Selina Kyle had a sidekick in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, who didn’t get enough screen time for the audience to get to know her – here’s who she is and her comic book backstory. Batman has had an interesting history on the big screen, and he has brought some of his most famous enemies and allies with him, among those Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman. Her first big-screen appearance was in 1966, played by Lee Meriweather, and she was later played by Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, in 1992.
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy couldn’t leave such a popular (and important) character behind and included her in the last film, The Dark Knight Rises, which marked Catwoman’s return to the big screen after her failed solo-film in 2004, starring Halle Berry. Nolan’s version of Selina Kyle/Catwoman was played by Anne Hathaway, and she brought a sidekick with her: Jen, played by Juno Temple. Sadly, Jen had very little screen time, so her character wasn’t explored at all and is often forgotten by viewers, but she does have a backstory in the comics, though her name isn’t Jen.
Juno Temple’s character is said to be a version of Holly Robinson, a friend, ally, and sidekick of Selina Kyle in the comics. Holly was created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, and made her debut in Batman: Year One, in 1987. Holly ran away from an abusive home and began living on the street and working as a prostitute at a very young age. She then met Selina, who saved her from an abusive cop and took her under her wing. Holly played an important role in Bruce Wayne’s transformation into Batman when she came across with a disguised Bruce as he was fighting her abusive pimp, Stan. Holly stabbed Bruce in the leg and he escaped back to his home, and after realizing that his enemies didn’t fear him, he created the Batman persona.
Like most comic book characters, Holly has gone through different storylines and has even died, as she did in “The Tin Roof Club”, where she married a mobster who had her killed in his quest to reclaim a piece of jewelry Catwoman stole from him. Years later, this storyline was left behind and Holly was brought back. In Catwoman vol. 3 #1, she returned to the apartment she and Selina shared in Year One, sobered up, and became her sidekick, pretending to be part of the street life but actually being her eyes and ears, which was pretty much Jen’s role in The Dark Knight Rises. After the events of Infinite Crisis, Holly took on the mantle of Catwoman after Selina became pregnant, but that didn’t go well as her identity was exposed and she ended up beginning a new life as a fugitive.
Holly Robinson is an important character in Selina Kyle’s story (and it has been implied they were in a relationship, as Holly was revealed to be a lesbian during the Catwoman storyline, where she was Selina’s sidekick), and while it’s understandable why she didn’t get enough screen time and development in The Dark Knight Rises, it would have been an interesting dynamic to watch – but now with a new Batman and Catwoman thanks to Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz, there’s hope for Holly to get a proper chance on the big screen in the near future.