Patsy Walker

Biography

Patricia "Patsy" Walker is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stuart Little and Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Miss America Magazine #2 (November 1944), published by Marvel precursor Timely Comics, and became Hellcat in The Avengers #144 (February 1976). She premiered as the star of a teen romantic-comedy series, and was later integrated into Marvel superhero franchises such as the Avengers and the Defenders as the Hellcat. Following her reintroduction as Hellcat, the character has been described as one of Marvel's most notable female heroes. Rachael Taylor portrayed Trish Walker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series Jessica Jones (2015–2019), Luke Cage (2016), and The Defenders (2017).

== Publication history ==

=== Teen-humor heroine === Created by writer Stuart Little and artist Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Miss America Magazine #2 (cover-dated November 1944), published by Marvel precursor Timely Comics. Redheaded Patsy Walker, her parents Stanley and Betty, her boyfriend Robert "Buzz" Baxter, and her raven-haired friendly rival Hedy Wolfe appeared from the 1940s through 1967 in issues of Miss America, Teen Comics, Girls' Life, and the namesake teen-humor series Patsy Walker, as well as in the spin-offs Patsy and Hedy, Patsy and Her Pals, and the single-issue A Date with Patsy. Attesting to its quiet popularity, Patsy Walker (along with Millie the Model and Kid Colt, Outlaw) was among the very few titles published continuously by Marvel from the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, through Marvel's 1950s iteration as Atlas Comics, and into the 1960s Silver Age of Comic Books. Future Mad magazine cartoonist and Mad Fold-in creator Al Jaffee wrote and drew most of the early issues of Patsy Walker, several of which included Mad founding editor Harvey Kurtzman's highly stylized "Hey Look!" one-page humor strips. Jaffee was succeeded by Al Hartley, who later went to Archie Comics and produced many Christian comic books starring Archie characters and others. Patsy and Her Pals was drawn by Morris Weiss.

Following Patsy's high-school graduation in issue #116 (Aug. 1964), the title switched from humor to become a young career-gal romantic adventure. Patsy Walker lasted through issue #124 (Dec. 1965), with Patsy and Hedy outlasting it to its own #110 (Feb. 1967). Patsy and Hedy made a cameo appearance in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (Oct. 1965), which established them in the Marvel Universe. The superhero-team comic The Defenders #89 (Nov. 1980) reimagined the earlier stories as fictional works published within the fictional world of Marvel's superheroes and written by Patsy's mother, Dorothy Walker, as inspired by Patsy's own life and friends. The Patsy Walker profile in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook #1 (Feb. 2006) establishes that Walker indeed experienced many of the events from these stories. Patsy Walker #95 – together with the fantasy and science-fiction anthology Journey into Mystery #69 (both June 1961) – are the first modern comic books labeled "Marvel Comics", with each showing an "MC" box on its cover.

=== Hellcat === The Beast feature in Amazing Adventures #13 (July 1972) re-introduced Patsy Walker as a woman who wanted to be a superhero. Writer Steve Englehart recalled that Walker's cameo in Fantastic Four Annual #3 had:

struck my fan's eye by including her in the Marvel Universe. ... I thought it would be cool to bring her in as a real character, with things to do. Part of my 'training' as a Marvel writer was writing romance stories and Westerns, but Patsy [Walker] was defunct as a comic by the time I got there. ... Still, as a fan, I had collected everything Marvel, including Patsy Walker and Patsy and Hedy ... so I knew them as characters. Because the Beast feature was dropped from Amazing Adventures just three issues later, the storyline with Patsy Walker was temporarily abandoned. Walker was reintroduced in The Avengers #141 (November 1975), having resumed her maiden name of Walker, and accompanied the Avengers on a couple of adventures. Shortly thereafter, she adopted the name Hellcat, taking on superheroine Greer Grant Nelson's costume from her discontinued identity as The Cat. The name "Hellcat" itself had originally been proposed for Nelson. The suit's look was later slightly adapted. In 2010, Englehart recalled:

I wasn't real interested in the Cat. I read the books and they seemed like pandering, frankly — not very good stories written to appeal to a demographic. Once [Patsy] entered the [Marvel Universe], met the Beast, confronted her husband — all that began to change the Patsy I had inherited to someone a little more savvy. By the time she became the Hellcat, she could stand back far enough to see the ironies in her taking over a feminist creation. But she was really more about jumping into the superhero pool than standing back. ... She didn't muse on the irony; she wanted to be a heroine. Hellcat joined the superhero team the Defenders in issue #44 (Feb. 1977). After several adventures with the group, she met the supernatural adventurer Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, in The Defenders #92 (Feb. 1981). They married in The Defenders #125 and became husband-and-wife occult investigators, but Hellstrom's demonic nature asserted itself, and Walker was driven first mad and then, in Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #14 (May 1994), to suicide. Through Hellstrom's manipulation of the superhero Hawkeye, she was resurrected in Thunderbolts Annual 2000, a summer annual of the superhero-team comic Thunderbolts, and returned to Earth with new abilities acquired while in Hell. The story, which began in Thunderbolts Annual 2000, concluded in Avengers Annual 2000. A three-issue Hellcat miniseries (Sept.–Nov. 2000) took place immediately following the events in Thunderbolts Annual 2000 and Avengers Annual 2000. Briefly adopting a new costume and then returning to her traditional yellow outfit, she rejoined the Defenders in a short-lived revival series, The Defenders (vol. 2) #1–12 (March 2001 – Feb. 2002). After appearing in occasional guest roles, Hellcat had starring roles between 2007 and 2009, thanks to husband-wife artist-writer team Stuart Immonen and Kathryn Immonen. With the impending relaunch of Marvel Comics Presents, Stuart was asked by editor Nick Lowe if he wanted to do a Hellcat story, which was spread across the title's first four issues (Sept.–Dec. 2007). Marvel remained open for a Hellcat miniseries, and out of what Kathryn first conceived as a "Hellcat Christmas Special", inspired by endurance car races in Mongolia and research on the Inuit, came the five-issue miniseries Patsy Walker: Hellcat (Sept. 2008–Feb. 2009), drawn by David Lafuente with covers by Stuart. A tie-in to the Avengers 50-State Initiative, it features Hellcat being assigned to watch over Alaska. Following this, she was an ensemble star and narrator alongside the superheroines Firestar, the Black Cat, and Photon, in the miniseries Marvel Divas #1–4 (Sept.-Dec. 2009), which writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic had pitched it to Marvel editors as "Sex and the City in the Marvel Universe". Walker became part of the All-New Marvel NOW! event in She-Hulk (vol. 3) #2, when Jennifer Walters started her own law firm. Walters hired Patsy as her private investigator, who uses her Hellcat alias on assignments. The All-New, All-Different Marvel line in 2015 led to a new ongoing Patsy Walker title, Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!. Written by Kate Leth and drawn by Brittney Williams, it attempted to combine the romance and superhero comics with a more comedic approach, which Leth compared to a Saturday-morning cartoon. In it, Walker tries to establish a job agency for super-powered people following her dismissal by the She-Hulk, and also recover the rights to old Patsy Walker comics which have been republished by Hedy. In February 2017, Leth announced that the series would be ending that April with its 17th issue. She praised Marvel for "giv[ing] us space to wrap up the story exactly how we wanted in 3 volumes". Hellcat received a limited series in 2023, written by Christopher Cantwell. The series follows Hellcat as she is accused of murder and is pursued by the Sleepwalkers.

== Fictional character biography == After growing up in suburban Centerville, graduating high school and marrying high-school sweetheart Robert "Buzz" Baxter, Patsy Walker becomes an assistant to scientist Hank McCoy, the mutant superhero Beast, who at that time was on hiatus from the X-Men. Estranged from her husband, now a U.S. Air Force colonel, Walker befriends McCoy, and, desiring to become a superhero, accompanies McCoy on a quest with the Avengers. She adopts a costume that formerly belonged to Greer Grant Nelson, the former masked adventuress the Cat, and takes on the name Hellcat.