Age: 20
Sex: Female
Physical Appearance: Long brown hair, brown eyes, and small frame
Alliance: X-men
Power: Shadowcat must consciously choose not to phase. This means that when she is unable to focus she will naturally enter the "phased" state. When phased, she literally passes through solid matter by passing her atoms through the spaces between the atoms of the object through which she is moving. As she does not physically walk on surfaces in this form, but rather the molecules of air above them, she is able to ascend and descend by walking on air molecules akin to steps. While phased, she is intangible and thus invulnerable to physical attacks and telepaths have a hard time reaching her mind in phased form. However the density of certain materials, such as the hull of the alien Ord's ship, may prove deleterious to her phasing, causing her to be severely disoriented if she tries to pass through. Her phasing powers also disrupt any electronic equipment she passes through. For some time after she discovered her powers, she was only able to phase herself and her clothes along with her. However, she quickly learned to phase other people and objects with her.
Brief History: Katherine "Kitty" Pryde was born in Deerfield, Illinois, to Carmen and Theresa Pryde. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Prydeman, was a European Jew, known to have been held in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. His sister-in-law Chava Rosanoff is reported to have died during the Holocaust. Samuel was rescued by the United States Army at the end of World War II in Europe in 1945. He soon immigrated to the United States.
At the age of thirteen, Kitty started suffering from intense recurring headaches, soon followed by the emergence of her mutant power - the ability (called "phasing") to become intangible and walk through solid matter. Shortly thereafter, both Professor Charles Francis Xavier and the Hellfire Club’s White Queen, Emma Frost, approached Pryde. Taking an instant dislike to the White Queen, she chose to go with Xavier. When Emma kidnapped Xavier and the X-Men, Kitty helped fight to free them. Proving herself in this battle, she joined the X-Men, becoming one of the youngest members ever. Her parents, particularly her father, objected to this but Jean Grey used her telepathy to 'convince' them otherwise. This slip in Grey's ethics was one of the first indications of the Dark Phoenix persona's growth in her mind. Unaware of the manipulation, Kitty went to Westchester. In such a stimulating environment and away from the stress of her parents' crumbling marriage her beginning there was a happy one.
Initially wearing an old-style X-Men uniform, Kitty took the codename 'Sprite'. Later dressing in more brightly-colored outfits she called herself 'Ariel.' From the time of their first meeting, she developed a crush on her teammate Colossus. Her initial reaction to Nightcrawler, however, was much less positive. Terrified of his nightmarish looks, Kitty avoided his friendly overtures and flinched whenever she saw him. It was not until an encounter with the lonely Morlock mutant Caliban (described as an outcast even among outcasts) that she realized her attitude about appearances was childish. Consequently, Kitty and Kurt became close friends and have remained so even when all their other friends died, abandoned them or were scattered across the globe and/or various parallel dimensions.
Her best friend during these early years was Colossus's younger sister Illyana who, at age seven, was kidnapped from her home in Russia by the jokester assassin-for-hire Arcade. Freeing her, the X-Men took her back to the X-mansion where she was again stolen. This time by the demonic sorcerer Belasco and held in the extradimensional realm known as Limbo. Since time passed more quickly in Limbo than on the Earthly plane, Illyana seemingly spent almost seven years there as Belasco's apprentice in dark magic while mere seconds passed on Earth. She eventually escaped and became Kitty's roommate and a member of the New Mutants. Because of their strong rapport, Kitty would inherit Illyana's Soulsword, the ultimate expression of Illyana's mystical abilities, if Illyana died or otherwise ceased to exist.
Another of Kitty's constant companions was considered a pet for many years though he's proven to be highly intelligent and capable of speech since. One of her earliest adventures with the X-Men involved their kidnapping by the non-humanoid alien race known as the Brood. During this adventure in outer space, a small alien ‘dragon’ whom she named Lockheed, who followed her home, to Earth saved Kitty’s life.
The Brood adventure was the beginning of another important chapter in the history of Kitty and the X-Men. During the team's absence in space, Professor X had created a sister team of younger mutants called the New Mutants as a replacement for what he thought were the lost X-Men. The New Mutants were just teenagers, however, and he did not intend them to combat threats. He decided to place Kitty in that group so she could be among her peers but Kitty, calling the New Mutants "X-Babies" (not to be confused with the team of miniature X-Men created by Mojo, the X-Babies), convinced Xavier to allow her to remain a full member of the X-Men on the basis of her high-intelligence, maturity and the fact that she was already a fully trained part of the team.
Around this time, Kitty and Colossus began dating and have kept a very strong relationship over the years. She is still at the mansion, only being away for short periods of time.
