In addition, the sexual tension with Adam West’s Batman printed a good handful of unusual and complex nuances.
At a time when women were little less than adornment, subordinate to and always inferior to the male protagonist, Newmar printed him a character to his character that did not accept any of that.
Lee Meriweather – Batman the Movie (1966)
A back injury prevented Newmar from playing Catwoman in the Batman movie based on the series. She was replaced by Lee Meriweather, which therefore takes the recognition of being the first Catwoman of the cinema.
Her character is different, less flirtatious and more serious, for a female cat leader of the criminal organization United Underworld.
Meriweather’s passage through the role would be brief. Newmar, already recovered, would return to the cat suit for the second season of the series.
Eartha Kitt – Batman, The Series (1967-1968)
In 1967, a historical event occurs. Black singer and actress Eartha Kitt took over from Julie Newmar in the third season of the classic Batman series.
By then, it was a milestone that an actress of color had such an important role, antagonist of a white man with whom there was a rivalry to the height and even some interracial sexual tension.
Michelle Pfeiffer – Batman Returns (1992)
We would have to wait a long time for another Catwoman flesh and blood, but it was worth it. If something has Batman returns Tim Burton’s, is that Batman’s antagonists are unforgettable. If his grotesque vision of the Penguin was a groundbreaking reimagining of the character, Catwoman was probably the most successful.
With clear tones sado, both in the spectacular costume, as in the interpretation of the character, Pfeiffer became the Catwoman of the childhood and adolescence of many of us.
Halle Berry – Catwoman (2004)
The Catwoman Halle Berry, in the movie of the same name, introduced a lot of changes over the traditional character. Probably, none of them can be considered positive.
Nothing about Selina Kyle, Berry is Patience Phillips, an overly shy graphic designer, who faces Sharon Stone coming back from the dead as some kind of cat goddess. How it sounds. The movie is historical because It is the first DC superhero with a woman as the main protagonist and also the first superhero (of Hollywood) with a black woman.
The best thing about the movie, probably, was Halle Berry’s speech when she came to accept the award Razzie to the worst actress. The worst is hard to tell, but this basketball court scene has quite a handful of tickets.
Anne Hathaway – The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The movie with the worst death scene in modern cinema (if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean) had a Catwoman who, like the rest of the characters in the series, had a more realistic and dark approach.
No communicating with animals or referring to her as Catwoman, Selina Kyle is an exceptional thief who even steal the pearls from Batman’s mother. Yes, those pearls. His goal is the classic of all movie thieves, one last blow before retiring … with Bruce Wayne in that final scene that I am still not sure if I like it or not.
Camren Bicondova – Gotham (2014 – 2019)
Young actress Camren Bicondova gave life to a teenage Selina Kyle on the show Gotham. Known by the nickname Cat, his performance in the first season earned him an award Saturn.
He gave up appearing in the series finale, so actress Lili Simmons replaced her for scenes that occurred 10 years in the future.
Zoë Kravitz – The Batman (2022)
The next Catwoman what will we see on the big screen will come embodied by Zoë Kravitz. Curiously, the actress, daughter of the famous singer Lenny Kravitz, will wear the leather suit for the second time, even if it does not seem like it.
And it is that, in 2017, he already made Catwoman on Batman: The LEGO Movie, so we already count it for the next batch, in which we move on to animation.
Actresses who have played Catwoman in series and animated films
Catwoman It has also had a long history in series and animated films. So we don’t want to forget about all the actresses who have voiced Batman’s most famous villain / lover.
Jane Webb was the first to take the role, during the animated series Batman and Superman time, which aired from 1968 to 1969.
Melendy Britt played Catwoman in the series The New Batman Adventures (1968). He stars in the third episode and steals a machine that turns garbage into luxury fabrics, blaming the theft on Batgirl.
Adrienne barbeau has been the voice of Catwoman in a multitude of DC animated series, especially, in the now classic Batman: The Animated Series 1997. There she played a Catwoman activist for animals and with a supernatural connection to felines. I would repeat in The New Batman Adventures and Gotham girls.
Gina gershon was the Catwoman animated series The batman (2004 – 2007). She appeared in 5 episodes and as a consummate con and thief.
Nika futterman would take the role in 2008 for the series Batman: The brave and the bold, emited by cartoon Network. There we see her with a somewhat different suit, purple and green, instead of black. It is a tribute to the costume that the character wore in the comics of the 50s.
Janyse Jaud gave voice to Catwoman during an episode of Batman: Black and White, a curious series from 2008, which used an animation technique that resembled a classic black and white comic in motion. That is probably the most remarkable thing that can be said about the experiment.
Eliza Dushku, known to be the Faith of Buffy he donned the animated costume twice. During Batman: Year One, where its origin is told, and in the short of 2011 DC Showcase: Catwoman.
Stephanie Sheh is the first oriental actress that gives life to Catwoman, lending his voice in The Batman of Shanghai (2012), a series of shorts in 3 parts, in which Catwoman, Batman and Bane travel back in time to Shanghai in 1930 to distribute firewood in the best style Kung Fu.
Tress macneille did Selina Kyle in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2012), an animated film in which Batman returns from retirement to face old enemies, in a metaphorical and literal sense. MacNeille plays an older Kyle, who never adopts the identity of Catwoman and has lost its typical arrogance with age.
Cristina Pucelli made of Catwoman in the animated series DC: Superhero Girls, from 2015 to 2018. The peculiarity is that we see a Catwoman teen yenfo high school with Harley Quinn or Batgirl.
Jennifer Carpenter take up the role in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018), an animated series set in the 19th century steampunk with Jack the Ripper in the background.
Ai akuma She is the second oriental actress to play our favorite cat in the film Batman ninja (2018), where Batman and his people are transported to feudal Japan.
Jennifer Morrison (Once upon a time, house), he would wear the black suit for the animated film Batman: Hush (2019). In it, Selina Kyle is a childhood friend of Batman who will become more than just friends.
Cree Summer is, in theory, the current Catwoman active. She voices and plays the “villainous superhero” in the series DC Super Hero Girls (2019 to present), a new vision of the series that starred Pucelli.
As you can see, up to 23 different women have given voice and life to Catwoman in animated or real movies and series. Personally, I am left with Pfeiffer, things of the age and, perhaps, the irrational thought that Tim Burton is capable of doing something good again. Nor am I going to bet money.
