WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Black Cat #11, by Jed MacKay, C.F. Villa, Brian Reber and Ferran Delgado, on sale now.
As both a fledgling do-gooder and outright master thief, Felicia Hardy has had plenty of experience with other superheroes. Although she shares an extensive and complicated history with Spider-Man, the Black Cat has also had plenty of interactions with other iconic heroes of the Marvel Universe. In Black Cat #11, she uses her knowledge to manipulate Iron Man so she can steal from his company -- to remarkable effect.
Felicia has been reuniting with old accomplices and even older mentors to prepare for the greatest heist in history from the masters of theft: The New York Thieves Guild. Since their infamous vault remains hidden in an another dimension, the first step of her master heist has been to create a device that can get her and her team to their prize. After finishing construction of that device, known as a Randall Gate, all she needs is the key to open the dimensional barrier. However, the only machine that can create said key is locked away at the center of Stark Unlimited.
Realizing she will need to steal from one of the smartest Avengers, Felicia begins to consider her options and how to manipulate Tony Stark. At first, Felicia's mentor, the Black Fox, considers using Tony's occasional alcoholism against him before realizing Tony has kicked that addiction (for now).
Another of Iron Man's weaknesses, however, is his fondness for women -- particularly redheads. While her team suggests a method known as "the Seventeen Stepbrothers," which sounds fascinating, Felicia recognizes Tony would have no interest in a bumbling floozy. That method is best reserved for the Johnny Storm type of hero.
Instead, Felicia believes the type of woman who would truly interest the Invincible Iron Man is someone who disagrees with him. Posing as redheaded academic Elodie Gros, Felicia and her team construct a backstory for a science journalist who routinely disagrees with Stark's creations and criticizes his many endeavors. Of course, this grants her an interview with the man himself in just two days. During the course of their conversation, Felicia piles insults upon Tony, including calling him a coward, which only serves to interests the Avenger more.
This tactic is entirely built on Stark's ego. For a genius like him, the greatest thrills come from using his intellect to conquer the world, usually through scientific challenges. Tony also finds this to be true when it comes to the women in his life. Those who challenge him and his actions are usually the ones who attract his attention. This has been seen in both the corporate world and his hero life, as these conflicts result in the best type of romantic banter.
By using this tactic, Felicia forces Tony to refer to some of his greatest achievements, like resurrecting himself, which only distracts him from the heist taking place before him.
This method also bears many striking similarities to a scene from the first Iron Man film, released in 2008. There, Tony is interviewed by journalist Christine Everhart. Like Felicia's persona, Christine questions Tony's use of science when it comes to his war profiteering. Of course, this only leads Tony to invite Christine back to his Malibu mansion, where they sleep together.
While this plan gets the Black Cat into Stark Unlimited, the ruse can only last for so long. For this reason, she also planned on using the villain Firepower to distract Tony during her mission. Unfortunately, as the Iron Man armor is far superior to an average armored villain, this doesn't last too long. Iron Man returns to find Felicia locked away in his vault, using his tech. Breaking the door down, Tony discovers the Black Cat has armored herself for a fight. With this upgrade, Tony is sure to find the Black Cat to be even more challenging.