Genre: Action/Heist/Superhero
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on Marvel Comics characters
Cast: Ana de Armas, Vince Vaughn, Diane Kruger, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Cera, Breckin Meyer, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Holt McCallany, Alia Shawkat, Fran Drescher, Choi Woo-Shick, Jenny Slate (cameo)
Plot: A motorcyclist quickly maneuvers their way through the streets of Munich as they chase down an SUV whose passengers are shooting at them. The SUV approaches a line of stopped traffic so they quickly shift to driving on the sidewalk, where pedestrians must dodge out of the way. The motorcyclist stays on the street but narrowly strays the middle line between the cars. They catch up to the SUV and shoot one of the back-tires, causing the SUV to spin out. The criminals in the car begin to make a run for it but the motorcyclist is only focused on one. The main criminal has a hobble so he decides to divert his path and jump into a nearby river. The motorcyclist peers into the water and brings out a sniper rifle while trying to get the right shot. The first one misses but the second hits the criminal right in the shoulder. The motorcyclist takes their helmet off to reveal the mercenary known as Silver Sable (Diane Kruger), with a smile on her face.
After apprehending the wanted criminal in Germany, Sable returns to her home base in Symkaria - a small city-state neighboring Latveria. She is an independent mercenary-for-hire who tracks down war criminals and terrorists for nations all over the world. As she begins to relax after this latest job, she receives a message about a potential target. There has been someone stealing valuable items in New York City that may trigger an international incident: The Black Cat. Capture the Cat and a large sum awaits.
Felicia Hardy (Ana de Armas) looks tired as she works a shift at the Sunset Diner. Her co-worker Meg (Alia Shawkat) is jabbering about her crush on Spider-Man (even though she doesn’t even know what he looks like) but Felicia’s head is somewhere else. A well-dressed customer enters and sits down in a booth. Meg goes to serve him but he actually requests Felicia. Both servers seem confused about this but go along with it. When the patron finishes his meal, he leaves a card underneath the very friendly tip for Felicia. It is the address of Fisk Inc., the headquarters of Wilson Fisk - one of the most powerful businessmen in Manhattan. She slides the card in her pocket.
She has upgraded apartments since last time we checked in but still has humbled belongings. She paces the apartment as she stares at the Fisk card in her hand. We then see her taking the subway to the slick skyscraper in Midtown that houses Fisk’s offices. She immediately feels out-of-place when she enters but nervously navigates her way to his floor. When she enters Fisk’s office, his oversized chair is turned away as he overlooks the New York skyline. He asks if she knows why he asked her here. She answers honestly and says she is totally clueless.
Wilson Fisk (Vince Vaughn) slowly spins around as the sun shines off of his bald dome. “I know you know,” he says as he smiles. She continues her shrugging. “Come on, you’re one of the most talked about thieves in New York. The Black Cat.” A sense of realization comes across her face but she maintains that she is not. His face turns serious, which suddenly sends a chill down her spine. “So you think I’m stupid? I mean, if you read those stupid tabloids sure, I get why you might think that but do you truly believe I’m that dumb?” he says as he stands up, revealing his tall broad-shouldered frame. Felicia’s eyes quickly scan her environment in case she needs to escape (or worse). “Listen, honey, I’m one of the most powerful people in this city. What are you? A waitress who steals on the side?” Felicia stands up and says there must have been some misunderstanding. As she turns away, he tells her to wait.
“I need you,” he says. He points out that he wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble to find out her identity if he just wanted her to walk out of his office like that. He needs the most-skilled thief in the city. He pulls out several suitcases and lays them on his desk, opening them up to reveal loads of money. He returns to a nicer voice and says there are millions - plural - in play. “I can change your life. One job and you won’t even need any more for the rest of your days.” Felicia is at least intrigued and sits back down. He explains that the job would involve stealing from one of the most corrupt businessmen in the city. “Oh, so you’re asking me to steal from you?” she quickly replies, prompting a sly smile from Fisk. “A rival of mine, you could say. They call him new money but his empire was built on stolen goods,” he says. He says he just needs her to say she’ll consider it. After a brief second, she says she’ll think it over. “And don’t forget - I know who you are,” he says with a wink.
At the diner, her mind is racing after what Fisk just offered her. It is the kind of thing she wants to ask Meg about for advice but knows she can’t. There’s only one person who can truly understand her situation. She returns home after work but stops mid-tracks when her key is in the door. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She retreats, instead opting to take the staircase to the top of her building. While there, she scouts out the buildings nearby and finally spots a hotel room where Silver Sable resides with her sniper rifle looking at Felicia’s apartment. Felicia starts to hyperventilate as she makes her way back down. She disguises herself through the alley-way and makes her escape.
She ends up on the doorstep of her father, Walter Hardy (Lou Diamond Phillips). He is happy to see her but can tell something is up. She tells him about her predicament with the Fisk job and the assassin. He clams up and tells her she needs to go back to college and give up the Black Cat shenanigans. It almost cost him his life and he doesn’t want it to cost hers. She tells him how much is on the line and how they’ll never have to worry about money again. He can retire peacefully and she can go to school and do something she loves. And get out of the crosshairs of whoever is after her. Maybe they can move to Hawaii or something. He sighs and tells her he is just worried about her. He says to come to him for help in planning, if she does accept. Before she leaves, he holds her hand and tells her to be safe out there.
Back in Fisk’s office, she tells him that she’s open to hearing about the job. He loudly cracks his knuckles as he nods his head, as if to say he knew she would. They’re stealing from Rocky Farina, known colloquially as Hammerhead for his square-shaped dome. “Don’t call him that to his face, though” he warns. She assumes he is talking about robbing one of Farina’s Atlantic City casinos but Fisk tells her she’s thinking too obvious. He lets her know that Hammerhead is the part-owner of one of the most recognizable sports brands in the world: the New York Yankees. As such, he keeps his most confidential business documents in a vault underneath Yankee Stadium. Papers that ruin his reputation, put him in prison and out of Fisk’s way. And that’s where she comes in. Felicia leans forward, with her eyebrow raised.
Felicia walks down the Manhattan sidewalk with a smile on her face, albeit some nerves remain underneath. A loud engine is heard revving in the background. Felicia turns around to see Silver Sable on a motorcycle speeding towards her. Felicia rushes down to the subway station but Silver Sable ditches the bike and follows her on foot. Felicia is able to catch a train but Sable hops the gate and catches a car a few spots back. They both try to move anonymously through the crowd before the next stop, where they both depart. Felicia finds that Silver Sable stands between her and the exit. Sable pulls out a taser but Felicia kicks it out of her hands as the two engage in hand-to-hand combat. Security guards rush in to intervene but Sable pushes them away, allowing Felicia enough time to backflip back onto the train car just before the doors close. She sits down, breathing heavily, as the teenager next to her reviews his video of the fight. She gives him a look as if to say “delete that immediately” and he does.
Felicia meets with her father and lets him know the details of the job. He makes sure she knows up front that he will not be taking part in the actual heist and she accepts that. They look at a layout of the stadium and he lets her know that this will not be easy. He says she’ll need four things: a lookout, a distraction, a driver and someone that can get into that damn vault. She repeats these four things to herself and Walter smiles, letting her know this is the fun part.
In Long Island, Eugene Patilio (Michael Cera) and his mother Theresa (Fran Drescher) eat dinner. Theresa inquires about Eugene’s job and dating life but he awkwardly tells her nothing has changed. They are interrupted by a knock on the door and Eugene offers to answer it but Theresa says she will. It is Felicia. She asks if someone named Doug Patilio lives here but Theresa informs her that Doug, her husband, died a few years ago. Felicia is sorry to hear this and says she’ll be on her way. Theresa asks why Felicia is here and she says it was just a business thing. Theresa returns to the table and comments how that was weird. After a beat, Eugene stands up from the table and rushes out the door to track down Felicia.
Eugene introduces himself as Doug’s son and Felicia says she’s sorry about his loss. He says that his mom doesn’t know about what his dad did “on the side”. But Eugene made a discovery not long ago that led him to the truth. He brings her inside and down to his room basement, leaving Theresa perplexed. Eugene says that he was going through his closet when he found the suit for the Fabulous Frog-Man - his dad’s alter ego. After some doing some research, he learned that his dad made the suit so that he could jump to incredible heights to quickly help people in need. He says he knows that Felicia came here for the Frog-Man and he can be that for her. Felicia looks concerned and verifies that Eugene has never tried on the suit. He says yes but that he knows he can do it as he wants to make his dad proud. After weighing the options, Felicia says he’s in. He is overjoyed but says she can’t tell his mom. And he is going to go by “Leap-Frog” until he earns his father’s moniker.
There is a montage of Felicia trying to recruit people but failing. We cut to Felicia finishing her latest spiel about the job and the camera pans to Jennifer Walters (Jenny Slate) sitting across from her, shaking her head no. She says even if this is stealing from bad people, She-Hulk can’t be involved in a heist like this. But there is a former client she had that may be of use. Felicia visits an unemployed man named Morrie Bench (Breckin Meyer). She disguises herself as a journalist for the Daily Bugle. She says she has heard that he is the true “Hydro-Man”, a former Navy crewman who was involved in a freak accident with radiation at sea and can now turn his body into water. Morrie is cagey at first but then breaks down and admits that he is Hydro-Man. He says that he is honestly a bit depressed as he has tried being a good person and a bad person at times and he finds his powers useless either way. It is then that Felicia reveals that she is not a journalist and is instead looking for someone to help on a high-paying job. After realizing this could give him some fulfillment in life, he tells her he’ll do it.
Felicia pays a visit to Fisk and tells him that she is having trouble finding a fourth member of the team. He asks what she needs and she says a getaway driver. He says he obviously has a lot of drivers on staff but he can’t be tied to this in anyway. However, there is someone who used to work for Hammerhead that may be of use as he probably holds a grudge against him. Fisk writes down an address on a napkin and tells her to memorize it before ripping it to pieces.
Felicia arrives at the address and it is a small dingy warehouse. She enters and finds that it is actually a dive bar, with suddenly all the tough-looking people in there staring at her. She says that she was given this address and didn’t know it was a bar - it’s not like there is a sign on the outside. She says she must be mistaken and starts to leave when the bartender asks who gave her the address. While she doesn’t admit that it was Fisk, she says that she came to see “The...um...Spot?”. Everyone begins laughing while the bartender tells them to quiet down and for her to follow him. She is taken to a backroom where a high-stakes billiards game is happening. There she meets The Spot (Utkarsh Ambudkar), a man with dark circles all over his body. Once the game finishes and The Spot wins, the room clears for them to talk one-on-one. She says she was referred to him to help in a job that would take down his old boss. Now it is his eyebrows that raise.
The crew gets together for the first time to plan the heist, with Walter in attendance as well. Fisk has given them access to an old vault to use as a model. Upon walking in, The Spot busts Leap-Frog’s chops about his goofy outfit. They sketch out the roles for the heist. Leap-Frog will act as the lookout for the team given his abilities to reach a unique vantage point at the stadium. The Spot will be the getaway driver and - The Spot interjects. He says that he wasn’t recommended to her for his driving skills. He then demonstrates his power: being able to create a portal that transports anyone who enters it a small distance. He explains that he used to be a MIT-trained physicist who was essentially used as a guinea pig when under Hammerhead’s employ. Eventually, the work went too far and that’s why he looks the way he does and has these powers. He then tries to enter the example vault using this power but fails due to its complex structure, causing Leap-Frog to chuckle under his breath.
They come to the decision that Hydro-Man can enter the vault using his aqua powers and Felicia, herself, will act as the distraction so that The Spot can create a portal to help Hydro-Man escape. They test out this plan and it seems to work.
When everyone leaves, Felicia is closing up shop when she can hear footsteps in the distance. Her and Silver Sable begin to waltz through the shadows as they try to track each other. They begin conversing as Felicia asks why she is being hunted. Sable says that she is just a professional, hired to do a job. Felicia says that she knows how that feels and then says that, if she’s being hunted for her thefts, then she is only stealing from powerful men who are dangerous to society (citing the Kravinoff family saga and Hammerhead as examples). Over the course of their conversation, Sable slowly starts to realize that Felicia is not the enemy she was made out to be. They both emerge from the shadows and come to a truce, with Felicia even offering Sable to help with the ball-diamond job. Sable explains that she must figure out a way out of this as the reputation and livelihood of her nation depends on her completing her work. They get closer as some sort of unspoken tension grows between the two before Sable leaves without saying anything more.
Back at her apartment, Felicia starts to wind down and undress when she hears a knock on her door. She checks and it is Fisk all by himself, no security or anything. When she opens the door, he invites himself in. He looks around in slight disgust, asking how she can live here everyday. He proceeds rifles through her liquor cabinet to pour them both a drink before getting to why he came. He says that he has heard that she has been in contact with the mercenary known as Silver Sable. He warns her not to trust this woman, who still has a job to do. He says that she will throw Felicia under the bus the first chance she gets so keep that in mind. He stands up and strokes her cheek with the back of his hand as he says that she is important to him. There does seem to be some doubt in Felicia’s eyes.
The big day comes as we see crowds arrive at Yankee Stadium. The choice was made to do this on game-day since the security will have their attention elsewhere. As the crew gets together, Leap-Frog doesn’t show to which The Spot says that he knew the kid would chicken out. Hydro-Man enters a nearby drain while the other two use disguises to try to access the lower level. The Black Cat and Spot nearly reach the vault when they run into some unexpected faces: Rocky Farina and Kwon Du-jin (Choi Woo-Shick), a star South Korean player who Farina is trying to lure to the MLB. He immediately calls for security. The Spot shrugs his shoulders and then uses a portal to essentially switch sides, aligning himself back with his old boss and leaving Felicia out-numbered.
Meanwhile, we see Leap-Frog leaping his way to the stadium while practicing an apology for having second thoughts. Hydro-Man makes his way through the pipes to the cracks of the vault, where he then enters. In the back of his eye, Hammerhead spots this and is confused. When The Spot explains that Morrie is made of water, Hammerhead demands his security to find a way to seal the cracks and trap him in there. Black Cat goes to kick Farina in the head but finds that it is reinforced with steel plating. He lets out a big laugh and then punches Black Cat with great force. Leap-Frog arrives to find the operation in shambles. Black Cat is now facing Hammerhead, his goons, and the Spot - who mockingly celebrates Leap-Frog’s arrival. He then uses a portal to appear behind Leap-Frog and hit him in the neck.
In the distance, an engine roars as Silver Sable comes flying in on her motorcycle - jumping off of it so that it runs into the crowd of Hammerhead’s goons and wipes them out. An injured Black Cat gives Sable a nod, although Fisk’s words are still ringing in her ears. Hydro-Man tries to collect all of the documents and slide them out of the cracks but just as he does, the security seals the cracks and trap him in there. Black Cat regains her composure and teams up with Sable to take on Hammerhead.
Leap-Frog spots the documents and dashes to them before the security can reach them. The Spot sees this and goes after him and they begin fighting. Leap-Frog accidentally runs into Kwon, who grabs a nearby baseball bat in self-defense. He then shrugs and tosses it to Leap-Frog to use. He rushes towards The Spot, who quickly creates a portal and enters it. He is shocked to find that the portal actually can enter the vault, leaving him in a tense situation with a Hydro-Man struggling for breath. Morrie asks for help but The Spot has already chosen sides so he goes to create another portal. This time, however, Hydro-Man is quick to act and enters it himself (thus escaping the vault).
Leap-Frog picks up the documents and, upon seeing this, Black Cat realizes it is time to wrap things up. “Distraction” she says and she pulls the nearby fire alarm, which prompts alarms to reverberate throughout the whole stadium. Hydro-Man once again uses the piping to make his mistake while Sable offers a ride on her motorcycle to Black Cat. After a brief moment of deliberation, Felicia gives Sable a quick kiss before whispering in her ear “I’m sorry”. Sable is momentarily confused as Black Cat uses her claws to slash Sable’s tires. She then quickly does a takedown on Sable and uses her rope to tie Sable to the bike as more security personnel arrive. She then motions to Leap-Frog that she is her getaway now and hops on his back as they make their escape with the documents. Sable is able to untie herself but angrily looks on confused at Black Cat betraying her.
Black Cat, Leap-Frog, and Hyrdo-Man make their escape amidst pure pandemonium at the ballpark. Once they all meet up at a centralized location, she thanks the both of them for carrying most of the operation. Morrie says that he needs to thank her, as he finally felt like his powers were useful for something. This causes her to smile. She says that she will get them their share of the payout and, who knows, maybe they work together again someday. Eugene asks about who the blonde woman was that helped them and this causes Felicia to turn dour. She then says “an enemy”.
Felicia stands in front of Fisk’s office once again, ready to enter. He finally ushers her in and tries to make small talk but she says she only wants to talk business. He pulls out a briefcase with the money reward for the job. However, when she opens it up, she can tell it is much less than what is promised and asks where the rest is. He tells her it is ⅙ the amount that she is owed and that there is one more thing she needs to do before she gets the rest. He says that he is assembling a team to take out New York’s most-wanted criminal and she is the first piece of the puzzle. She asks who that is and he pulls out the latest edition of the Daily Bugle with its favorite cover boy: Spider-Man.
Felicia digs her fingernails into her palms as she storms out of Fisk’s office.
Mid-Credits: Eugene, with a new pep in his step, goes into the Sunset Diner for dinner with his mom. Meg is his waitress and immediately says that he looks familiar. He smiles at her and then whispers under his breath “don’t tell anyone - but I’m the Fabulous Frog-Man”.
End-Credits: Felicia lays restless in bed, staring at the ceiling when her phone buzzes. She checks and sees that it is from an anonymous number. When she opens the message, she finds that it is a picture of Silver Sable's task to take her down. She scans through the information until she gets to the end and can see who ordered it. It only says one word: Kingpin.
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