Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980) and was co-created by writer-artist John Byrne and Chris Claremont. A mutant, Pryde possesses a "phasing" ability that allows her, as well as objects or people she is in contact with, to become intangible. This power also disrupts any electrical field she passes through, and lets her simulate levitation.

Kitty Pryde was introduced into the X-Men title as the result of an editorial dictate that the book was supposed to depict a school for mutants. Uncanny X-Men artist John Byrne named Kitty Pryde after a classmate he met in art school, Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary in 1973. He had told Pryde he liked her name and asked for permission to use it, promising to name his first original comics character after her. Byrne drew the character to slightly resemble an adolescent Sigourney Weaver.  The fictional Kitty Pryde first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980), by writer Chris Claremont and artist Byrne, as a highly intelligent 13-year-old girl. Claremont said several elements of the character's personality were derived from those of X-Men editor Louise Simonson's daughter, Julie. Claremont and Byrne made the new character a full-fledged X-Man in issue #139, where she was codenamed "Sprite". She was the main character in issues #141-142, the "Days of Future Past" storyline, where she is possessed by her older self, whose consciousness time travels to the past to prevent a mass extermination of mutants. The six-issue miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine (1984-1985), written by Claremont, is a coming-of-age storyline in which she matures from a girl to a young woman, adopting the new name "Shadowcat".  In the late '80s, she joined the British-based super team, Excalibur, where she remained for roughly ten years before coming back to the X-Men. In the early 2000s, she disappeared from the spotlight after semi-retiring from superhero work. She was featured in the 2002 mini-series Mekanix and came back to the main X-Men books in 2004 under the pen of Joss Whedon in Astonishing X-Men. She remained a part of the X-Men books until 2008 when she left again for roughly 2 years. After coming back, she was featured in Jason Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men and Brian Michael Bendis' All-New X-Men books.  In early 2015, she joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. After the Secret Wars event, she adopted her new alias, Star-Lord (first believed to be Star-Lady).  Shadowcat's popularity had a profound effect on the real-life Kitty Pryde: the latter became so overwhelmed by attention from Shadowcat fans, she abbreviated her name to K.D. Pryde to avoid association with her fictional counterpart. She has since stated she has mixed feelings about her fame, saying she values Byrne's comics for their entertainment and artistic value, but wishes more people would appreciate her as more than just Shadowcat's namesake.

What else was interesting about this characters history?
She remained a part of the X-Men books until 2008 when she left again for roughly 2 years.