Kitty Pryde - Phase 1
This page is about the Phase 1 incarnation of the character. For other uses, see Kitty Pryde (disambiguation).
| Kitty Pryde - Replaced in Phase 2 | |
|---|---|
 Portrayed by Natalie Wood | |
| Codename: | Shadowcat |
| Affiliations: | West Coast Annex |
| Birthdate: | June 16, 1988 |
| Journal: | x_shadowcat |
| Player: | Retired Character |
One of the school's earlier students, Kitty Pryde was the resident genius and protogee of Nathaniel Essex until his departure. She and fiancee Jamie Madrox left for the West Coast Annex in August 2006. She was killed during the Dark Phoenix Saga in 2015.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: x_shadowcat
Real Name: Kathrine Pryde
Aliases: Kitty, Shadowcat (this was one of the names she used online)
First Appearance: May 8th, 2003
Retired: July 27th, 2006
Date of Birth: June 16th, 1988
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois
Citizenship: American
Relatives: Issac Pryde (father), Sarah Pryde (mother)
Education: High School diploma. One year in a bachelor's program at NYU. Currently working on a combined bachelor/master's degree at Caltech.
Relationship Status: Engaged to Jamie Madrox
Occupation: Student
Biography
Childhood
Katherine - better known as Kitty - Pryde was born and raised in Chicago. Her parents, Issac and Sarah Pryde, at times had a strained relationship, but while Kitty lived at home, they worked on providing the perfect traditional family image. An only child, Kitty was given everything a young girl 'needs', including dance lessons. From an early age, however, she exhibited the mathematical and computer genius that later led her to be known as a computer programmer of some skill even in her teens.
When Kitty manifested as a mutant at around age twelve, the political atmosphere regarding mutant was tense. Senator Kelly was attempting to have the Mutant Registration Act passed and the personal details of mutants, including Kitty, had somehow been leaked to him and were being used to fear monger. Concerned for their daughter's safety, the Pryde's accepted Charles Xavier's offer for Kitty to attend Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, with Kitty arriving at the school in 2000.
Living At The X-Mansion
Kitty found she enjoyed the school, fitting in well with the other students and making several close friendships that would remain throughout her life - in particular with Piotr Rasputin's little sister, Illyana, who at the time was just a young child. The events of X2, the death of Jean Grey, the defection of her friend John Allerdyce to the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Great Mutant Headache caused by the headmaster she loved and trusted shook the young girl to her core and caused her to become quieter and more withdrawn than she had been and to lose control of her phasing. This changed with the arrival of Jamie Madrox in May 2003. Both punished for a prank played on Warren Worthington, they began a relationship that would continue through to their college years and beyond.
While Kitty appeared to be - and was - a sweet young girl, she also had a streak of stubborness and independence. Nathaniel Essex, drawn by her intelligence and occasionally wilful nature, took her on as his protegee, giving her extra training and involving her in his projects, most notably curing Betsy Braddock's blindness. Her drive to learn put her into conflict with the other staff on occasion, concerned about her disregading of ethics in the face of scientific discovery, and especially after the initial surgery on Betsy, her willingness to obey Essex's directions. Her skills at hacking and decryption, however, were frequently employed by staff, with her being given assignments on the Sentinels, the Friends of Humanity and later the disappearance of Emma Frost. She was joined in these tasks by Doug Ramsey, a kind of friendly competition going on between the two young computer geniuses.
Crimson Dawn
Following the failure of the initial surgery on Betsy which plunged the telepath into a coma and resulted in his expulsion from the school, Essex recruited Kitty and several of the other students to abduct his patient and arrange for her to go to Fort Dix for an additional procedure he was sure would save her life. Jamie assisted, despite personal misgivings, and when the operation was discovered after the fact, all of the students involved were grounded and given strict talks on the ethics of kidnapping and drugging teachers, no matter what the cause. Kitty took the punishment in her stride, as Betsy's recovery proved to her that she'd done the right thing. She was less sanguine about losing her mentor, as Essex bade her farewell and moved on.
Around the same time, Kitty was becoming more aware, despite their attempts to hide it, that her parents' marriage wasn't doing well. Conflicting messages received from them both when she asked for a new laptop to replace the one she'd inadvertantly destroyed phasing through it revealed that they were no longer living together and shortly after this she receieved the news that they were divorcing. Much less able to deal with emotional upheaval, especially in the wake of the mansion invasion and the disastrous love potion incident, Kitty reluctantly took on the offered services of Leonard Samson when he arrived and began counselling.
Skippy, the Endless Summer and Lockheed
After Jamie was nearly killed the previous September during hurricane relief, a dupe managed autonomy and was recruited by Mystique and Magneto. Half-crazed and desperate to be the "true" Jamie, " Skippy" tried to convince Kitty to come away with him, and when that failed, sent some of his own dupes to kidnap Artie Maddicks and Miles Blaire, knocked out and lured away the staff, and faced Jamie in a battle for control. With Kitty’s help, Jamie reabsorbed Skippy, and a number of students rescued the kids. Kitty was Jamie's rock in the aftermath, providing him with support and standing by him and Illyana, who had revealed teleportation powers in the battle.
The news from her mother, shortly after, however, almost pushed Kitty into rebellion. Instructed to spend the whole summer vacation in Chicago with her parents, she wrote countless letters and emails to Jamie and her friends, counting down the days until her return. The disappearance of most of the student body, including her best friend and boyfriend, caused even more frustration as there was little she could do but wait for word. It was Alison's meddling in the end that enabled her to come back 'home' to the school, where Jamie gave her a souvenier of his time in Asgard, a large gem won from a dragon in a punning contest.
Life continued as normal, with Kitty proving her ability to befriend everyone by her continued friendship with the unpopular Manuel de la Rocha and rooming with Illyana, who many found secretive and suspicious after kidnapping and aging. That friendship came under serious strain when the Asgard 'gem' hatched, revealing itself to be a dragon's egg. Kitty immediately fell in love with the small purple creature, naming him Lockheed, but Illyana reacted badly to the idea of sharing a room with a dragon, even a baby one, and for the first time, the two best friends weren't on speaking terms. This changed when Illyana was attacked and injured by S'ym, a demon from 'her' realm of Limbo - for the first time, Illyana told Kitty the truth of what had happened to her when she was abducted, including her killing of "Cat", an alternate-dimension version of Kitty.
College, Upgrade and Vlad
Acceptance into New York University was a dream come for Kitty, despite her mother's disapproval of her choice of location and boyfriend. The arrival of a third 'genius', Forge, to the school caused Kitty some esteem issues - unlike the other two, her intelligence wasn't enhanced by her mutation and she could see herself falling behind. However she more than proved herself, assisting in the programming work involved in recontructing Haroun's cybernetics when they were damaged in an X-Men mission. Kitty also began considering the team, talking to Ororo Munroe about it in the wake of another mansion invasion in which she acquitted herself well and a fire at the local coffee shop in which she sustained smoke inhalation rescuing the owner. She also continued to improve her control of her powers, learning to 'air walk'.
Things took a turn for the disturbing, however, as long-time friend and fellow geek girl Paige's mental state became disordered and she wouldn't talk about it. Concerned, she and Jubilation Lee formed SOG - Suitemates of Guthries - as a type of 'support group' for friends of the three Guthrie siblings to talk about their worries. The plan backfired horribly when Catseye told the Guthries about it and Paige took it as another reason for her increasining paranoia. Manuel, too, was having a hard time of it and leaning heavily on his friend Kitty, and once school started, she found she was under far more pressure than she could reasonably manage. Stubornly, however, she kept her stress to herself and when she was targeted by a mutant who thought he was Dracula, she brushed off the fatigue, sleep walking and irritation as just another stress symptom. It wasn't until the would-be vampire Vlad grew impatient and coaxed her outside with Jamie and Lockheed following that the truth was revealed - in the wake of protecting his girlfriend, Jamie decided to join the X-Men.
Moving On
With her father now an alcoholic and her mother too controlling, Kitty relied more on her relationship with Jamie to provide her with stability. In the wake of the Vlad incident, she increased her self-defence and psionic shielding lessons and continued to do various jobs for others, including the newly created X-Force, which several of her old classmates had joined. However, with Alison, Haroun and Miles departing for the West Coast Annex and Forge doing most of the work she had used to, she started feeling restless. In June 2006 she and Jamie both proposed to each other and in August 2006 she received an offer to Caltech. Encouraged by Jamie to take the position, the pair (and Lockheed) relocated in July, with Jamie continuing his X-Men training at the Annex.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 112 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Curly brown
Powers
Kitty's mutant abilities allow her to shift the molecules of her body out of phase with other matter, allowing her to pass through solid objects without harm or obstruction. While in a 'phased' state, Kitty's biological functions slow down, namely the consumption of oxygen, since while phased she would otherwise be unable to breathe. While the limits of her phasing abilities are unknown, the longest Kitty has remained in a phased state has been close to fifteen minutes with no ill effects.
While her powers place her out-of-phase with matter, Kitty interacts with energy in an unusual way. Her eyes can still perceive and react to light, allowing her to remain visible and see while phased. An aspect to her powers that is both drawback and potentially-useful perk is that she tends to disrupt electronic circuitry if she passes through it while phased. Doing so does not harm Kitty, but tends to cause short-circuits in any technological device she passes through.
By concentrating on her ability, Kitty can exert a small amount of force on matter in a gaseous state, allowing her to move about by pushing off the air itself. By doing so, she can effectively stand on air, or climb/descend without the need of stairs.
While Kitty can phase other people or objects as well as herself, an upper bound to the mass that she can phase has not been measured.
Equipment
None.
External Links
Phase 1
Trivia
Kitty had a TA at NYU by the name of Peter Parker. He is a normal human.
Plots
2003
2004
2005
2006
Operation: Don't Leave Me With The Germans
Meta
Player:
E-mail:
AIM:
Player Icon Base: Natalie Wood
Meta Trivia
Kitty, played by Cora, was one of the very first characters in the game. She was retired with Jamie in August 2006.
