Introduction

The youngest to join the X-Men, she was first portrayed as a "kid sister" to many older members of the group, filling the role of literary foil to the more established characters. She occasionally used the codenames Sprite and Ariel, cycling through several uniforms until settling on her trademark black-and-gold costume. In later comic books, she becomes schooled in fighting techniques and receives ninja stealth training, which combine with her powers to make her one of the X-Men's most proficient and reliable combatants. She is frequently deployed on surveillance and espionage missions.
During the miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, she was renamed Shadowcat, the alias she would be most associated with, and shifted to a more mature depiction in her subsequent appearances. Pryde would eventually abandon her nickname, "Kitty", and switch to "Kate". She was one of the main cast of characters depicted in the original Excalibur title. After momentarily joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, she assumed her then-fiancé's superhero identity as the Star-Lord (Star-Lady). In the series Marauders, she was informally known as Captain Kate Pryde and the Red Queen of the Hellfire Trading Company. After rejoining the X-Men in the "Fall of X" relaunch, she assumes the name Shadowkat. Kitty is a mutant with the ability to pass through solid matter by passing her atomic particles through the spaces between the atoms of the object through which she is moving. In this way she and the object through which she is passing can temporarily merge without interacting, and each is unharmed when Shadowcat has finished passing through the object. This process is called "phasing" or quantum tunneling and it renders her almost completely intangible to physical touch.[2] Shadowcat passes through objects at the same speed at which she is moving before entering them. Originally unable to breathe while inside an object, she can now phase through solid objects without needing to hold her breath such as when traveling underground or phasing buildings through the Earth’s surface. The use of her abilities also interferes with electrical systems by disrupting the flow of electrons from atom to atom when she passes through, including the bio-electric systems of living bodies if she concentrates in the right way.[75] This typically causes machines to malfunction or be destroyed, and can induce shock and unconsciousness in living beings.

Last login: 2025-03-13
Start of membership: 2025-02-24