Shadowcat Real Name:  Katherine "Kitty" Pryde
Height:  5'6"
Weight:  110 lbs
Hair:  Brown
Eyes:  Hazel
Mutant Powers:  Shadowcat has the ability to pass through solid objects by moving the atoms of her body through the spaces between the objects atoms.  She calls this process "phasing".  When she is attacked, she can enter her phased state, allowing projectiles or energy blasts to pass through her harmlessly.  Shadowcat is still vulnerable to psionic or mystic attacks while phased.
    She cannot breathe while phasing, hence she can only phase for as long as she can hold her breath.
    Shadowcat can phase through any material, including people.  Phasing through electrical systems causes them to become disrupted.  Using her phasing ability, she can walk on air, effectively allowing her the ability of flight.
    Shadowcat has always had the ability to phase her clothing with her, but with practice she has learned to phase other objects as well.  She has also learned to phase a team-mate with her and can allow them to "air walk" for as long as they remain in contact with her.
First Appearance:  X-Men (Vol 1) #129
History:  Katherine Pryde lived a normal life in Illinois until she began suffering severe head-aches at age thirteen.  Professor Xavier had located her with Cerebro, his mutant detecting computer, and set out with three of his X-Men in order to contact Kitty and possibly recruit her.  Unknown to the X-Men, the mercenary Warhawk had attached a device to Cerebro allowing the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club to monitor its activities.  The Inner Circle learned of Kitty's existaence and sent Emma Frost to contact her.
    Xavier and Frost both trained mutants in the use of their powers under the cover of schools.  They had both intended to recruit Kitty without alerting her parents to the fact that their daughter was a mutant.
    Even Kitty herself did not know that she was a mutant, and did not discover her powers until the night Emma Frost arrived to talk to Kitty's parents.  Kitty retired to her upstairs bedroom suffering her worst headache ever.  As she lay on her bed wishing her headache would go away, she suddenly found herself lying on the floor on the level below.  She had unknowingly used her phasing power for the first time.
    As Frost left, the X-Men  arrived, and Kitty took them to the local malt shop.  Here the X-Men were attacked by members of the Hellfire Club.  Surprised, she found herself phasing through the wall, where she subsequently passed out due to unfamiliarity with her powers.  Emma Frost overcame the X-Men with her telepathic powers, and had them taken to her hovercraft.
    Kitty had awoken, and unwilling to abandon her new friends, she snuck aboard the hovercraft.  She used her powers to locate the X-Men within the Frost Industries complex where they had been taken.  Kitty called the rest of the X-Men, despite attempts to capture her by Hellfire agents.
    She was almost captured after calling for help, but was saved by the rest of the X-Men.  Kitty then helped to rescue the captured X-Men.
    Kitty's mother was enraged by her daughter's dissappearance, although Phoenix used her telepathic powers to calm the woman, who then allowed Kitty to enrol at Xavier's school.  Here she joined the X-Men taking on the name Sprite, and later changing to Ariel.
    Kitty's friendship with Storm has continued although her best friend was Illyana Rasputin, whose recent death from the Legacy Virus deeply affected Kitty.  She has also had a short lived romance with Colossus, with whom she still remains close friends, and is often accompanied by a small dragon-like creature named Lockheed, who she met while on another planet with the X-Men.
    A friendship has also developed with the X-Man Wolverine.  While in Japan, Kitty was captured and put under the mental contol of Ogun, a martial arts master who had once been Wolverine's mentor.  Wolverine gave Kitty a crash course in martial arts so she could contend against Ogun.  At the end of her training, Kitty took on the name Shadowcat.
    During the Morlock Massacre, Shadowcat was injured by one of Harpoon's energy spears.  This affected her powers, making her unable to maintain her solidity.  She was later cured of this affliction.
    Shadowcat became a founding member of Excalibur, a British super team.  Here she began a romance with fellow member, Pete Wisdom.
    Kitty has also spent a short time as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, where she once again faced Ogun.
    After Excalibur was disbanded, Kitty returned to the X-Men along with Colossus and Nightcrawler, where she continued to serve until her recent dissappearance in space while battling the Neo.