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Shadowcat Comic Book Cover Gallery
Scenes from Shadowcat's Superhero Career
(Inspired by stories written by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Alan Davis, Scott Lobdell, and Warren Ellis.)
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne during the landmark "X-Men: Dark Phoneix Saga," Kitty Pryde (a.k.a. Shadowcat) is remarkable for being perhaps the most famous superhero who is both female and Jewish.
Like all "mutants," the Illinois native developed her extraordinary ability to turn intangible naturally when she reached puberty. Professor Charles Xavier discovered the teenager's secret powers and enrolled her in his School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, New York. When Xavier felt that Kitty had matured in the use of her powers, he allowed her to join the X-Men, his anti-terrorist strike force.
As a member of the X-Men, Kitty was required to adopt a "code name" so that the enemies she made during her exploits would never know her real identity. She had difficulty choosing one, considering "Ariel" and "Sprite" before finally settling on "Shadowcat." Laden with poor vision, Kitty wore eyeglasses when working or relaxing at home, and contact lenses when going into battle.
Early in her career as a "superhero," Kitty fell in love with Peter Rasputin, a Russian artist and fellow X-Man called "Colossus." Their relationship was innocent, affectionate, and long-standing, but Colossus broke it off after he fell in love with another woman.
Although she was prone to temper tantrums and had some self-esteem problems, Kitty was a joyful and charismatic presence on the team overall. She proved herself to be a gifted student in the sciences, and was particularly adept at electronics and computer programming. Her powers sometimes hindered her work with computers, however, because she inevitably destroyed anything electronic if she ever (accidentally or deliberately) moved through it while intangible. Another odd twist to her spectre-like powers also enabled her to walk on air for short distances in her "phasing" state.
During one of her adventures with the X-Men, Kitty met a small alien dragon who grew attached to her, and who has since become her best friend and protector (although they cannot speak the same language). Kitty named the purple dragon Lockheed.
Ogun, an evil magician and master of the martial arts, kidnapped Kitty and brainwashed her, transforming her into an assassin and sending her on a mission to kill her mentor, Wolverine. The plan nearly succeeded, but Wolverine helped Kitty to break Ogun's hold over her. After working with Wolverine to defeat Ogun, Kitty trained rigorously to retain her supernaturally bestowed martial arts prowess.
The teenager's worst personal tragedy occurred duing The Mutant Massacre. Badly injured while in combat against the Marauders, Kitty lost control of her powers and was in danger of remaining in a "ghost" form until her permanent intangibility gradually killed her. Only when Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four teamed up with his arch-nemesis Doctor Doom were the two scientists able to find a cure for her condition. (As seen in 1987's "The Fantastic Four versus the X-Men," one of my favorite super hero stories.)
Soon afterwards, Kitty left the X-Men for England, where she joined a team of superheroes dubbed Excalibur. The team, assembled by Merlin and led by Captain Britain, was charged with defending Earth from magical threats.
It was during her tenure on Excalibur that Kitty met Pete Wisdom, a cigarette-smoking Cockney tough guy with whom she had her first sexual relationship. (Although this was never shown directly, it was strongly hinted at during the Pryde and Wisdom limited series.) Their courtship was intense but brief and they broke up after a few months.
After saving all of reality from the seemingly invincible Necrom (Excalibur 42 - 50) and undermining the world-dominating efforts of Black Air, the super team Excalibur disbanded. Celebrating the end of an era, team leader Captain Britain married his longtime girlfriend Meggan, and saw his former Excalibur comrades Shadowcat and Nightcrawler return to the X-Men.
Kitty's reunion with the X-Men was destined to be short-lived, however. Colossus, the one true love of Kitty's life, was killed in action just as the two were growing close once again. His death, coupled with the deaths of Kitty's other mutant friends, Doug Ramsay and Rachael Summers, proved too much for her to bear. Disenchanted with the X-Men and their never-ending quest to foster tolerance for the marginalized mutants of America, Kitty left her career as a superhero behind so that she could enroll in college and pursue a normal life. Xavier has promised not to recall her to his team and she has not been seen by her former teammates since.
Although Kitty Pryde's career as a superhero probably lasted only three years in "comic book time," she was a regular presence in Marvel comic books - in the X-Men titles, in Excalibur, and in four of her own mini-series titles - for twenty years (1980 - 2000).
While not one of the most famous X-Men, Kitty has appeared in the cartoon "Pryde of the X-Men," has been a part of the new X-Men series "Evolution," and was granted a cameo in the first X-Men arcade game. Kitty even makes a brief appearance in the X-Men feature film, when she startles Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) by walking through the door to Professor Xavier's office instead of opening it. Canadian actress Sumela Kay (born 7/25/86) plays Kitty. The DVD edition of the film features a deleted scene that somewhat expands Ms. Kay's small-but-memorable role. It is not yet certain if she will have a larger role in the sequel that director Bryan Singer is working on at present.
Sumela Kay screen capture courtesy of X-Fan and 20th Century Fox.
As a side note, when I first became a fan of the character in the 1980s, I thought that Heather Langenkamp from A Nightmare on Elm Street and television's Just the Ten of Us would have made a solid movie Kitty. As a self-indulgent move, I placed a publicity still of Ms. Langenkamp at the end of the Kitty portrait gallery, which you will see if you click on Ms. Kay's picture above.
Links
The Marvel Comics Group Home Page
