The Cat was a former second story man who adapted his act to become a cat burglar. One night he broke into the apartment of J. Jonah Jameson and stole from his safe. When Jameson returned to his apartment that night he was surprised to see his belongings were stolen and called the cops. The cops confirmed that the culprit was a cat burglar and Jameson offered a $1000 reward for his capture. Spider-Man over heard this news on the television and decided to capture the Cat himself. His main reason for doing so was to see the expression on Jameson's face as he gave the thousand dollar check. The Cat didn't think that Spider-Man would try and capture him however as he was just an ordinary thief and not a super villain. He decided to do one more haul before lying low for a bit. Unfortunately for him, the Cat was seen trying to break into a building which attracted the attention of the police. He tried to make his escape but was interrupted by Spider-Man, who had heard all of the commotion, and began chasing him along the roof tops. The Cat used all of his tricks but they weren't enough to get rid of Spider-Man. He then threw a smoke bomb to cover his escape and hid in a nearby chimney. Unfortunately the police found him and subsequently arrested him.
Shortly after being released from jail, the Cat teamed up with Belladonna and stole the Prowler's costume. On one assignment for Belladonna, the Cat, who had begun to wear the Prowler's costume, broke into the apartment of fashion designer, Desiree Vaughn-Pope and waited for her to arrive home. Unfortunately when she got there she was with her bodyguard who had began to shoot at the Cat. The Cat raced outside to the balcony where a brief scuffle with Vaughn-Pope’s bodyguard occurred. During the fight, both of them accidentally fell off of the balcony. The Cat managed to use his claws to cling to the side of the building but the bodyguard fell to his death. Upon hearing about this, Spider-Man presumed that the Prowler was responsible and went around to see Hobie. However Hobie was startled by this news and even more startled when he learned that his costume had being stolen. Spider-Man agreed to help locate this new Prowler and bring him to justice. Shortly thereafter Spider-Man encountered the phony Prowler. The Cat lured Spider-Man into a building and into one of Belladonna's traps. However Belladonna double crossed the Cat and locked both of them in a reinforced room. She then began to flood the room with gas to knock them unconscious. Through determination, Spider-Man managed to break free from the room. Unfortunately, Belladonna had prepared a back up trap which blew up in the Cat's face. The Cat was knocked unconscious and Spider-Man gave him over to the police. The Cat was remanded to the prison ward of Bellevue Hospital for treatment of the cuts and bruises on his face. He managed to escape by knocking a police officer unconscious and began to seek his revenge on Belladonna. He broke into Belladonna's apartment and threatened to throw her off a balcony. But Spider-Man arrived just in time and knocked the Cat unconscious once again. He then webbed up the Cat and Belladonna and phoned the police.
After the events of Civil War, Cat attended Stilt-Man's funeral that was held in some smokey bar. There he, several other villains and some random heroes shared memories of past experiences. When the party was starting to fade Cat suddenly vomited and collapsed on the floor. Others then realized that they were poisoned by Punisher who had been acting as the bartender the whole night. Punisher had already left, but not before he had activated a device that made the bar go up in flames with the help of kerosene. Cat most likely died in the fire if the poison didn't get him first.
