How The Batman's Catwoman Can Improve On The Dark Knight Rises

How can Zoë Kravitz's Catwoman improve upon The Dark Knight Rises' version of the feline fatale in The Batman? Production might've been temporarily halted due to a worldwide pandemic, but with every detail that emerges from Matt Reeves' upcoming Batman movie, the project becomes ever more intriguing. Originally part of the DCEU continuity and starring Ben Affleck, The Batman now appears to be a standalone story featuring Robert Pattinson in the title role. Plot details remain scarce at present, but confirmed characters include Paul Dano as The Riddler, Colin Farrell as The Penguin and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth. Another exciting casting is Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, more commonly known as Catwoman.

Gotham City's resident cat burglar has been well-represented in Batman's big screen adventures. The iconic iteration of the character came in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, played by Michelle Pfeiffer who would define the role of Catwoman in live action. Lee Meriwether took over from Julie Newmar for the 1966 Adam West Batman movie, Halle Berry starred in a woefully misguided solo offering in 2004, and Kravitz herself voiced the silky smooth thief in The LEGO Batman Movie. Selina would also appear in Christopher Nolan's trilogy-closing The Dark Knight Rises, where the character was portrayed by Anne Hathaway.

DC fans still hold Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy in very high regard, but the final installment inspires a divisive reactions from fans, with criticism aimed at everything from Batman's miraculous recovery to Tom Hardy sounding like a death metal singer whose microphone is plugged into a potato. Hathaway's Catwoman also attracted mixed responses, so what does Kravitz's character need to change in The Batman, without veering too close to Pfeiffer's iteration from Batman Returns?

Selina Kyle Isn't Fully Catwoman In The Dark Knight Rises

Selina Kyle on a Gotham rooftop in Dark Knight Rises

The modus operandi of Christopher Nolan's Batman films is to tone down the comic book-ness of the characters and setting to create something more relatable and grounded, and this is especially true of Batman's villains. Instead of a farming-themed lunatic with a scythe, Batman Begins focuses on Jonathan Crane's psychiatric career, instead of a criminal with terrible dress sense, Two-Face is hell-bent on revenge, and instead of juicing up with a neon green steroid, Bane is just incredibly well trained. Nolan takes the same approach to Catwoman, removing the more overt feline traits of the character and not even using the "Catwoman" mantle in the script.

Instead, Hathaway's Selina Kyle doubles-down on the Robin Hood act - a vigilante with a more flexible moral code than the Caped Crusader. Although she chiefly looks after herself and those like her, Selina is essentially a good person and soon becomes an ally to Bruce in his fight to reclaim Gotham City. The Dark Knight Rises retains the traditional all-black outfit, propensity for stealing and complex relationship with Batman, but the "cat" shades of Catwoman are entirely drowned out by Nolan's pragmatic realism.

While it's easy to see why the likes of Scarecrow, Two-Face and Bane were toned down, Catwoman was already fairly well-rooted in the real world - essentially Batman but with a different favorite animal, less moral scruples and a whip. By not fully embracing the Catwoman alter ego, Hathaway's Selina feels diluted rather than modernized, and where the debut of Catwoman in the Dark Knight trilogy should've been huge, Selina felt peripheral, coming nowhere close to making the same lasting impact as Pfeiffer's. Even Selina's goal - obtaining a USB stick that can erase her shady past - is entirely centered around not being Catwoman.

How The Batman's Catwoman Will Be Different To The Dark Knight Rises' Version

From the images and announcements released so far, it seems that The Batman could be taking a Nolan-esque route in terms of style and tone. Bruce Wayne's Batmobile and costume are entirely based in the real world, devoid of any major comic book-isms, and The Riddler's name has been changed from the usual Edward Nigma to the less punny Edward Nashton, presumably to enhance that sense of authenticity. This might suggest that, just like Hathaway, Zoë Kravitz won't be leaping around Gotham City in cat ears purring as she steals another ridiculously huge diamond from the local museum.

With that said, The Batman does seem to be acknowledging an aspect of the franchise Nolan never did - the gothic aesthetic. Whereas Nolan's vision was resolutely urban in nature, The Batman so far appears to be closer to an updated 1989 Batman or Animated Series setting with fog and graveyards - a fitting choice if the rumored Long Halloween influence turns out to be true. This kind of world would be far more accommodating to a woman dressed up as a black cat, living in the shadows and actually being known as "the Cat-Woman." As such, fans can perhaps expect a Catwoman more directly inspired by DC comics in The Batman - one who isn't afraid to don proper cat ears. Kravitz has already publicly talked-up her Cat-costume, suggesting that at least her getup will be more comic accurate.

Interestingly, Kravitz has specified Batman: Year One as a potential inspiration for her character. This comic reinvention of Selina Kyle is arguably a blend of the street-smart defender of the homeless seen in The Dark Knight Rises mixed with the more unpredictable, seductive qualities seen in Batman Returns. Zoë Kravitz could find herself striking a similar balance in The Batman. The Year One Selina was also inspired to don the cat mask after witnessing Batman himself in action. Not only would this naturally tie Pattinson and Kravitz together as characters, but a proper origin story would explain in a believable way why Selina adopts the image of an animal for her masked persona.

What The Batman Needs To Do To Improve Upon The Dark Knight Rises' Catwoman

Batman The Dark Knight Rises Ending Selina Kyle Bruce Wayne Christian Bale Anne Hathaway

Adding a little more "cat" to Catwoman would go a long way towards improving upon the character seen in The Dark Knight Rises. With Hathaway more a facsimile of the comic Catwoman, Gotham including a young prequel version and Halle Berry's portrayal best forgotten, there's an open vacancy for a modern live-action Selina Kyle that captures Catwoman's traditional personality as effectively as Batman Returns, but without that early 1990s Tim Burton bombast.

More importantly, Nolan never completely delved into Selina as a vigilante/antihero in her own right. Hathaway debuts in the film fully formed, capable of fighting alongside Batman, riding the Batpod without so much as a practice run, and even taking out Bane. The audience learn Selina's masked antics are motivated by social inequality, but don't get to see how the Catwoman persona came to be because that side of her is so muted. By fully exploring Kravitz's beginnings as Catwoman, The Batman can create a more well-rounded character that feels almost on-par with Batman, rather than the sidekick she became in The Dark Knight Rises. And by reintroducing that slightly unhinged facet of her personality seen in Batman Returns and Year One, the new Catwoman can show an edge that Hathaway's sorely lacked.

Love stories are regularly the worst part of any given Batman movie, but it seems inevitable that Pattinson's Bruce and Kravitz's Selina will be romantically linked to some degree. This was a storyline Batman Returns handled far better than The Dark Knight Rises. Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton enjoyed a great chemistry that noticeably changed depending of whether they were Bruce and Selina or Batman and Catwoman, and that's a relationship potentially worth revisiting. The Dark Knight Rises, on the other hand, took the pair from mild flirting to holidaying in Italy without much in between. By not shying away from the full glory of the character, integrating her origin into the main plot and better handling her sizzling romance with Bruce Wayne, The Batman has every chance of improving how The Dark Knight Rises dealt with Catwoman.

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