WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Black Cat #12, by Jed MacKay, C.F. Villa, Brian Reber, and Ferran Delgado, on sale now.

Whether she's swinging around with Spider-Man or having adventures of her own, Black Cat is one of the most complex, complicated and tragic parts of Peter Parker's world. And in Black Cat #12, another equally complex and complicated former Spider-Man friend and foe returns when the Queen Cat, Lily Hollister, swings back into the Marvel Universe.

Lily Hollister was introduced in J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada's Amazing Spider-Man #545 as "One More Day" transitioned into "Brand New Day." Lily, the daughter of an important politician, was romantically involved with Harry Osborn before she eventually stumbles upon directions to a Green Goblin hideout and spills an experimental version of the Goblin Formula onto herself. It's the beginning of a twisted evolution that sees the character cause, and suffer, a number of traumas as the villain Menace.

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Her first ventures as Menace focused on attacking her father's political campaign in an effort to drum up support for him through the public's sympathy. That didn't go as planned, of course. Eventually, Lily is outed as Menace, and shortly thereafter things get crazy.

Lily reveals that she's carrying Harry Osborn's child during the Dark Reign event. That entangles Harry into her goblin life, as he suits up as the Green Goblin to steal a serum that will cure Lily, and the child, of the effects of the Goblin Formula. As always, Norman Osborn is in the background, manipulating events, steering Harry to be a part of Norman's plot to earn the favor of the American people. As Dark Reign ends and Norman meets his fate, Lily claims that the baby is actually Norman's, but the child is ultimately revealed to be Harry's. He then takes custody because Lily is deemed too unstable to provide for her child.

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Later, Norman returns full-time to his Goblin persona and recruits Lily and new Hobgoblin Phil Urich to be a part of his Goblin King's court. Phil develops feelings for Lily that evolve into an obsession. Eventually, Lily is cured of her condition and taken into custody, but a botched rescue attempt leaves her amnesiac.

Those events lead Lily into the hands of the original Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley, during the Axis storyline. Kingsley is franchising superhero identities, and recognizes Lily, even if she doesn't recognize herself. Kingsley reinvents Lily as the Queen Cat, a persona that wears a costume similar to Felicia Hardy's Black Cat outfit. The events of Axis prove that, though she has conflicted loyalties, Lily seems to have an intact moral code.

Given her history, Queen Cat could be just about anywhere, emotionally and mentally when she returns here. Additionally, there's still quite a bit of leeway with her power set. During Axis, Lily displays cat-like reflexes, and the effects of the Goblin Serum could always return in some comic book-science way. Lily always seemed like a victim of circumstance and misguidedness more than truly evil. And given Black Cat's own vacillation between heroism and villainy, it remains to be seen which direction Queen Cat will be pulled in next.

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