Related
Comic books have been known to give their fictional character a “ macabre and gamey ” makeover in the hopes of make them seem more “ relevant ” and interesting to readers . Over in DC Comics , Supermanoccasionally had brushes with his sinister side while Marvel’sSpider - Manbecame a decidedly unfriendly neighborhood superhero for a time , especially during the notorious Clone Saga of the nineties . And then there wasPatsy Walker …
Who ? Odds are , only the most devoted Marvel sports fan would jazz who Patsy Walker is – or her unique position in Marvel history . A type from a far more unacquainted epoch of funny books , Patsy Walker was technically one of Marvel Comics ’ first breakout stars . Her popularity led her to crossover into the forward-looking old age of Marvel superheroes , but things quickly begin out of hand …
Related : When Marvel ’s Punisher Met Archie , What Really Happened
Who Is Patsy Walker?
Patsy Walker first appeared inMiss America Magazine # 2way back in 1944 whenMarvel Comics was still called Timely Comics . At the time , Timely published a wide variety of comic books , include romantic drollery series intend to attract to younger female readers . Created by writer Stuart Little and artist Ruth Atkinson , Patsy ’s other escapade were like in some deference to teen - humour cartoon strip likeArchie . Much like Archie Andrews , red - manoeuver teenager Patsy Walker come up herself in funny wholesome misadventures with her boyfriend Robert “ Buzz ” Baxter , her rival Hedy Wolfe , and her parent .
Patsy ’s comic proved democratic , and soon she was asterisk in several teen - humor comic books includingPatsy Walker , Patsy and Hedy , Patsy and Her crony , andA Date With Patsy . The comics even experimented with rent Patsy grow up , fine-tune high schoolhouse , and quest after a life history . However , by the early sixties , her comic strip were cancelled .
relate : The DC & Marvel Multiverses Ca n’t Compete With [ SPOILER ] ’s
Around this time , the Marvel Age of Comics had begun ( in fact , some of Patsy Walker ’s comics had an early reading of the Marvel logo on them ) . Superheroes were come back into mode with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’sThe Fantastic FourandThe Incredible Hulktaking over the westerly and romantic comedy mirthful books of the Golden Age of Comics . Nevertheless , thanks to Patsy ’s popularity and the fact that her comics were being published as the Marvel superheroes made their debut , several artists still referenced her in Marvel funny books . Both Patsy and Hedy appeared inFantastic Four Annual # 3,which made them officially part of the growing Marvel Universe . However , Patsy ’s new role in Marvel Comics would n’t bechance for several more years .
Enter Hellcat
In 1975 , Patsy re-emerge inAmazing Adventures # 13as an assistant to Hank McCoy ( aka the Beast ) . By this point in her life sentence , Patsy had married her boyfriend Buzz but had since become alienated from him . She later appeared inThe retaliator # 141and acquired a strength - enhancing cat - themed costume that countenance her fight alongside the Avengers as the superhero “ Hellcat . ” Her performance is so good that the Avengers actually bid her to conjoin them .
Hellcat later joined theDefenders(which let in Doctor Strange , Hulk , and Silver Surfer ) . During this clock time , it was unwrap that Timely’sPatsy Walkercomic book of account existed in the Marvel Universe and were compose by Patsy ’s mother Dorothy who base the account on the “ real ” Patsy Walker and her protagonist . Thanks to this eldritch explanation , the original “ teen humor ” Patsy Walker became a comic book character based on another comic book character who thought she was live in the real Earth !
Related : The protector : 15 thing You Never Knew About harpy
For some grounds , however , many writers decided to darken not only Patsy ’s sooner “ innocent ” adventures but also her newfangled life as Hellcat . Patsy ’s love involvement Buzz travel from being her beau to a aloof husband whom Patsy later divorce , and was later mutated into the feral supervillain Mad Dog ( as if the metaphor about husbands and married woman fight like cats and bounder could n’t be more obvious ) . Patsy did , however , find someone fresh when she suffer , fall in passion with , and hook up with … the Son of Satan . Yes , that ’s right , honeyed , teenage heroine Patsy Walker twist up marrying the boy of the daimon in the “ realistic ” Marvel Universe .
To top it off , Patsy also discovered that her mother ( who wrote thePatsy Walkercomic Holy Writ in the Marvel Universe ) wanted to sell Patsy ’s soul to Satan . At one point , Dorothy Walker even take that Patsy ’s actual father was theDevil himself(which would have made her weird new marriage even more inept ) . gratefully , this turn out to be a lie and Patsy and the devil ’s Logos had a glad spousal relationship – at least until her new husband drive her insane , cause her to dedicate suicide , and station her soul to Hell . luckily , her diabolical hubby get by to resurrect her ( although she eventually leaves him too ) .
The disparity between Patsy ’s original wholesome comic and her disastrous superhero aliveness was lampooned inMarvel ’s parody amusing bookWhat The– ? # 7which saw Patsy shift back and forth between her adolescent romanticism and spunky superhero life , even hesitate to see a mass of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe like a quaternary wall breaking Deadpool . unluckily , this levity did n’t carry over into how Patsy was care for in other media . A version of Patsy Walker ( renamed “ Trish ” ) appeared inNetflix’sJessica Jonesseriesas a former child star who acquires major power in some wild experiment . Patsy becomes a vigilante hero but later starts killing citizenry and has to be convey in by Jessica .
The New Hellcat
By this item , Hellcat ’s comic ledger Lord decided they ’d put Patsy Walker through enough punishment , at least in the amusing book . A new author , Kate Leth , avail create the newPatsy Walker , A.K.A. Hellcat!comic book serial publication . This new interpretation acknowledge Patsy ’s teen Romance language comic book roots and even blended them into her superhero vocation by having her battle her previous “ frenemy ” Hedy for the rights to her mother’sPatsy Walkercomic book which were experiencing a revival in popularity .
This new Patsy get a line the world more whimsically and was able to deal with her problems in a more humorous and upbeat manner . The comedian actually had her resolve some of her issues with her two ex - hubby and create a new life history for herself as the read/write head of a temporary worker means for passing powered people who did n’t want to become heroes or villains . Leth even brought back some characters from her old love affair comedian like Tom “ Tubs ” Hale who end up date Patsy ’s bisexual roomy Ian . Patsy also developed a friendship withJubilee of the X - Men , who was now trying to balance a life as a individual mom / old-hat - mutant vampire .
By the destruction of the series , Patsy actually managed to resolve her problems , make peace with some of her foe , and regain a more positive attitude for her softheaded sprightliness . Although she has no estimate where her life will go from this point on ( as writer had n’t resolve what to do with her ) , she realizes she ’s finally happy with how her life story has bend out .
For a character who ’s been through as many drastic changes asPatsy Walker , being able-bodied to finally reestablish a greater equilibrium between her original stripling humor life and her new “ coarse-grained ” superhero career must be a huge succour . Marvel clearly conk overboard introducing so much darkness into Patsy ’s existence when they first brought her into the Marvel Universe that Patsy’snew “ realistic ” life became a gross parody of itself . Ironically , only by re - introducing some of the happiness from her “ silly ” comic books could this tragic character become the strong heroine she always want to be .
