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This page covers the DC comicbook hero Catwoman also known as Selina Kyle , Holly Robinson , Selina Wayne , The Mistress of Malevolence , Irena Dubrovna , Elva Barr , The Feline Felon , The Princess of Plunder , The Cat , Marguerite Tone , Madame Moderne , Belinda . If this is not the page you were looking for check here.
Selina Kyle is now Catwoman again.
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Characteristics
Gender Female
Height 5'7"
Weight 133 lbs (60.327 kg)
Eyes Green
Hair Black
Golden/Silver Age Selina Kyle
Who's your daddy!?
In the Golden Age of Comics, Selina Kyle was a flight attendant who had been struck in the head after her plane had crashed; she survived but unfortunately became amnesiac. Her amnesia was the result of her turning to crime. She eventually runs into Batman and they would tangle a bit. Selina eventually reformed and admitted that the amnesia story was a lie to run away from her life of crimes. Selina would stay reformed for many years and even helps out Batman on his missions. She eventually returns to a life of crime and it was her last Golden Age appearance in Detective Comics #211. The Cat, Catwoman's first alias, revealed her unwillingness to kill in Batman No. 2 when The Joker threatened to poison Robin the Boy Wonder.Her affection for The Dark Knight becomes evident in "Batman" No. 3 by giving the Caped Crusader a kiss.
When the Silver Age happened DC created the parallel Earth named Earth-Two. It was decided that Earth-Two will be where the Golden Age heroes reside and continued. Therefore Golden Age Selina continued her life on Earth-Two where it would be revealed that she reformed in the 1950s and marries Bruce Wayne. Selina would soon give birth to a baby girl named Helena Wayne (Helena would grow up to become Huntress). Later the real reason Selina turned to a life of crime is because Selina had been previously married to an abusive husband. When Selina left her husband, he kept her jewelry in a locked vault. Selina decided she would steal her jewels back and became addicted to the adrenaline rush that she gained from the robbery, she decides to continue her life as a criminal. Living happily with Bruce and their new daughter, the Golden Age/Earth-Two Selina would be blackmailed into returning to a life of crime as Catwoman and eventually dies.
Silver Age Selina Kyle was a consistent murderer. She would kill people on some of her appearances. However, this Catwoman would be moved to Earth-B, this Earth contains the characters and stories that were out of place. Since Catwoman was not a murderer, this was the only solution to getting rid of her Silver Age stories.
Sexy Cat
Modern Age
After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Selina’s history was finally revised in Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One story arc. This Selina Kyle was a 5 foot 7 inch cat lover, she worked as a prostitute and would eventually become a Cat Burglar when she sees Batman for the first time. Selina would soon meet a young runaway named Holly Robinson (who would later become the next Catwoman). She took her in and they became roommates. Selina’s prostitution job would later get her in deep trouble when her former pimp named Stan, kidnapped her sister Maggie and beats her. Selina kills Stan and saves her sister. Later Selina would believe that she is the daughter of Carmine Falcone but cannot prove it is true. This part of Selina’s life would be explored more but there would never be a definite proof of her connection to the Falcone family.
Catwoman on her adventures
Later DC comics would object to Frank Miller’s idea to make post-crisis Selina a prostitute. They decided to reveal that Selina was not really a prostitute, but instead pretended to be a prostitute and steal men’s money. When Catwoman finally got her own series, it finally fully explored the post-crisis life of Selina Kyle. Selina’s parents are Brian and Maria Kyle. Her mother was never close to Selina or her sister Maggie and would often rather spend time with her cats then her children. Her mother eventually committed suicide, and her father began drinking heavily after his wife’s suicide. Selina’s father hated Selina because she looked like her mother, eventually he drank too much and was subdued to alcohol poisoning. Selina ran away and lived on the streets while Maggie was taking to an orphanage right away. Eventually Selina was caught and sent to an orphanage. She caused so much trouble that she would be sent to Juvenile Hall. When Selina was 13 years old she was sent back to an orphanage, but she soon discovered that the place was embezzling money. They would confront her and attempt to cover it all up by drowning Selina in a bag dropped into the river. Selina escapes and returns to the orphanage. She steals documental proof that they were embezzling money and also stole money to live on her own, she sent the documents to the police to expose them.
Early Life finally Revealed
Eventually the money Selina stole would not last forever. Selina would be taken in by an old thief gang leader named Mama Fortuna. Fortuna taught Selina and other runaways how to steal, however used them as slaves when she would keep all their work. Eventually Selina would run away with a friend she met while in the gang named Sylvia. They could not survive on their own and always had a shortage of money. They decided to become prostitutes and Sylvia would be able to attract men, but Selina would not attract anyone. Eventually Sylvia grew to hate Selina for everything that has happened. When Selina finally becomes a successful thief, she continued to steal. During one of her jobs, she made a mistake and had to lay low for awhile. Selina was trained by the Armless Master of Gotham in martial arts and would earn her trademark whip. Her comics were eventually canceled.
Catwoman was given a new on-going series after the success of the Batman Returns movie. Selina adopts a teenage runaway named Arizona. Selina would train Arizona to be her sidekick for a brief time. She also becomes a government operative for a brief time. The series also reveals more of her origins from her start as a young thief to her time in Juvenile Hall, and also revealed she was trained by Wildcat. Selina would eventually move to New York and gained a CEO position at Randolf Industries when she backmails them. She had planned to run for mayor in New York but her plans were ruined when the criminal Trickster was able to connect Selina to Catwoman publicly.
Catwoman and Batman
Return to Gotham
Selina returns to Gotham City in time for the Earthquake and Gotham being labeled as No Man’s Land. She would aid Batman during No Man’s Land against Lex Luthor and help him rebuild the city, only to be arrested by Commissioner James Gordon soon afterwards. Eventually she escapes but would soon be a suspect for another murder. Selina was later cleared but was clearly annoyed by the allegations and disappears for awhile. She was appeared to be killed by an assassin when her comics got canceled again. However, Catwoman would make several appearances in Batman’s comics and a sub-story would be written to explain what happened to Selina. In this sub-storyline, it follows a private detective named Slam Bradley who is determined to find out what happened to Selina. Eventually Selina was discovered alive and this would re-launch her on-going series. Selina now teams up with the runaway Holly and Slam Bradley to protect the East side of Gotham. During the Hush storyline, Catwoman works with Batman together and they began a romantic relationship. Batman would reveal his alter-ego Bruce Wayne to Selina. However, Batman quickly broke off their relationship when he suspects that this was all a manipulation from Hush.
Catwoman has seemed to be reformed and truly loves Batman. Selina soon discovers that she is reformed because Zatanna had mind-wiped her with some other JLA members. Selina throws Zatanna out of a window when she discovers the truth. Later Selina is faced with the decision to kill a criminal. The criminal was the Black Mask, he had threatened to kill the people Selina cares for. Selina quickly kills Black Mask by shooting him in the head.
Catwoman one year later
One Year Later
One year after Infinite Crisis, Selina has given up being Catwoman, she has left East End Gotham and is currently living under the name Irena Dubrovna. She recently gave birth to a baby girl who she named Helena, the father was not mentioned yet. Holly has taken the Catwoman mantle while Selina raises her daughter, however Selina eventually returns to East End Gotham. Selina could not resist the thrill of being Catwoman and would eventually don the costume again. Film Freak and Angle Man would team up to try and beat Catwoman. They would catch the two Catwoman on film and was able to deduce and find out where Selina lives. When Selina finally returns home, she discovers Film Freak and Angle man in her home and have abducted Helena. Selina would easily rescue her daughter and would contact Zatanna to mind-wipe the two criminals. Angle Man turned himself over to the police but Film Freak goes on a murder rampage. Later Wildcat reveals to Selina that Holly was arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina would break into the police station and free Holly. Selina would tangle with Film Freak again and would defeat him finally. She returns home to find Slam at her place. Slam reveals that he has figured out who the father was, and it was actually Slam’s son, Sam Bradley. During Amazons Attack Batman had Selina pose as a criminal so she could gain the trust of the Bana Amazons and she was able to stop an attack on Gotham City. After Amazons Attack is over Holly and a reformed Harly Quinn were both in Athena's Women Shelter after the attack and both Holly and Harly have become Amazons after a series of trials. Selina starts to doubt wheter she should be a mother with her adventures and has Batman fake her and Helena death's and then set Helena up for adoption. Once Helena is adopted Selina asks Zatanna to erase her memories of being a mother, but she refuses telling her it isn't fair to her or Helena and she can't change Selina's mindset because she became a hero on her own. Catwoman joined Batman's new team of outsiders, but she left in the second issue while fighting a modified OMAC not being able to handle the idea of fighting villians on that level. She will be one of the villians on Salvation.
Skills
She has been taught stealth, atheltics, hotwiring, lockpicking, thieving, acrobatics and the martial arts. She was trained by the Armless Master in martial arts and by Wildcat in boxing and street-fighting. She excells atlow- and high-tech heists and is the best cat-burglar in Gotham.Catwoman has an Good affinity for cats. They often help autonatically if she needs it and istantly know that she is a friend. Additionally, Selina was an effective seductress, a talent she employed to remove herself from treacherous situations.
Weapons and costumes
Catwoman has had many different looks over the years. In her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all, and it was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a bodysuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's bodysuit was green in color. In the 1990s, she usually wore a skintight purple bodysuit. Her current costume has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have been shown to incorporate retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and toes of her boots. They can shred a bullet-proof vest and be used to climb with.
Like all Batman villians Catwoman has ahd many themed weapons and gadgets.In her early years cat-themed car called the "cat-illac". Catwoman's favored weapon is a 12 foot long whip carried on her person either in her boot or in a small backpack, she has a cat-o-nine-tails, lastic ties for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets.
Jobs Through the Ages
Selina Kyle has held many jobs including: jewel thief, beautician, magazine publisher, maid, prostitute, stewardess, secretary, animal rights activist and pet shop owner.
Identity through the Ages
The Cat officially becomes Catwoman in 1942 in Batman No. 10 when the secret identity of high society woman Marguerite Tone was reviled. In Batman No. 15 (February - March 1943), Catwoman goes by the name Elva Barr.She has red hair in Batman No. 35 (1946), but starting with Detective Comics No. 122 (April 1947), Catwoman has brunette/black hair. In recent comics, Catwoman's hair is cut short, virtually shorn, but most times artists have depicted Selina Kyle as a Caucasian with flowing, dark hair. Appearances in Batman: The animated Series featured a blonde Catwoman. Catwoman calls herself Madame Moderne in the June-July 1948 issue of Batman No. 47. Her true alter ego is revealed as Selina Kyle in 1951 in Batman No. 62. By the 1960s, Catwoman wears a purple dress and mask with a green cape in the comics. She appeared in most issues in this costume up through the 1980s. She appeared in different outfits from 1967 through 1975, when she returned to the classic costume. In the self-titled 1989 series,Her Sisters Keeper, Catwoman has a dark gray body suit with a tail on her bottom and whiskers on her mask. Selina Kyle has had variations of this costume in the comics since then. The most recent costume has no tail.
Possible Future
The Grave of Selina Kyle
Although nothing is definite the headstone of Selina Kyle is seen in Teen Titans #18 making it possible that she is Batman's future wife. Tim Drake visited this cemetery when he accidentally found himself ten years in the future.
Catwomen in other continuities
The Elseworlds story "JLA: The Nail" and "JLA: Anither Nail" have Catwoman teaming up with Batman after his sidekicks are killed; in "Another Nail", she changes her m.o. to Batwoman to honor her new alliegance.
Catwoman has been played by several actresses; in the campy 1960s Batman TV series, Julie Newmar spent the most time filling out the curvacious catsuit, with Eartha Kitt purring her way through several episodes. In the movie based on the series, Lee Merrywether plays the role of Catwoman.
The most well-kown portrayal of Catwoman was that of Michelle Pfeiffer in 1989's "Batman Returns". A timid secretary who undergoes a traumatic experience, she emerges as a sexy but psychotic criminal in a patchwork latex catsuit seeking revenge against her boss, Max Shreck. "Meow."
And then, of course, there's the film that bears her name, in which Halle Berry plays a completely unrelated character who gains mystical cat powers after being drowned by a villain selling defective cosmetics (I can't make this stuff up, folks.) This film has earned Oscar-winner Berry a "razzie" award for Worst Actress (she accepted the "award" in person and publicly apologized for how bad the film was), and been featured on many worst-film lists.
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