When it comes to superhero couples, none are more famous (or in this case infamous), than that of Batman and Catwoman. Debuting a year after Batman in 1940, Catwoman is the most well-known woman to ever capture the heart of the Dark Knight. Over the years, Catwoman has been challenged by several other women, such as Talia al Ghul and even Black Canary, in the fight for Batman’s affection. In the end, Catwoman still stands out as his most recognized love interest.
However, while Catwoman and Bruce do have an unconditional love for one another, this does not mean that their relationship is perfect. Over the years, their status as a couple has been affected by several unfortunate circumstances.
For Catwoman, she has proven that she is willing to go to great lengths to keep Batman safe, even if it means risking her life or even the lives of others. On the other hand, due to Batman living on the opposite side of the law from Catwoman, he always seems to find a way to hurt her - either by direct or indirect means.
Here is a list of 15 of the Most Despicable Things That Batman Has Done To Catwoman!
15. He Almost Cheated On Her With Wonder Woman
Batman #39, shortly after announcing his engagement with Selina, Batman is approached by Wonder Woman. She reminds him of the promise they made with the Gentle Man, a warrior who protects their dimension from being invaded by inter-dimensional demons.
Both agree to allow him one day of rest by taking his place in fighting against the demons. However, he fails to mention to them that one day on Earth is equal to years in the alternate dimension. After spending ten years wondering if they were abandoned, Wonder Woman and Batman begin to develop feelings for one another. At the end of the issue and picking up in Batman #40, Batman and Wonder Woman almost kiss before stopping at the last minute.
Although he stops himself, this does not change the fact that Batman actually thought of kissing her instead of outright refusing her.
14. He’s Arrested And Sent Her To Prison... Several Times
While Batman and Selina have enjoyed a flirtatious, and on several occasions intimate relationships, they both operate on opposite sides of the law.
As a result, following several of their confrontations, Batman sometimes ends up having to arrest her. As the defender of Gotham, Batman is honor-bound to stop all criminals and bring them to justice, even if he has feelings for them.
Regardless of their romantic history, there are times when Batman puts his emotions aside to bring Selina in. This was especially common for the Golden Age version of both characters. Over time, the moments when Batman arrests Catwoman have greatly decreased.
Sometimes him arresting her puts her in even more danger. For example, in Batman: Rebirth, Batman arrests her for incapacitating terrorists, which earns her a sentence to succumb to lethal injection (this will be discussed more in a later entry).
13. All the times he fought her
During their many years together, Batman has often clashed with Catwoman after he catches her in the midst of committing or fleeing the scene of a crime. Sometimes the altercations they engage in are just their strange way of flirting with one another.
Under more serious circumstances, their fights become much more dangerous to the point where both Batman and Catwoman can cause actual physical harm to each other. Regardless of their feelings, Batman does not hold back and always goes all out, despite the harm it could cause to Selina.
As a result, there have been times when Batman’s attacks on Selina have been so ruthless they rendered her unconscious. Some even being so severe that he almost ends her life in the process.
12. Put Her At Risk By Revealing His Identity To Her
After fighting alongside her for many years, Batman decides to take the next step in his relationship with Selina. Eventually, he decides he can trust Selina with anything, including his secret identity.
While this act demonstrates an unbreakable bond of trust between them, it also leaves Catwoman vulnerable to new dangers. By sharing his identity with her, Batman ends up leaving Selina at risk of attacks from his enemies.
While she is strong on her own, even she has her limits. Her situation becomes so bad that even Talia al Ghul, her rival for Batman’s affection, intervenes to save her. After rescuing her, Talia takes matters into her own hands to save Catwoman from further threats. She even turns to Zatanna to wipe Selina’s memories, although Zatanna ends up refusing Talia's request.
11. He Made Her A target For Hush
Simply being close to Bruce has gotten Selina caught in the crossfires of those who want him to suffer. One of the more dangerous examples was when she becomes the target of the villain Hush, who has a vendetta against Bruce.
In Batman: Heart of Hush storyline, Hush goes after Batman by targeting Selina, fully aware of his feelings for her. He surgically removes her heart and hooks her up to a machine to keep her alive. It was all for the sake of satisfying his revenge against Batman before an organization called the Black Glove could claim his life.
When Batman final retrieves her heart, he chooses to chase after Hush and task one of his allies with returning Selina's heart for him. While Hush is dangerous, Batman should have brought the heart to Selina himself, rather than ask one of his allies to do it for him.
10. He abandons her when she's surrounded in a fight
In Batman: The Telltale series, Batman must make a series of choices which determine the future events in the game. One of the outcomes that gets influenced is his relationship with Selina.
After the Penguin captures Harvey Dent, both Batman and Catwoman arrive to rescue him. During their confrontation, Catwoman becomes surrounded by the Children of Arkham.
If the player decides to save Harvey, they will leave Catwoman alone to fend for herself. She soon ends up getting overwhelmed by their numbers. Thankfully he does end up saving her before things get even more out of hand. Although Batman saves him, Harvey is still doomed to become Two-Face. In this case, he could have certainly put her first instead of letting her get injured.
Then again, even that outcome is not as bad as other decisions that occur later in the game.
9. He insults her
In another chapter of Batman: The Telltale series, Batman must decide on a course of action as Selina leaves Gotham. The choice that the player makes ultimately decides the fate of Batman and Selina’s relationship.
Sadly, one of the options is to call Selina just another thief. When Bruce says this, it causes immense emotional pain to Selina. Considering that the player may have also decided to sleep with her early on, the impact of this statement is all the more crushing.
Following this decision, Selina leaves Gotham, and it's implied that she never contacts him again. Considering these circumstances, it's cold to call Selina just another thief, even though she risks her life to help Batman, regardless of his noble intentions.
8. He Often Chooses Talia Over Her
Despite her criminal status, Catwoman is still a better love interest for Batman than Talia al Ghul. As her rival for Batman’s affections, Talia al Ghul is far more savage and ruthless than she can ever be.
As the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, she commands an army of assassins, and goes to great lengths to achieve her father’s ambitions. Her list of transgressions against Batman include medicating him and then taking advantage of him to conceive their son Damian. If that is not enough, she then lies to him that about losing their child, and then raises Damian to be an assassin. When Damian ends up choosing Batman over her, she creates the clone Heretic who later incapacitates him.
Catwoman would never go to such lengths to hurt Batman. Unfortunately, due to their history together, it is almost impossible for him to completely abandon his feelings for Talia.
7. He Makes Her A Target For The Joker
In the The Dark Knight Returns storyline, Batman comes out of retirement to deal with the rising crime rate in Gotham. By putting back on the cowl, Batman keeps the peace, but also brings about a terrible event in the process.
In the aftermath of his resurgence, the news of his return reaches the ears of a retired Joker who had been in a catatonic state since he disappeared. When he hears of his return, the Joker also decides to come out of retirement and goes on a crime spree. One of the casualties of his rampage is none other than Selina Kyle.
Unlike Bruce, Selina has not aged well at all and is easily taken down and humiliated by the Joker. She is eventually found by Batman tied up, gagged and hurt in a Wonder Woman costume. If Batman had remained retired, the Joker wouldn't have attacked her.
6. He Dishonored Her Memory
Normally, Batman would do anything to keep Catwoman safe, and in some cases get retribution for her. However, things take a much darker turn in Dark Nights: Metal.
In the events of The Batman Who Laughs, Joker goes on a full-out rampage in Gotham after learning that he has a terminal illness. During his mass crime spree, he ends up doing away with all the villains of Batman’s rogue gallery, including Catwoman. In the end, Batman gets retribution for her, and the rest of Joker’s victims by ending his life. Unfortunately, his decision to defeat Joker unleashes a series of events that lead him to becoming a new version of the Joker, The Batman Who Laughs.
For someone who loved Catwoman when she was alive, there is no greater insult to her memory than assuming the identity of the man responsible for her end.
5. He Claims That She Does Not Care About Anyone But Herself
In the prequel series Gotham, Bruce and Selina’s relationship constantly deviates between being friends and a couple.
After being abandoned by her mother, Selina was forced to survive on her own in the streets of Gotham. Due to her upbringing, she has difficulty trusting others, which also makes it difficult for her to be more than friends with Bruce, despite the latter’s attempts to earn her trust.
However, in the season 3 finale, their roles are reversed. After Alfred is seriously injured by Bruce, Selina rushes to the hospital to see how they are doing. In his moment of grief, Bruce does not see her actions as kind. Instead, he takes offense to the idea that she believes he deserves her pity, and angrily claims that she only cares about herself. Saddened and hurt, Selina leaves as their relationship once again crumbles, quite possibly for good.
4. He pretended to like her
One of the worst things Batman has done to Catwoman was take advantage of her feelings. In Batman #15, Catwoman impersonates a cosmetologist in her latest scheme to adopt the identities of her clients and steal their valuables. During a pageant, Bruce recognizes her and ends up in a relationship with him.
After a few days, Bruce quickly announces his plan to marry her. Selina is so enamored by her love for Bruce, that she even tells him her intention to give up crime for good.
However, once she met his former fiancée Linda Page, Selina becomes suspicious. After posing as Linda, she learns that Bruce had no real interest in her and only dated her because Batman asked him to, believing that it would help her to reform. Heartbroken, Selina reassumes the mantle of Catwoman, and returns to a life of crime.
3. He Makes Her Jealous Until She Gets Physical
In Batman Vol. 1 #355, Bruce decides to resume his romantic relationship with Vicki Vale. Unfortunately, once news of their relationship reaches Selina, she becomes emotionally distraught. Perceiving his actions as a betrayal, Selina plots her revenge against him.
She becomes so consumed by jealousy that she even goes so far as to hurt the pair. She soon comes to regret her actions after she crashes into Bruce’s car, sending him and Vicki into a river. However, she soon disappears after Bruce refuses her attempts to help them.
Eventually, they clash once again, but Bruce allows her to vent her anger and frustration out on him. In the end, Batman apologizes for the role he played in hurting her. Unfortunately, this does little to save his and Selina’s relationship.
2. He Arrests Her
In Batman: Rebirth, a new origin story for Catwoman was introduced. In this version, she is a terrible criminal responsible for ending the lives of over 200 people. Thankfully, her victims were terrorists. She hunts them down after they bombed the orphanage she grew up in, hurting mostly children.
After being stopped by Batman, she is sent to prison and awaits a sentence to succumb to lethal injection. If that was not enough, Batman encounters a threat that he cannot stop on his own and seeks out Waller for additional information. He soon decides to assemble his own version of the Suicide Squad. Catwoman is among the candidates he recruits.
To recap, after getting her arrested, he then recruits her into a team that has a high mortality rate. Not exactly one of his best moments.
1. He Attacks Her When She Tries To Save The Joker
In Batman Vol. 1 # 614, following the end of one of his closest friends, Batman attacks the Joker, not aware that he is innocent of that specific crime. After he catches him, Batman assaults the Joker, despite his pleas for mercy.
When she sees that the man she loves is about to take things too far, Selina steps in to stop him. After he ignores her, she attempts to use more forceful means of persuasion. Despite her good intentions, Batman is too overcome with rage and retaliates by punching her in the shoulder.
More specifically, he targets a gunshot wound she received moments before to deliver a blow strong enough to incapacitate her. Even if Batman did not end the Joker's life, he still crossed a line by harming Catwoman in such a way.
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Do any of the things Batman has done to Catwoman surprise you? Let us know in the comments!