CATSEYE

BIOGRAPHY

It's believed that Catseye’s mutation was apparent at birth and that she was abandoned by her parents. Growing up a literal “feral child,” she had no memory of a human life, having lived solely as a cat. In fact, she seems to have been raised by a cat in the Manhattan Underground.
Catseye was well into her teens when she was found by Emma Frost, who referred to her life up until this point a “Mowgli syndrome.” Emma brought Catseye to the Massachusetts Academy and attempted to reconnect Catseye with her humanity starting by giving her a human name, Sharon Smith. Under Emma's tutelage, Catseye went from total illiteracy to upper grade school reading levels in the space of one year. Emma was astonished by Catseye nascent IQ, photographic memory and total recall. As a result of all the special attention Catseye received from Emma, she began to see her as a kind of surrogate mother. Despite her high IQ and rapid accumulation of knowledge, Catseye still believed herself to be a cat and disliked “pretending” to be anything different. [New Mutants (1st series) #31]

[Note: The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #5 said that the place of her birth was most likely to be in Boston but this is disputed by New Mutants #31]

Shortly after the formation of the Hellions, Emma Frost kidnapped Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. When the New Mutants came to rescue their friend, they faced the Hellions for the first time. During the initial melee, Catseye fought Magik but failed to best her. Ultimately, the majority of the New Mutants, save Magik and Mirage, were defeated by the combined efforts of Emma Frost and the Hellions. [New Mutants (1st series) #16] When the two girls later resurfaced to rescue their friends, they were discovered by the Hellions, who offered the New Mutants a deal. Each team would pick a champion and if the New Mutants' champion won they were free to go. The teams picked the Hellions’ combat room, the Hellions’ equivalent to the Danger Room, as the setting for the duel.

The Hellions had every of intent in honoring the agreement but, before either team won, they were discovered by Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw. Shaw and Frost disagreed with the bargain and attempted to restrain the New Mutants. During the fight, Sunspot was injured by Shaw. Seeing her team losing, Kitty Pryde used her intangibility to damage the controls of the combat room and the room went haywire. The New Mutants attempted to use the ensuing chaos to escape. To their surprise, Catseye came to the aid of Sunspot, dragging him alongside Wolfsbane to the team. Catseye had become intrigued by Wolfsbane due to their similar mutation and asked her to stay with the Hellions. Wolfsbane refused, claiming that the White Queen was evil and that Catseye should come with them. Catseye declined, stating that she was happy in the Massachusetts Academy. [New Mutants (1st series) #17]

Emma Frost later recruited Angelica Jones, the mutant who would one day be the adventurer called Firestar. Angelica was terrified of her powers and painfully shy in the presence of the other students. Catseye was one of the few members of the Hellions to reach out to the scared young girl. Like Wolfsbane, however, this was another unrequited friendship for Catseye, as Firestar soon left the Hellions. [Firestar #2-4]

During a battle with the omni-potent Beyonder, the New Mutants were killed and later resurrected. Taking advantage of the ordeal’s resulting mental trauma, Emma Frost had Catseye's teammate Empath manipulate the emotions of the New Mutants’ then-headmaster Magneto. Empath intensified Magneto's anxiety about helping his students. Feeling everything was hopeless, Magneto enrolled them in Frost's school, believing her telepathic abilities might be able to help the children. During this time, Wolfsbane became Catseye roommate and Catseye did her best to help Rahne through this difficult period. Rahne began to see in Catseye a kindred spirit and together the two girls delighted in their mutations together. Eventually though, Magneto saw through Emma's ruse and reclaimed his students. Catseye and Wolfsbane were yet again separated. [New Mutants (1st series) #38-40]

As the world became more dangerous for mutants, the X-Men and the Hellfire Club were forced to become allies. Relations improved to such an extent that Magneto and the New Mutants attended one of the Hellfire Club's balls. Catseye was ecstatic to see Wolfsbane again. The two girls quickly shifted to their animals forms and started to frolic around the Hellfire Club mansion. Unfortunately, while they were playing, they were seen by a human member of the Hellfire Club's staff. Catseye's animal instincts took over and she started to chase the maid for fun.

While this was happening, Catseye's teammate Roulette and Wolfsbane's teammate Cypher were drinking and gambling. The senior members of the teams found out and were enraged. Both groups blamed the other team for corrupting their teammates. Fearing retribution from their teachers, the two teams decided on an elaborate contest to see which team would take the blame. Luckily for Catseye, her team won and she wasn't punished by the White Queen. [New Mutants (1st series) #53-54]

Sometime later, the White Queen discovered that someone had broken into her computers and accessed data on Firestar. The White Queen and the Hellions managed to track the breach to Night Thrasher of the New Warriors. The Hellions attacked and overwhelmed Night Thrasher at his home in New York. During the interrogation, the New Warriors swiftly came to their teammate's aid. Catseye was shocked to see Firestar among her attackers and couldn't understand why her former classmate was now their enemy. As the two teams fought and combatants partnered off, Emma Frost and the New Warriors trainer Tai agreed that the winning team could claim Firestar for themselves. Catseye’s opponent was Night Thrasher. Despite the hero's excellent martial skills, Catseye superior strength and speed won her the battle. Although Catseye won her own bout, the Hellions were ultimately defeated and returned to the Massachusetts Academy without Firestar. [New Warriors (1st series) #9-10]

After the apparent murder of Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost started to wonder if she and her students were being targeted. Emma invited the X-Men to the Hellfire Club to discuss the potential menace. Catseye along with her team mates were also in attendance at the club when the threat made itself known. Trevor Fitzroy, a member of the secret group called the Upstarts led a cadre of Sentinels and summarily attacked all present. Like most of the Hellions, Catseye was one of the fatalities on the day. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281]

Years later, Catseye was among numerous deceased mutants resurrected via a combination of science and sorcery and forced to do the bidding of Selene, the former Black Queen. Selene charged the Catseye and the other reanimated Hellions with killing her former Hellfire Club counterpart, Emma Frost. Catseye was particularly brutal during the attack on Emma and cursed her for letting them die. Luckily for Emma, she was rescued by a team of X-Men. With the attack on Emma a failure, the Hellions were given a new task of reclaiming another of the resurrected who had went rogue, Cypher. Trying to capture Cypher brought Catseye and her teammates into direct conflict with their former sparring partners, the New Mutants. The Hellions were holding their own in the skirmish until the alien Warlock intervened and blew them off the side of Utopia. Selene soon thereafter had her acolyte, Blink, teleport as many of the resurrected as she could find back to Genosha so she could devour their souls. [X-Necrosha, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8]

It's not known if Catseye and the Hellions were among the souls devoured by Selene, so there is a possibility they are still out there.

ALTERNATE VERSIONS

In the reality featured in What if (2nd series) #60, Catseye was a member of the X-Men. On this world, Jean Grey and Scott Summers married earlier and left the X-Men. The rest of the original X-Men followed suit and Charles Xavier was forced to recruit a new class that included Catseye. Catseye's team was relatively inexperienced when Professor X was alerted to the mutant island, Krakoa. Due to this, Professor X accompanied the team to Krakoa but they were quickly defeated by the island's defenses. Because Professor X had joined the team, no one had noticed the X-Men had gone missing. Eventually, Krakoa came to the attention of the Avengers, who managed to defeat it and found the corpses of X-Men among the living island’s remains.

Catsey’s counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse was also a member of the Hellions. On this world, the Hellions had been loyal to Apocalypse. After his death, Catseye and her teammates were forced to go into hiding. They were later discovered by the X-Men in the ruins of the Massachusetts Academy. Catseye attempted to escape and fought the fledgling X-Man, Wolfsbane but was quickly defeated. Just like the other members of her team, Catseye was then taken into custody to stand trial for war crimes.