covers featuring Felicia with Anti-Venom and Carnage for the same issue in 2019 as the Venom makeover. Each symbiote twist shows how incredible she would look with the potential to be a fan-favorite shift. Black cat Bonding with Venom would be her best redesign, as it keeps her signature color scheme, but adds a fun, eerie twist.
Black Cat is a Spider-Man spinoff movie from Sony Pictures. Originally, the movie was set to feature Black Cat and Silver Sable, but the plan was scrapped in favor of two separate solo movies. Although there have been MCU crossovers with Sony’s characters, such as Venom and Morbius, Black Cat will be set in Sony’s universe of Marvel characters outside of the MCU.