Spider-Man and Black Cat have a long and complicated history in Marvel comics, but Marvel's cat burglar has so far been overlooked by the movies.

Spider-Man 4 has the opportunity to introduce the thief, Black Cat, a character well known to comic readers who's been so far overlooked in movies. Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker's slate has been wiped clean, leaving room for an all-new set of characters to be introduced. With MJ (Zendaya) no longer in the picture, it’s an excellent opportunity for the movie debut of one of Spider-Man's main love interests, Black Cat. With her distinctly grey morality, she could be the catalyst for a very interesting Spider-Man MCU story.

Black Cat is Marvel’s answer to DC’s Catwoman, with her characteristic black jumpsuit and flowing white hair. First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #194, published in 1979, Black Cat was initially a normal human named Felicia Hardy, who acquired a subconscious superpower of being able to cause bad luck for her adversaries. She used this power in her work as a cat burglar, together with her self-taught skills in combat and acrobatics. She also had a range of equipment to help her, like retractable claws and grappling hooks for climbing, and goggles (or sometimes contact lenses) to see in infrared and ultraviolet. She was originally introduced as a villain for Spider-Man to battle against, before the two fell in love, leading to her becoming more of an antihero. Their relationship was a troubled one, however, as she tended to be more interested in the persona of Spider-Man than in Peter Parker himself.

The MCU has been moving in a more morally ambiguous direction recently, with former villain Loki being the hero in his own TV show while former hero Wanda Maximoff is, in many ways, a villain in hers. While Spider-Man is unambiguously a hero, introducing him to a character like Black Cat would cause some uncertainty in his worldview. With her long comic book history, there’s plenty of inspiration available for a story centered around Black Cat, and her introduction as a recurring character would add complexity to the MCU, which has largely shied away from including antihero characters.

So far, MCU Peter Parker hasn’t had to deal with much grey morality, although some of his villains have been notably sympathetic. The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, for instance, may have been a ruthless murderer, but his motives and reasoning were distinctly relatable. All the same, Spider-Man’s worldview remains somewhat naïve, and this trait is exactly what Mysterio takes advantage of in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Tom Holland's Homecoming trilogy has been all about Peter growing up and learning to be truly independent, so it makes perfect sense to introduce a character who would help him continue to develop a more complex sense of morality. No Way Home also set the stage for including an antihero character, after playing with the idea that villains can have complex moralities of their own.

In Black Cat, Spider-Man 4 has the opportunity to introduce a very interesting antihero to the MCU. Behind the mask, Felicia Hardy would also be a brand new love interest to appear in Spider-Man movies going forward, rather than simply giving the MCU a third movie version of Gwen Stacey. With the MCU now large enough to make bold storytelling decisions, perhaps it’s time to make a more complex Spider-Man story with Black Cat at its heart.

Next: Spider-Man: No Way Home Could Change MCU Villains (& Fix An Old Problem)