Background

The Cat Burglar is a former second story man who has adapted his act to high rises and taken to robbing fancy apartments. He uses ropes to scale the outside walls of the buildings and carries a flashlight, grappling hook, explosives and a gun in various belt pouches. He thinks he is too small-time to attract the attention of Spider-Man but he makes the mistake of robbing the safe in J. Jonah Jameson's apartment and Jonah offers a thousand dollar reward for his capture.

Spider-Man is attracted by the reward (actually, he's more attracted by the idea of Jonah Jameson having to publicly pay him one thousand dollars) and starts searching for the Cat Burglar, who has gotten so conceited that he is now hoping to dream up a plan to dispose of Spider-Man. In the meantime, he decides to pull one more job before laying low for a while. His plan goes awry and he finds himself pursued by both Spider-Man and the police. The Cat uses every weapon at his disposal to ward off the web-slinger but the police finally catch him when he tries to hide in a chimney. Jonah Jameson is spared the humiliation of having to pay the reward to Spider-Man.

Sometime after getting out of prison, the Cat Burglar stumbles upon Hobie Brown's Prowler costume in a storage locker. He steals it and takes on the guise of the new Prowler. Shortly thereafter, he forms an alliance with Belladonna and agrees to pull robberies for her. Following Belladonna's instructions, he waits on the balcony of a penthouse belonging to fashion designer Desiree Vaughn-Pope where he is shot at by Desiree's bodyguard Charlie McGuire. In the subsequent tussle, McGuire falls to his death. Spider-Man is blamed for McGuire's death since witnesses mistake the Prowler for him. This prompts the web-slinger to get on the Prowler's trail and is led to a deathtrap set up by Belladonna. Unfortunately for the Prowler, Belladonna has trapped him as well.

Spider-Man breaks free of the trap but Belladonna has set up a backup booby trap that blows up in the Prowler's face. He is taken to the hospital with cuts, bruises, and half of his red hair burned off but manages to escape and track Belladonna, who turns out to be Desiree's sister Narda Ravanna. Seeking revenge, the Prowler grabs Narda and tries to throw her off her balcony but he is stopped by Spider-Man, knocked out with one punch and taken away by the police.