Catwoman: Difference between revisions

This article is about the fictional character. For the movie, see Catwoman (movie).

Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a fictional character in the DC Comics superhero universe, a female cat burglar who dresses in a cat-like catsuit while on her capers. The character was created in the 1940s by Bob Kane as an opponent for his most famous creation, Batman.

Although originally introduced as an opponent for Batman, her status as hero or villain is ambiguous; she has her own moral code (she abhors killing) and has occasionally teamed up with Batman against greater threats.

She is often considered a potential romantic interest for Batman; in the 1970s DC Comics even ran an ongoing series set in a parallel universe in which Catwoman and Batman had married and had a daughter who fought crime as the Huntress.

Her costume at first appearance in the comics (at which time she known merely as 'The Cat') had a theatrically face-covering cat-mask. Later she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later a bodysuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, the bodysuit was green in color, which was typical of villains, but wrong for this character.

Occasional attempts have been made to feature Catwoman in her own comic book series. The most recent such series, written by Ed Brubaker, was launched in 2001 and as of 2004 is still running to great acclaim.

Catwoman was at various times played by Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt in the Batman television series of the 1960s, by Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1992 movie Batman Returns, and by Adrienne Barbeau in Batman: The Animated Series. The character also appeared very briefly (and was actually killed off) in the first episode of the television series, Birds of Prey, which featured Catwoman's daughter, Huntress.

A Catwoman movie that was only very loosely based on the comic book character was released in summer 2004. It starred Halle Berry as a Catwoman with supernatural cat-like powers.