Heroes in comic books are, needless to say, heroic. If Batman were to spot a robbery, he would swoop down and stop it. It is expected of him since he is a hero. Despite how dark and grim he portrays himself, we all know that he is a hero at heart. If Catwoman were to spot a robbery, she would either let the thief go about their business or would join in on the theft with just as much of a likelihood as her stopping the crime. And this quality of hers makes Catwoman one heck of a character.
She used to be one of Batman’s villains, but as time passed and her character grew, Catwoman became one of his closest allies. Not only that, but she became the premiere love interest in his life. (Vicki who?) Catwoman is one of the most interesting heroes in comic books because she’s not really a hero. She tries to do the right thing in many situations, but her methods leave much to be desired. Her status as an antiheroine makes her unique in a universe where heroes are heroes and villains are villains. And she looks absolutely gorgeous as she works in her morally grey way.
Obviously, Catwoman is a very appealing character. For those of us who have played D&D, we would say that her alignment is Chaotic Good, and those kinds of characters are always the most engaging. They struggle to do what’s right, and their belief in freedom for all gets them into trouble, but they’re likable. Characters like that feel human in ways that straight-up heroes never do. We’re not saying that humans can’t be heroes; we’re saying that sometimes life is tough and you don’t always make the right choices. But that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. Catwoman tries, and while she might not always succeed, we love her anyways. Here’s a list of the most unbelievable things that have happened to this unbelievably great character.
20 Parental Issues
With a career like Catwoman’s, it makes sense that her childhood was not all gumdrops and roses. Selina Kyle is a thief who steals to survive and a fighter that has to hold her own against tougher opponents. A person like that did not have a coddled youth. Her mother, Maria Kyle, was a distracted woman who liked cats (she must have passed on this affinity to Selina). Her husband, Brian Kyle, was on the abusive side. Eventually, Maria ended her own life, the worst form of child abandonment. Brian grew to dislike Selina because she looked so much like her mother, and he was terribly angry at Maria for killing herself. He ended up killing himself also, by way of excessive drinking. He drank himself to death. All things considered, Selina didn’t turn out too bad.
19 A Nun For A Sister
Selina may have left her home to become a cat burglar, but her sister chose a completely different path. Magdalene Kyle, also known as Maggie, joined a convent and became a nun. She and Selina are total opposites. Where Selina wanted revenge for wrongs done to her, Maggie preached mercy. Or at least she did, before she was taken by Black Mask. Black Mask, a crime lord of epic proportions, captured Maggie in order to threaten Catwoman. Selina manages to rescue Maggie, but not before Black Mask tortures her enough to send her to a mental hospital. He took Maggie’s husband as well, and forced her to eat his eyeballs. Maggie is left understandably insane from the whole experience. She blames Catwoman for the horrors visited upon her.
18 Living Without A Heart
If you need any evidence of how much trauma Selina can survive, look no farther than Batman: Heart of Hush. In this storyline, Hush, one of Batman’s villains who knows the most about his life, knocks out Selina Kyle and surgically removes her heart, leaving her barely alive and hooked up to numerous machines. With an intimate knowledge of Bruce Wayne and his loved ones, Hush knew that Selina Kyle was the love of Bruce’s life, so that’s why he targeted her specifically. Batman, with the help of some super friends, is able to retrieve Selina’s heart and place it back in her body. As she recovers from her ordeal, Batman admits to her that she is the one woman who holds a special place in his heart.
17 Scooby-Don’t, Please
Comic books occasionally do what are called crossovers, where characters from different universes meet up and have adventures together. Sometimes, this can be quite epic. Imagine Superman and Spider-man teaming up to save the day in a mega-heroic fashion. That’s cool, right? Other times, it can be downright ridiculous. Catwoman was part of a story with Scooby and the gang. Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn call on Mystery Inc. to help them solve the mystery of why a ghost is haunting this relic they found. Turns out, Catwoman wanted to steal it, which is why she… dressed up as a ghost and… tried to scare… away… (Sigh.) Okay, look, clearly not all comics are going to be gems.
16 Saving Big Bane
After he infamously breaks Batman’s back, Bane begins to run Gotham. He tries hiring Catwoman to do his bidding, but Catwoman prefers being a free agent; she is no one’s goon. Bane decides to try figuring out her real identity, a big no-no in super hero etiquette. (Then again, Bane’s no hero.) When he fails to find this out, he makes the decision to lead an assassin who wants to kill him onto Catwoman’s trail. The assassin blows up Catwoman’s apartment, which then instigates Selina’s search for the man. She travels all the way to Santa Prisca, and while she’s tracking him, she saves the life of the dictator of Santa Prisca, who sets her up quite nicely. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
15 It’s A Crime
DC Comics has made themselves famous for parallel Earths, alternate timelines, reality-shifting crises, and story renewals. While it does allow creators more freedom to place their characters in new and exciting situations, it can get confusing. The backgrounds of characters are not set in stone if one writer says their history is one thing and another writer says it is something else. Catwoman is one of those characters affected by these changes. One of her backgrounds made her a woman of the night looking for a better life, which is why she turned to crime. Selina Kyle observed Batman dressing up and making a difference, and she was inspired to do the same. Some might not be comfortable with having this be her former profession.
14 Crime Boss Catgirl
It’s a superhero fad to acquire a sidekick, one we thought Catwoman might be immune to. She had friends who would help her out and land her jobs, but we never thought she would saddle herself with responsibility of having a young follower. But Selina fell into the same trend. Meet Kitrina Falcone, the daughter of Carmine Falcone, the head of the Falcone crime family. She’s an odd choice of sidekick, given that she’s a part of the Falcone family, but she does her part in bringing them down a notch or two. She’s a thief on par with Selina, but her age and her recklessness make her a danger to herself and others. The rest of the Bat family don’t believe she has what it takes, and they struggle to bring her down to a normal life.
13 Childhood Romance
The idea for the Gotham television series was a fantastic one. A story that centered on a young Jim Gordon dealing with the beginnings of what will eventually become Batman’s hall of villains is intriguing. And with Catwoman as such a pivotal character in the Batman universe, she had to make an appearance. A young Selina Kyle works as a street thief in the show, and while she’s going about her business one night, she witnesses the killing of Bruce Wayne’s parents. This initiates her acquaintance with Bruce, and the two of them form a friendship that sometimes trails into a romance. It is an interesting dynamic to watch, and we can only hope it progresses as the show goes on.
12 The White Slave Trade
The white slave trade began to dabble in Gotham, and one buyer was heavily interested in purchasing Catwoman. When Selina is cajoled into stealing a cat statue from a museum, she chooses to rise to the bait. However, the whole thing is a setup by the white slave trade to capture her. She is ambushed and, along with police detective Sarah Essen and reporter Vivki Vale, captured. Working together, the three women are able to fight their way free with the help of an army of cats called by Selina (not kidding about the army of cats). The story ends on a good note for Selina because she ends up keeping the cat statue she was dared to steal.
11 Feline Attraction
In many iterations of herself, Catwoman is not just a thief who dresses up as a leather cat chick. In Batman Returns and in Catwoman, the Catwoman is created by the gift of kitty resurrection. (We have no idea how kitty resurrection works. In Batman Returns, the cats just seemed to run by her and scratch her a bit before she’s brought back to life, and in Catwoman, a cat belches in her face.) It’s clear to anyone who has taken notice of Catwoman’s many stories, that she has a special affinity with cats which has helped her out on many occasions. Cats seem to love her, and she loves cats. If being beloved of cats gives you some of the abilities she has, it is a wonder we don’t have more cat ladies as super heroes.
10 A Fat Madam In Old Age
Everyone ages. We don’t like to think about it, especially when it comes to our beloved comic book characters, but it is a sad fact of life. And as people age, their bodies age with them. The lusciously curvaceous Catwoman had to succumb to the detriments of old age as much as us normal, non-fictitious people. In Frank Miller’s look at the dark future in his The Dark Knight Returns, we find out that Selina Kyle has gained some pounds and more than a few white hairs. And not only are her looks changed, her profession has too. In the story, she is a madam. If you do not know what that means, Google will help you.
9 Living Cozy With Harley And Ivy
You wouldn’t think that villains could get along so easily, but when Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy decided to live together, it was a trio made in heaven. Each of their attributes counterbalanced the attributes of the others. They might not always have been in sync, but I do think that they cared for each other in their own way. However, before they settled in together, Ivy and Harley played a nasty trick on Selina. Using her precious plants, Poison Ivy makes a truth powder and puffs it onto Selina so that she can interrogate her about the identity of Batman. Luckily for Catwoman and Batman, Catwoman was taught methods to prevent just such a thing from happening. Close one.
8 Big Mistakes
Okay. We don’t want to sound offensive, but sometimes, the truth hurts. Catwoman, starring Halle Berry, is the worst depiction of Catwoman we’ve ever seen. And I’m including the Catwoman who was the culprit in a Scooby-Doo mystery in that verdict as well. First off, the manner in which she became Catwoman was absurd. Mystical cat breath has never, and probably will never, be the best way to acquire strength, agility, and flexibility. At least the Catwoman in the comics trained to become the skilled combatant that she is. Patience Phillips is no Selina Kyle. She exhibits a split personality disorder after that insane cat magic, and we all kind of wish that she wouldn’t rub catnip on her face like that. And her big battle was against a makeup company?!
7 Best Proposal Ever
We love it when the will-they/won’t-they couple finally gets together, and Batman and Catwoman didn’t disappoint us. When Bruce decides to propose to Selina, he does so in the absolute best way possible. When they first met in this storyline, Catwoman had been stealing a diamond on a boat. Batman was later able to recover it. And then he bought it. Why? Because, he explained, even back then, he knew. As he tells this to her in the rain on a rooftop, he gets down on one knee and shows her that very same diamond mounted on a ring. Then he asks her to marry him. The squeal of excitement rang throughout the cosmos. But of course the issue ended, and we had to wait to find out Selina’s answer. Spoiler: she says yes.
6 Bouncing Baby Helena
In some storylines, Catwoman becomes pregnant with Batman’s baby. It would have been pretty tough to raise a baby and continue a life of costumed vigilantism, so Selina secludes herself and her daughter away, letting her long-time friend Holly Robinson take of the mantle of Catwoman. Selina names her daughter Helena. Helena grows up to become the costumed hero, Huntress. Confusingly, she’s not the only Huntress. During one of the crises, Helena Wayne’s Huntress dies and is erased from history. She is then replaced by Helena Bertinelli, who takes up the name of Huntress too. So there are two Helenas who were both Huntresses. Thank you for that, Crisis on Infinite Earths.
5 A Justice League Member
In The New 52, Catwoman was not only given her own series, she was also given a spot on the new Justice League of America, not to be confused with the Justice League. So the Justice League, comprised of Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash, Batman, and Cyborg, created their group all by themselves. As a response to this self-proclaimed league of heroes, Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor, two American government officials, created the Justice League of America. Members joined in order to fight against superhuman threats, but Waller and Trevor formed the group as a possible response team to fight against the original Justice League. Catwoman was chosen to fight against Batman if needs be.
4 A Weak Link
As one of the select few who know of Batman’s secret identity, Catwoman has become a target for those who want to hurt him. She can handle herself usually, but sometimes villains have more force at their disposal. One time, Catwoman finds herself taken and in danger, all for the sake of Batman’s identity. This causes Talia al Ghul, a former paramour of Batman’s, to become alarmed. After Selina is rescued, Talia insists to Zatanna, a magician who has also had dalliances with the Dark Knight, that Selina knowing Batman’s identity is a danger. She tries to convince Zatanna to wipe Selina’s mind of Bruce. Thankfully, Zatanna refuses.
3 The Best Workplace In The World
Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was not the only person in the Bat Family to learn his skills at a circus. Catwoman spent some of her youth at a carnival, learning to utilize her flexibility and agility in a fight. In one of her backstories, she was a pickpocket, and she tried to pickpocket a crowd at a carnival. The owner of the carnival caught her, but instead of punishing her, he allowed her to join the carnival. She learned contortionism, gymnastics, and some base-level magic tricks. When she had learned all she could and when the owner of the carnival passed away, she took her skills to Gotham, continuing her life of crime in a more professional manner.
2 Death Of A BFF
Holly Robinson was a long-time friend of Selina Kyle’s. Though her iterations might have changed, their friendship has endured. In some stories she is Selina’s fence, finding her jobs and getting her money; in others, she is a woman of the night alongside Selina, slowly moving up in the world with her. In one storyline, Catwoman left an expensive item in Holly’s care. Holly then entrusted it to her husband. Their house explodes, killing Holly in the process. She dies in Catwoman’s arms. Selina uncovers that the explosion was created by Holly’s husband so that he could keep the riches himself. However, Holly’s death was erased from history, and it was one of those alterations we’re glad happened.
1 A Love For The Ages
Selina lives in a morally grey world; she’s said this herself. And she knows that Batman’s world consists of right and wrong, and lines that should never be crossed. Despite their differences, Batman and Catwoman have forged a romance that has lasted across ages and dimension-altering crises. The darkness inside each of them calls out for an end to the loneliness, and no matter how much they might try to deny it, they are good for each other. Batman pulls Catwoman toward the light, and Catwoman drags Batman out of his isolation. Despite thousands of contenders for his affections, Catwoman has come out on top as Batman’s number one love interest.
