Black Cat and Kang team up to steal from Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Avengers #23 preview

Avengers writer Jed MacKay made his name at Marvel Comics writing a fan-favorite Black Cat title that lasted multiple volumes. Now that MacKay is writing Avengers, he's brought Black Cat in to help the team conduct a space casino heist. But as you may expect, the tables have turned and now in Avengers #23, Felicia Hardy is stealing from Earth's Mightiest Heroes and teaming up with Kang the Conqueror.

We've got an early preview of pages from Avengers #23 by writer Jed MacKay, artist Farid Karami, color artist Federico Blee, and letterer Cory Petit showing Black Cat and Kang in action as they attempt to flee with their ill-gotten prize.

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"ONCE A THIEF...ALWAYS A THIEF! The Avengers never should have trusted Felicia! Can they stop BLACK CAT from escaping the space casino with Kang's stolen intel?" reads Marvel's official description of Avengers #23. "To do so, they'll have to get past Black Cat's newest bodyguards...Avengers, get ready for your first clash with GATECRASHER & THE TECHNET!"

For those not aware of who Gatecrasher and Technet are, they're a group of alien mercenaries who have a long history with the old school mutant team Excalibur. More recently, they had a run-in with Rocket Raccoon. Now, it seems they'll have to face the Avengers as Black Cat attempts to sneak out of their clutches.

Writer Jed MacKay has returned to Black Cat periodically throughout his Marvel career, which has now grown to include being the ongoing writer of not just Avengers, but also the main X-Men title.

Avengers #23 goes on sale February 5.

Check out the best Avengers stories of all time.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)