Cat and Mouse

Patsy Walker became Hellcat almost incidentally in Avengers #144 (Feb. 1976), when she found a costume of the heroine formerly known as Cat (now Tigra). The alias Cat, however, did not go to waste.

Just one month later, Master of Kung Fu #38 (March 1976) introduced Shen Kuei, a Chinese martial artist who also answered to the name Cat. In contrast to Hellcat, who did not use a superhero insignia, Shen Kuei had a cat silhouette tattooed on his chest.

A well-matched adversary to Shang-Chi (a.k.a. Master of Kung Fu), Shen Kuei boasted that he began training in the martial arts at age four. Shang-Chi countered how he began training at age three. Under a complicated set of circumstances, Shen Kuei believed that Shang-Chi was sent to kill him. The two men stopped fighting when Shen Keui realized that this was not the case (#39).

Shen Kuei appears prominently on the cover of Master of Kung Fu #39 (April 1976).