Biography

Biography

As the rare Super Hero whose pre-costumed identity is as famous, or even more famous, than her crime-fighter persona, Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat grew up idolizing the heroic super powered vigilantes she’d eventually join. A child raised in the spotlight—from fashion model to “starring” as the lead character in a fictionalized comic book based on her life—Walker would eventually find secondary fame as the costumed Hellcat and inadvertent notoriety as a champion for Hell itself.

A Star is Torn

Growing up in the sleepy berg of “Centerville,” Patsy would spend her teenage time with Robert “Buzz” Baxter and frenemy Hedy Wolfe, who would sometimes become jealous due to her own crush on Buzz. During her formative years, Patsy’s fame-obsessed mother, Dorothy, never stopped looking to her daughter as a way to make a buck. Often living vicariously through Patsy, and constantly disapproving of her “tomboy” nature, Dorothy would pressure her daughter into modeling. When that didn’t work out, due to Patsy’s own lack of interest and commitment, Dorothy started a comic book containing fictionalized romantic adventures of her daughter as a teenager.

Patsy Walker's Origin

The comic series skyrocketed, turning Patsy, as well as Buzz and Hedy, into household names. The comic lasted for years, locking Patsy in an “America’s Sweetheart” fame bubble that she was relieved to leave once the series ended. Her constant exposure to comic books, however, left Patsy in awe of not only comic book heroes but the Super Heroes that existed in her own world—Reed Richards standing out as someone she developed an early crush on.

Over time, Patsy grew to resent her mother’s manipulative ways and hunger for fame and a rift grew between them. By this time, Patsy, being well out of her teenage years, was able to distance herself from Dorothy and marry Buzz, who’d joined the Air Force and served on tours overseas. For the next several years, Patsy would live on a number of Air Force bases, her marriage slowly souring as Buzz became more angry and irritable with each successive mission.

After Buzz was assigned to a security post at the heavily government-subsidized Brand Corporation in New Jersey, Patsy met the Beast and discovered that he was also newly-hired genetics researcher Hank McCoy. Using manipulation tactics instilled in her by her mother, Patsy blackmailed Beast, telling him she’d keep his secret if he helped transform her into a Super Hero herself. After divorcing Buzz, Patsy tracked down Beast, while he was an Avenger, and forced him to allow her to accompany them on missions.

Patsy Walker and Beast

During this Avengers “ride-along,” which involved investigating the Brand Corporation-owned building Buzz previously worked at, Patsy found an old costume that once belonged to Greer Nelson (better known as Tigra) during her early days as The Cat. Patsy took the gear for herself and assumed the identity Hellcat.

The It Factor

Hellcat, initially, had only her natural athletic abilities and gymnastics acumen to help her battle evil-doers. With a suit that augments its owner’s natural physical skill, one could say Hellcat had a leg up on average foes. But, when it came to enemies of a tougher stature, she would rely on her built-in claws and grappler cables. Eventually, with further combat training by the Avengers and Moondragon, Hellcat would become even more of a threat.

Hellcat discovering her powers

As time went on, Hellcat developed and collected other abilities, continuing to grow into her Super Hero role. She comes into possession of a magic cloak that opens dimensional portals, develops a “demon sight” perception that allows her to sense mystical energy, dons a magic field that can deflect mystical attacks, and becomes technologically stimulated into having enhanced psionic abilities.

When she is a paranormal investigator/adventurer, along with her then-husband Damion Hellstrom, Patsy also becomes an expert on all things supernatural, including how to identify and battle specific types of demons—leaning into the “Hell” part of her Super Hero name. Pasty, because of her famous upbringing, also is an accomplished gymnast, horseback rider, dancer, surfer, skier, and pilot.

Rivals and Haters

Hellcat has never been without foes, in a certain regard, considering her famous childhood. Even before her comic series launched her into stardom, best friend Hedy would sometimes transform into a heated rival over the affections of “Buzz.”

As the years go by, Hellcat unintentionally makes enemies with both of her ex-husbands; the first of whom becomes the costumed Mad Dog, and the second who is unable to resist his true demonic nature, driving Patsy mad and into a near-vegetative state in the process.

Hellcat also has battled foes like the Grim Reaper, Dormammu, Yandroth the Magician, Nerkkod, and evil warlock Nicholas Scratch.

Co-Stars

Though Hellcat idolizes heroes (to the point of once traveling to New York when she was young to attend the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm), and initially tries to join the Avengers, it is the Defenders who would take her in and hone her skills. Due to the strained relationship with her mother, and then later her failed marriage with Buzz, Hellcat has always yearned for close familiar connections, but the turmoil she endured as a teenager and young woman continues to affect most of her relationships in negative ways.

Hellcat and She-Hulk

After meeting, and falling in love with, Damion Hellstrom (AKA Son of Satan) Patsy would drop her Hellcat act and marry him after the demonic aspects of his identity were cured. Retiring from the Super Hero life because she finds the marriage she had always idealistically dreamed of, Patsy loses contact with many of her Defenders teammates. When Damion’s “dark soul” returns, and Patsy learns that Son of a Satan is a very literal moniker, she struggles to keep her sanity as, even without her mother around, Patsy feels the pressure to have a “perfect” life.

Hellcat, through her exploits, is never without friends, dating back to her Centerville life with Buzz and Hedy. Titan priestess Moondragon takes Hellcat to Titan to undergo a period of training, artificially enhancing her minor psionic potential with various electronic organic devices and teaching her extensively in the ways of martial arts.

Beyond her affiliation with the Defenders and the Avengers (including their West Coast branch), Patsy’s close friends in the super-business include Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Black Cat, Firestar, Doctor Strange, Beast, and Jennifer Walters (AKA She-Hulk), for whom she has also worked for as a private detective.

height

5'8"

weight

135 lbs.

gender

Female

eyes

Blue

hair

Red

Universe, Other Aliases, Education, Place of Origin, Identity, Known Relatives, Powers, Group Affiliation
  • Universe

  • Other Aliases

  • Education

  • Place of Origin

  • Identity

  • Known Relatives

  • Powers

  • Group Affiliation

Walk of Fame

One of Hellcat’s first outings as a costumed Super Hero saw her confront ex-husband “Buzz” Baxter after the Avengers were captured by Brand Corporation operatives. Hellcat clawed Buzz across the face to prove her willingness to take him down, helping free the Avengers in the process, while Buzz vowed revenge.

After training on Titan with Moondragon, Hellcat was accepted into the Defenders, embarking on many adventures and eventually falling in love with teammate Damion Hellstrom. At their wedding, Buzz, now the costumed villain Mad Dog, attacked with the help of Mutant Force. Hellcat and the Defenders repelled the ambush and, eventually, she and Damion hung up their Super Hero identities for a quiet(er) life on the West Coast.

Hellcat and the Hellstroms

Solving mystical problems as occult investigators, the Hellstroms assisted the West Coast Avengers and the Defenders while also slowly losing contact with most of their former friends. Hellcat donned her costume once more to assist in taking down Whirlwind and Tiger Shark, but for the most part the “happily ever after” life she’d attained allowed her to live her days as Patsy Walker Hellstrom.

Patsy’s life with Damion took a dark and tragic turn when his demonic essence returned, driving her into a state of mental collapse, and she was thusly talked into committing suicide by “Angel of Death” Deathurge. Finding herself in Mephisto’s Arena of Tainted Souls, along with the Avenger Mockingbird, Hellcat was among those resurrected and manipulated by the Grim Reaper as part of his plot against the Avengers. Fighting his influence, Patsy and the others joined the fight against the Grim Reaper, but upon his defeat, they were once more back in Hell. Patsy only found herself truly rescued because Damion later tricked the Thunderbolts into rescuing her instead of Mockingbird.

Following her time in Hell and suffering under the weight of having been dead and brought back to life—along with being depressed over what she deemed to be her previous failures—Patsy moved back to Centerville and reconnected with her old friend Hedy. While there, the two of them thwarted Mayor Nicholas Scratch and the Sons of the Serpent, who’d secretly taken over the citizens of Centerville. This unexpected mission helped get Patsy back on her feet and confidently wear the Hellcat gear once again.

Hellcat (Patsy Walker) and the Avengers.

Hellcat then took on Scratch’s master, Dormammu, aiding Mephisto and other supreme demons in their battle against the Dread One’s attempts to conquer the Hell-realms. With the demons victorious, Hellcat gained her old enemy Mephisto’s respect and gratitude, and as a reward she received freedom from further torment at his hands, as well as his assistance in helping her rediscover the joys of living. Later, Hellcat was reunited with several of her Defenders teammates.

After being shown that her capture of the villain Ruby Thursday left a ton of destruction and a terrified public, Hellcat was convinced by She-Hulk and Two-Gun Kid to register under the Superhuman Registration Act and served as an instructor to novice Super Heroes.

Walker also turned to writing books, one of which was a chronicle of her friend Firestar’s battle with breast cancer, and she went on a series adventures with She-Hulk, who she’d come to work for as a law firm investigator. Together, they helped prove Captain America innocent in a wrongful death suit.

Hellcat (Patsy Walker) holding her contract

Patsy came to learn that Hedy had managed to get the rights to the old Patsy Walker comics and was republishing and profiting off them. Assisted by Jennifer Walters and Jessica Jones, she proved Hedy had manipulated Patsy’s mother, Dorothy, to give her the rights when Dorothy was not in control of her mental capacities. With the contract voided, the rights returned to Patsy. Hedy would later strike back by goading both of Patsy’s ex-husbands, Buzz and Daimon, to fight Patsy.

Still battling insecurities, and a so-called “pan-dimensional stress flu,” Patsy worked through her issues during a conversation with the demon Belial (himself now Hedy’s unlikely romantic partner) and was newly motivated to embrace her identity as a Super Hero.

3
durability
1
energy
5
fighting skills
4
strength
3
intelligence
2
speed