By having Catwoman and Batman go their separate ways at the end of The Batman, director Matt Reeves avoided a critical mistake made by Christopher Nolan in how he ended The Dark Knight Rises. Catwoman—also known as Selina Kyle—has always been a character with many gray, unexplored areas. In her original comic incarnation as a whip-carrying burglar in Batman #1, she was more of an adversary to Batman rather than an occasional ally. Her strong desire to steal jewelry and money, and to be involved in other high-stake thefts, stemmed from a history of abuse and became her key to surviving on Gotham City's ruthless streets. Determined to make a life for herself as Catwoman, Selina Kyle took to learning martial arts for self-defense and adopted a skin-tight black suit with cat-like ears to add a bit of style.
Aside from just appearing in a comic book, Catwoman has been seen in other media including a TV series in the 1960s and the film Batman Returns. In Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, actress Anne Hathaway portrayed an older, more mature version of the character who was already a deceptive master thief outfitted with high-tech equipment when introduced. Catwoman most recently appeared in The Batman, played by Zoë Kravitz. Here, her character seemed to feel more grounded and truer to the comics. In comparison to The Dark Knight Rises' Catwoman, this time around, audiences saw a younger side of Selina Kyle; she posed as a waitress at the Iceberg Lounge, had long cat-like nails, and was obsessed with kittens. While she did have some experience with breaking and entering, Kravitz's take on Catwoman showed a woman who wasn't yet a full-on burglar and gave insight into her relationship with Gotham crime lord Carmine Falcone—her father who forgot she existed.
At the end of The Dark Knight Rises, it seemed as though Selina would go off and start her own adventures, but she ended up retiring her identity as Catwoman and began a relationship with Bruce Wayne. In The Batman, audiences saw a different story. Kyle and the Caped Crusader ultimately go their separate ways, an ending to the film that avoided a key Catwoman mistake made by director Christopher Nolan in his depiction of the two iconic comic book characters. Instead of both Batman and Catwoman hanging up their superhero uniforms and retiring from fighting evil, especially in crime-ridden Gotham City, The Batman removes what Nolan did in his film's ending and hints at Selina Kyle’s story possibly being explored in future sequels or even a potential spin-off TV show.
What The Ending to The Batman Says About Selina Kyle's Future
The Batman allowed Catwoman's relationship with the Caped Crusader to have more depth and its ending helped set up their story together in the future. Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne weren't given much screen time together in The Dark Knight Rises for their apparent relationship at the end of the film to grow organically and feel grounded. In The Batman, however, audiences saw these two characters start their relationship from the ground up. Selina can potentially improve upon her relationship with Batman in any future sequels, becoming either a lover or staying as his ally. Kyle even foreshadows this happening, nicknaming their partnership, "The Bat and The Cat." Perhaps viewers could also see Catwoman return to be a tough opponent for Batman, which she was to him at one point in the comics.
Another way The Batman fixed The Dark Knight Rises' mistake was that it allowed Selina Kyle to continue with her wanting to acquire a better life. By the end of the movie, audiences saw her separate from Batman and leave Gotham behind, claiming that the city will never fix itself. With Catwoman's father, Carmine Falcone, dead and the same of her mother, it only felt right for Selina to want to leave her past behind and attempt to start something new. The Batman ultimately allowed Catwoman's story to be further explored in any future films or TV shows and paved the way for her to grow into the full-fledged cat burglar she was always meant to be, as seen in the comics.
