Purrfect Strangers: The History of Catwoman and Batman
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
For nearly seventy years, Catwoman and Batman have matched each other’s wits and captured each other’s passion in so many variations and interpretations, an examination is deserving.
Catwoman’s early comic book appearances in the 1940’s set the tone for a mutual attraction, rivalry, respect, and enmity maintained throughout the years in various formats.
Catwoman and Batman play the roles of prey and hunter although sometimes one has difficulty determining who plays which role and in what capacity.
Suffice to say, the unique connection between the feline temptress with a bent for cat-related crimes and the avenging vigilante named for a creature of the night has been unlike any other between a villain of Gotham City and the guardian of that same metropolis.
Feline Foe’s First Foiling
Catwoman debuted in Batman #1 (Spring 1940), about one year after the Dark Knight’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). As is the case with most popular culture characters, Catwoman’s first appearance lacks many of the distinguishing characteristics now known, appreciated, and anticipated.
In The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, Volume Two (1992), a compendium of comic book stories involving Batman, Penguin, and Catwoman, Martin Pasko explores Catwoman’s debut in an introductory piece entitled Of Fowls and Felines: FIfty Years of Felony.
As you will see, in her debut she is quite specifically a jewel thief -- a ‘car burglar.’ There is no indication that her creators had even an inkling of the cat-o’-nine-tails, claw-like weapons, cat-shaped equipment, or feline-themed crimes that would later become her trademarks.
Even her name kept changing. She isn’t even The Catwoman in her first appearance -- merely ‘The Cat.’ Perhaps sensing that there was further work to be done, Batman creator Bob Kane and company returned to the drawing board immediately, and the character reappeared in the next two issues of Batman, referred to variously as the Cat Woman and the Cat-Woman. It wasn’t until the mid-1940’s that everyone seemed to have settled on the simpler Catwoman.
In the aptly titled premiere story, The Cat, socialite Martha Travers brings an emerald necklace worth $500,000 on board her yacht, the Dolphin for an exclusive party. Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman designs a plan for Dick Grayson a.k.a. Robin to go undercover as a ship’s steward.
Another case prevents Batman from joining his young ward immediately, however, the Dynamic Duo regroup none too soon as the necklace is stolen. Batman and Robin determine that Mrs. Travers’ favorite nephew, Denny, conspired with The Cat to steal the necklace and, in usual cunning fashion, they foil the plot. Even in this first appearance, we see the attraction between Batman and the feline criminal.
Disguised as Mrs. Peggs, an old woman, The Cat scampers when Robin triggers a false alarm to trap the thieves. Batman realizes The Cat’s disguise, remarking, Nice legs for an old woman!
Upon her capture, The Cat throws her arms around Batman and proposes they go into a life of crime together. Batman denies The Cat’s request and she jumps overboard. Batman somehow gets in Robin’s way of pursuit. The Boy Wonder keenly observes his mentor and offers an opinion on the event.
Too late --she’s gone! And say, I’ll bet you bumped into me on purpose! That’s why you took her along with us -- so she might try a break!
Batman feigns amusement. Why, Robin, my boy. What ever gave you such an idea! Hmm, nice night, isn’t it? Lovely girl! What eyes! Say, mustn’t forget I’ve got a girl named Julie [Madison]! Oh well, she still had lovely eyes! Maybe I’ll bump into her again sometime.
An understatement, to say the least.
Who Is Catwoman?
In Batman #62 (December 1950 / January 1951), the story The Secret Life of the Catwoman depicts Catwoman’s origin for the first fime.
Selina Kyle was a stewardess with Speed Airlines when her flight crashed. Suffering from amnesia, she transformed into Catwoman, embraced cat characteristics, and embarked on a life of crime with her newfound cat trademarks. Her knowledge of cats stems from her subconscious memory of her father’s pet shop.
Frank Miller revisits Catwoman’s origin in Batman: Year One (1987). Miller gives Selina Kyle a prostitution pedigree. Several writers utilized Miller’s take on the character in the highly recommended offering The Further Adventures of Batman, Volume 3 (1993). Martin H. Greenberg edited this collection of short stories featuring Catwoman.
In Gotham City Spring: a suite, Mort Castle writes, In an hour or so, she’d feel sweaty, and usually she hated that because it reminded her of some of the...things she’d been paid to do with men. And with women. There was a lot Selina Kyle hated. She’d placed herself pretty high up on the list.
In Catacombs, Robert Weinberg explores Selina Kyle’s cunning, strength, and sheer criminal genius.
Before embarking on her career as Catwoman, Selina had earned her keep in an equally illegal fashion. For years she had sold her body to the highest bidder. Specializing in domination and perverse pleasures, she serviced a wide range of both male and female clients. Many of them numbered among the glitterati of Gotham City. Though they had tried to keep their identities secret, no one ever managed to deceive Selina Kyle. Always an opportunist, and gifted with an exceptional memory, she had filed away detailed notes on their secret vices, along with an extensive photo scrapbook, for darker days. If nothing else, Catwoman believed in preparing for the worst. That was why she was the best at everything she tried.
Paul Kupperberg’s story Creatures of Habit provides Batman explaining his nemesis’ obsession with felines while alluding to her dark days.
Considering what I know of her past, it’s something she needs to maintain what passes for her sanity. She has to identify with the independent nature of cats in order to convince herself that she doesn’t need anyone. Especially the men who abused her when she was younger.
Against the backdrop of Hitler’s rise to power preceding World War II, the Elseworlds comic book series puts Catwoman in a different time in the story Dark Allegiances (1996). In this scenario, prostitute Selina Kyle becomes actress Kitty Grimalkin. In a tale filled with variations on Penguin, Joker, and Two-Face (a United States Senator sympathizing with Nazis), Kitty Grimalkin / Catwoman assists Bruce Wayne / Batman in foiling an assassination plot to kill FDR. A twist occurs at story’s end when Alfred Pennyworth, longtime confidant and butler of Bruce Wayne, joins the crime fighting team as Robin in 1940 war-torn Europe.
Elseworlds stories are graphic novels depicting a ‘what if...’ scenario. DC Comics, owner of the Batman franchise, describes Elseworlds.
In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places -- some that have existed or might have existed, and others that can’t couldn’t or shouldn’t exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow.
Some stories reveal the basis of Catwoman’s acrobatic agility. Catwoman’s lithe, graceful, and sensual moves on her nocturnal jaunts conjure up the highly skilled, incredibly challenging, and carefully practiced moves of the Dark Knight. In the graphic novels Batman: The Last Angel (1994) and Catwoman #0 (October 1994), the feline villainess’ acrobatic abilities derive from gymnastic training.
In the 1992 film Batman Returns, Michelle Pfeiffer skillfully offers another Catwoman interpretation. This film showcases Selina Kyle as a mousy, timid, bespectacled secretary for Gotham City mover and shaker Max Shreck, a department store magnate. Upon discovering Miss Kyle has knowledge of his ‘secret’ information, he asks her, What did curiosity do to the cat? Shreck answers his own question by pushing his secretary out a window to her apparent death and assumed eternal silence. Awnings -- adorned with the Shreck logo of a smiling cat -- break Selina’s fall. On the ground, cats nip and lick her, slowly bringing her back to life -- her second of nine.
At home, the newly empowered Selina Kyle fashions a home-made catsuit and destroys her ‘little girl’ items. She puts her stuffed animals in the waste disposal and she spray paints her doll house. A neon sign that once read Hello There now reads Hell Here.
Declarations reinforce the Catwoman conversion.
To her cat who is now more of a peer than a pet -- I don’t know about you, Miss Kitty, but I feel so much yummier.
To a mugger whom she prevents from attacking a woman much like her former self -- I am Catwoman! Hear me roar!
Salacious, sexual, and suggestive, the exchanges between Batman / Bruce Wayne and Catwoman / Selina Kyle indicate the relationship, further the link, and remain true to the historical connection between Batman and Catwoman.
Catwoman playfully, seductively, and provocatively asks Batman as she caressingly explores his Batsuit, Who are you? Who’s the man behind the bat? Maybe you can help me find the woman behind the cat. Throughout the film, hints of the hidden persist. One such example occurs when Bruce Wayne asks, You’ve got a dark side, don’t you? Selina Kyle responds, No darker than yours, Bruce.
At the film’s climax, after the characters learn each other’s nocturnal identities, Bruce appeals to Selina to forego her Catwoman persona in favor of a life together. He perceives their similar psychoses as a plus. We’re the same. We’re the same. Split. Right down the center. Catwoman prevails in the duel of dual identities. By the film’s end, Catwoman has lost eight of nine lives. The end scene shows her looking at the Bat Signal.
Halle Berry revived Catwoman for the silver screen in the 2004 film Catwoman.
Batmania
In the 1966 feature film Batman, a plainly adversarial relationship emerged between Catwoman and Batman. Played expertly, deliciously, and enticingly by former Miss America Lee Meriwether, Catwoman forms the feline part of a fearsome foursome -- United Underworld -- conspiring to take over the world.
Riddler, Penguin, and Joker provide the other prongs of this group, played respectively by Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith, and Cesar Romero. Catwoman takes the undercover persona of Kitka, a reporter for the Moscow Bugle. She plans to lure Bruce Wayne into a trap, specifically, a kidnapping trap as part of the world domination plan. She is not aware of Bruce Wayne’s Batman identity.
Correspondingly, Bruce Wayne falls in love with Kitka, unknowing to her real purpose. As usual, the protectors of Gotham City thwart the evil scheme, but not without a price. Batman discovers that his love interest and arch-enemy are indeed one and the same. His disappointment is clear. Robin utters a matching yet familiar-sounding phrase at this sudden shock of recognition. Holy heartbreak!
Ms. Meriwether recalls her feline foray. I had never seen any of the Catwoman episodes at that point, but I do recall seeing a clip of Julie Newmar as the character, with no sound. They were already filming the movie when I was cast. As I recall, we filmed in eighteen days. Except for the tight-fitting costume, the fast pace was the hardest thing, physically. But they really made it easy. Cesar Romero, who played Joker, took over immediately in setting the tone. In one major scene, you can actually see him guiding me into camera position. I had so much fun!
From an acting standpoint, Catwoman didn’t affect my career as much as the Miss America title. When I read for parts, casting directors and producers were surprised, often saying, Hey, she can act!
Batman debuted in theaters during the summer of 1966, about six months after the Batman television series premiered on January 12, 1966 to skyrocketing success. In Total Television, Alex McNeil describes the television show. Visually, it should be remembered for its comic book look, achieved by the use of bright colors, slanted camera angles, and by the use of such words as ‘Pow!’ and ‘Smash’ that were flashed on the screen during fight scenes.
In the Batman show, two actresses portrayed Catwoman, arguably the sexiest vixen in television history. One was statuesque, gorgeous, and seductive, the other was slinky, sinuous, and hypnotizing.
Julie Newmar portrayed Catwoman as a hauntingly attractive counterpart to Batman, giving pause to wonder, upon each encounter, if the Caped Crusader might be tempted to the criminal element by the alluring villainess. Arguably, Ms. Newmar’s Catwoman established the most realistic rogue on the series inasmuch as the audience could actually believe the actress and character to be one and the same. Newmar did not merely portray just another villain in an outlandish costume. Rather, she went one step further. She illustrates this view in the 1989 compendium Batmania by James Van Hise.
To play it for laughs, for sport, would spoil it. To have been merely camp would, I feel, have shortchanged the audience. In theater they say that you suspend reality. You have to forget that I am an actress and there has to be enough truth in it so that you will go to this imaginary place with me. In other words, if I, the actress, don’t believe that I am the Catwoman, then neither will you.
Julie Newmar also looks at the sexual aspect of Catwoman in Batmania. She reveals her desire to push the Catwoman-Batman attraction further. I think the Catwoman should have been pure villain. Even though the romance she felt for Batman worked, it was never a full-blown romance. It was a wished-for romance. You know, she either fell down a pit or got sent to jail or something happened to her. I always thought she should have, at most, just teased him; not been falling in love with him. There’s a difference, you know, like the way cats tease birds. She should have led him on and always been in command, except at the end, of course.
Newmar’s unavailability to continue the role left the Batman team in search of a third actress to portray Catwoman. Logically, Lee Meriwether would have been the obvious choice, but she had a conflict because of her role as Dr. Ann MacGregor on The Time Tunnel (ABC, 1966-67).
Catwoman’s third depiction in the pop art Batverse came via the appropriately named Eartha Kitt. In Kitt’s version, Catwoman constantly moved as if she were on the prowl, whereas with Newmar, one felt as if Catwoman enchanted Batman to her. Kitt’s Catwoman stint often gets short shrift when discussion of available roles for minority actors and actresses, or lack thereof, arises. Arguably, Kitt enjoys the distinction of being the first multiracial performer to play an empowered character.
I played Catwoman as very mischievous. She doesn’t really let you know what she’s thinking. Cats are great teasers. I love cats. I moved like a cat. Working on Batman was very fun. Pierre Salinger [JFK’s Press Secretary] was in one of my episodes. As I recall, there was not much rehearsal. It was very spontaneous.
Today, generations of Batfans hold Kitt in the highest of feline regard. Her sexy growl, cat-like moves, and purring voice still hold up decades later. In the latter part of her career, Kitt became a forceful, captivating, and zealous presence on the nightclub circuit.
Kitt viewed the sustained success of the television Catwomen through an analytical lens.
By the mid-1960’s, people were tired of the goody-goody girls, like housewives. They wanted something new.
When asked to define the difference between the two television portrayals, Stanley Ralph Ross, writer of all the Catwoman episodes, summarized.
Julie was lithe. Eartha was kittenish.
Ross also recounted his experience in Batmania. He recalled a now legendary Newmar line.
I liked to write the Catwoman shows because I wrote this underlying sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman. At one point, she almost convinced him to marry her, and they were going to go off and fight crime. She said, ‘We’ll make a marvelous pair, Batman. You know how to catch criminals. I understand how the criminal mind works. We’ll get married. We’ll fight crime together. I’m totally reformed.’ And Batman said, ‘What about Robin?’ And she replied, ‘Robin? We’ll kill him.’ I liked that.
Batman & Catwoman: Partners in Crime
Although Batman refused a criminal partnership offer in Batman #1, the scenario materialized in Catwoman Annual #3 (1996) with twists, turns, and new takes on Gotham City notables. Catwoman and Batman began their criminal dynasty with acts of thievery and the much-loved and highly revered Joker was just an ordinary police officer.
Selina Kyle seduced Bruce Wayne into marriage and crime with a genius ability to manipulate him. It reflects heavily throughout the story. For example, after stealing formulas from Wayne Enterprises’ rival company, Corwin Chemicals, Selina Kyle assures her husband. Leave everything to me. After all, didn’t I bring your business back from the brink of bankruptcy? Just sit back and play along, and I’ll turn Wayne Enterprises into a Fortune 100 company in no time. You’ll be the youngest Fortune 100 CEO in history.
In the Corwin robbery, Catwoman kicked Officer Jock Bozer into a chemical bath. It caused a physical transformation of Bozer -- green hair, white face, permanent smile. The Joker.
This turn of events mirrors other stories depicting the Joker’s origin -- The Man Behind the Hood story in Detective Comics #168 (February 1951), the graphic novel The Killing Joke (1988), the feature film Batman (1989). In Catwoman Annual #3, however, the Joker dedicates his life to pursuing the criminal element.
Officer Jock Bozer lived through his chemical bath to become an icon, a symbol of the evil that consumes Catwoman. He became more determined than ever to rid Gotham of the criminal element. In his enthusiasm, he came up with some unique methods of capturing criminals.
This -- plus his theatrical appearance -- earned him the nickname Joker. He was so loved by the people -- and such an effective law enforcement official -- that eventually Joker became Police Commissioner.
In all his years on the force, he had only one unsolved case: the mystery of Catwoman and Batman, who were by now the most notorious criminals in Gotham history...and a monkey on Joker’s back.
When a Gotham Globe reporter named Nigma gets too close to figuring the Waynes’ secret, Batman and Catwoman go after him with the Joker not far behind. Catwoman utilizes a mind-altering device on Nigma as the Joker and his men narrowly miss their chance of capture. In fact, the device has a different effect than Catwoman anticipated. Nigma explains to Joker.
Apparently my capacity for analytical and deductive reasoning has been tremendously heightened.
While being checked out of a hospital, Nigma also informs the doctor of his newly found ability.
Not smarter. Merely able to process information and draw conclusions more quickly and efficiently than before.
The hospital staff has a nickname for its patient -- Riddler.
Catwoman and Batman blow up a Corwin chemical tanker. Consequently, Wayne Enterprises’ value skyrockets because the company has a chemical compound to neutralize the toxic spillover.
Riddler deduces the identities of Catwoman and Batman and leads the Joker to the Wayne home. Joker finds the Waynes’ son, Richard Grayson Kyle Wayne (‘Dick’) in an upset state. Dick also figured out his parents’ secret criminal life. The discovery triggers an unresolved confrontation, unbelievable anguish, and an embarrassment in him matched only by his rage.
Dick leads the Joker et. al. to the secret underground cave where a violent face-off occurs. While Batman dies in the crossfire, his partner’s death proves even more dramatic. As Catwoman is about to shoot Joker, Dick kills her. The narrative explains the consequences.
In spite of ongoing counseling, he experienced a renewed sense of guilt when faced with the wealth of a lifetime of crime. He needed an outlet for his grief and guilt. Only as Nightwing could Dick atone for the evils committed by his mother and father.
Batman and Catwoman: Partners in Love
Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle realize their mutual emotional bond in The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne, a story narrated by the title character. It takes place in an alternate universe, Earth-Two, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (1983). When Batman’s nemesis Scarecrow a.k.a. Jonathan Crane is paroled, he begins a reign of terror with a gas that causes hallucinations and triggers Batman’s deepest subconscious fear -- autophobia. The fear of being alone.
Batman reaches out to friends, unfortunately, to no avail. He cannot see or hear Robin, Batwoman a.k.a. Kathy Kane, Gotham City Police Commissioner Gordon, or butler Alfred Pennyworth. Even a call to Metropolis is met with silence, not the familiar voices of his married friends, Mr. and Mrs. Clark Kent.
Scarecrow realizes the impact of his work in inner thought. The more you search for your friends, the more hopeless it will seem...and the deeper into delusion you will sink -- so deep you shall never escape!
With no friends to turn to, Batman tries an enemy. Catwoman. Offering her a chance at parole if she helps him, Catwoman agrees. Notably, the story revives, revitalizes, and revises Catwoman’s origin. It alludes carefully to the details in previous versions. When Catwoman lets slip that she ‘became’ the Catwoman, Batman challenges her story about a plane crash giving her amnesia. In this alleged state of mind, she supposedly forgot about her Selina Kyle identity, started a clean slate, and cultivated an elite member status among Gotham City’s criminal element.
Catwoman recalls how Batman first knew her as a jewel thief called The Cat. She fleshes out some unknown details.
Selina Kyle was The Cat for more than two years, since the end of her marriage to a wealthy, abusive husband. Batman’s first encounter with The Cat occurred at this time.
When I divorced him, he responded...by using his connections to try and ruin me financially, professionally, emotionally! She responded by attacking her husband’s Achilles Heel -- his material goods. She stole them. It felt so good. It was so easy to continue...to convince myself that I deserved the things I stole, because of all the pain I’d been through.
In a sense, Catwoman and Batman are mirrors of each other. Their costumes, actions, and statements cloak their true feelings. Batman realizes their similarity. Funny. We both chose our paths out of anger...and we both found ourselves trapped. You lost Selina Kyle, and I lost...someone else. But you found a way out, and I...don’t know how to get out.
Shortly, Batman dances perilously close to the edge of madness. Crane’s induced hallucinations convince him that his friends, allies, and acquaintances no longer exist. Further, Batman acquires allurophobia, fear of felines, with Catwoman suffering from a corresponding fear of bats, chiroptophobia. A desperate, exasperated, and weak Catwoman reaches out to Batman. Don’t you see? All your life you’ve been terrified of losing anyone else the way you lost your parents! So you created a world for yourself -- a world of conflict and confrontation -- a world where no one could ever get that close again! Crane’s using that fear, can’t you see?
Catwoman and Batman take off their masks, literally, symbolically, and figuratively. They fight the fear created by Scarecrow. An embrace finalizes their affection, thereto never fully realized. Marriage results. Scarecrow is defeated.
Batmanimation
To be thorough, one must include mention of animated versions of Catwoman. In the story From Catwoman With Love from The Batman / Superman Hour (CBS, 1968-69), the connection between Batman and Catwoman is simply one of good guy vs. bad girl. Echoing the 1966 Batman film, the quartet of Catwoman, Joker, Penguin, and Riddler try to outwit Batman and Robin. The villains send the Dynamic Duo a gift for Valentine’s Day. Upon determining the first three gifts to be booby traps, Batman and Robin figure Catwoman’s gift of a cat to be harmless. Curious, but harmless. Robin dubs the cat ‘Valentina.’
In fact, a chemical coats the cat’s fur. The chemical has the ability to give off radio waves, thereby allowing Catwoman to commit crimes while knowing the location of Batman and Robin. Knowledge is power. She can elude their pursuit with knowledge of their whereabouts.
The Dynamic Duo figure out Catwoman’s plan and ultimately capture her, albeit with the help of Batgirl a.k.a. Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Commissioner Gordon’s daughter.
Batman: The Animated Series (FOX, 1992-95) attempted to update Catwoman. In this incarnation, Selina Kyle is an animal rights activist and a realistic, alluring, romantic interest possibility for Bruce Wayne. In the episode Perchance to Dream (Original Airdate: October 19, 1992), the mismatched pair actually gets engaged. Adrienne Barbeau voiced Catwoman.
Mismatch
In summary, the relationship between Catwoman and Batman has been one of friction, attraction, and confusion. Their interplay gets increasingly sophisticated throughout the decades. The Princess of Plunder and the Dark Knight have crossed paths in various venues and on several levels, all of which contribute to the history, interpretations, and attraction of the characters.
A certain foe-friend connection exhibits in the stories. It provides a continuity harkening back to Catwoman’s first appearance as The Cat in Batman #1.
Catwoman: Defiant (1992), the first graphic novel to feature the feline criminal, and the graphic novel Batman: The Last Angel (1994) provide good examples of this adversary-attracction dichotomy.
Perhaps two short stories from The Further Adventures of Batman, Volume 3 (1993) best detail both characters’ views regarding each other, such inner thoughts leading not to resolution, but to even more confusion.
In Creatures of Habit, Paul Kupperberg explores Catwoman’s thoughts, feelings, and confusion about Batman. She couldn’t trust herself with anything that had to do with the Caped Crusader. The man who knew her better, she was sure at that moment, than she knew herself. The man who could overwhelm her; if not physically, then emotionally. She had believed herself capable of overcoming the very thing that had sustained her all these years. Batman knew differently. He knew how her mind worked, even how her own efforts would work against her.
Batman’s duality in pursuing Catwoman evidences in Gotham City Spring: a suite by Mort Castle. And he wanted to make her yowl. He wanted to claim her, to tame her, and make her his, and for an inarticulate instant he understood age-old combat between men and women, understood John Wayne, understood misogyny and a half-dozen other issues that are endlessly blathered about on talk programs hosted by the drippingly sensitve. She was the Woman Animal and he WANTED her and she scared the HELL out of him!
So, will Batman and Catwoman ever fully resolve their ever-changing, always-evolving, never-simple relationship?
Purrrhaps....