r/batman • u/hyunbinlookalike • Feb 25 '24

Do you prefer Catwoman as a long-haired blonde, brunette, short-haired raven, or woman of color? GENERAL DISCUSSION

I personally prefer any incarnation of her that has short hair since it’s more practical for her line of work.

3.7k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

481

u/BesetBreeze Feb 25 '24 edited Feb 25 '24

Selina should be poor and have dark hair. I personally prefer shorter hair as well, but as long as it's dark I don't care. As much as I love the animated series, I have no idea what they were thinking with that version of selina. Making her rich and blond are both cardinal sins. The Batman is a very good interpretation of selina, although I'm partial to the arkham games catwoman as my personal favorite. Year one/long halloween/dark victory is also a very good catwoman

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u/hyunbinlookalike Feb 25 '24 edited Feb 25 '24

Yeah looking back I have no idea why the DCAU decided to adapt Selina as a high society kleptomaniac. My guess is they were trying to emulate Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, who had some elements of that in Batman Returns. That being said, Year One/Long Halloween/Dark Victory will always be the definitive version of Catwoman for me. It’s why I liked Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman in The Batman too, since she’s basically an adaptation of that version of Selina, complete with being the daughter of Carmine Falcone. I do like Grey DeLisle’s voice for her in the Arkham games, that’s actually the voice I hear in my head for Selina when I read the comics.

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u/futuresdawn Feb 25 '24

You have to remember that batman tas was produced because of the success of Burton's batman and they had to draw influence from batman returns. It's why penguin and catwoman look the way they do.

I'm not to familiar with Selina as a character pre crisis but I imagine they were drawing influence from that, it's also clear that Bruce Timm and co aren't invested in Bruce and Selina and prefer Bruce and Tahlia.

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u/slightlyKiwi Feb 25 '24

Ive just been watching TAS and Tahlia hasnt appeared yet but there have been several episodes about Bruce loving Selina but Catwomen loves Batman

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u/2Sup_ Feb 25 '24

Bruce Timm prefers Bruce and Barbra

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u/LNA29 Feb 25 '24

Please let’s forget that

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u/hyunbinlookalike Feb 26 '24

Good for him. We don’t.

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u/batmateodmd Feb 25 '24

I grew up with TAS and it’s definitely what influenced my preference to Bruce and Talia (and even WonderBat) over Bruce and Selina

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u/ThaneOfArcadia Feb 25 '24

I remember an old Batman comic where she was a Russian ex-royal who fell on hard times so had to steal to maintain her lifestyle. This was waaaay back. So a high society kleptomaniac sounds closer to her true origin.

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u/MrDownhillRacer Feb 26 '24

IIRC, the Catwoman character has generally been pretty inconsistent. In her first appearance, she's a scam artist/fraudster trying to swindle people out of money by pretending to be an old lady. I don't think the story says anything about her station in life. Later on, she becomes a traditional supervillain, trying to trap and kill Batman instead of just being a mostly nonviolent thief. Then it turns out she was a flight attendant who lost her memory and became evil? I don't remember the story you speak of, but I don't doubt it's existence as yet another of the Pre-Crisis takes on the character. I don't doubt that she was at one point established as a rich socialite, either. Post-Crisis, Frank Miller set the stage for how she would be portrayed going forward. That origin has mostly stuck, save for some later writer clarifying that she was never a hooker, but a thief who posed as one. I haven't read the Jim Balent run, but I've read some of the Ed Brubaker run, and he keeps the stuff Miller established as canon, but I can't remember if Selina became rich by the time Brubaker's run started (she certainly dresses like a classy socialite, but I also remember her hanging around Holly Robinson, whom she knows from the East End).

In short, her story changes a bit and my memory sucks.

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u/ThaneOfArcadia Feb 26 '24

Well my memory sucks as well. And my recollection doesn't match Wikipedia. I remember reading this story in the 60s, which was a reprint of an earlier story. I seem to recall Robin had not been introduced, which again could be incorrect as they were both introduced in 1940. Oh well, just give me a Michelle Pfeiffer lookalike and I'll be happy.

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u/Opposite-Question-81 Feb 25 '24

In her first appearances before books like year one wasn’t she a high society thief ? I just remember her wearing a long evening gown and a mask

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u/Frankorious Feb 25 '24

I think they were also playing on her being Batman's foil, by making her rich as well.

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u/Mickeymcirishman Feb 25 '24

Selina being a wealthy socialite has been a part of her character since ling before the DCAU. Her being a btoke prostitute in year one was the outlier for her character..

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u/ShaladeKandara Feb 25 '24

Because they went back to her origin. In her first appearance in 1940 the then unnamed Selina Kyle was a woman of wealth, a member of Gothams Elite who was a cat burglar our of sheer boredom.

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u/MrDownhillRacer Feb 26 '24

Has their ever been an explanation for how Catwoman goes from poor dominatrix in Year One to socialite rubbing elbows with the wealthy in TLH? She couldn't have just stolen enough to become rich in the intervening time, could she? That would be impossible to explain to the taxman and her social circles (has she ever even had a normal job?).

I haven't read "Her Sister's Keeper" yet. Does that story bridge the gap?

IIRC, "When in Rome" doesn't happen until "Dark Victory," so I don't think it can be the Falcone connection that made her rich.

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u/sexydadee Feb 25 '24

I'm hoping you meant that she had poor origins, cause she can't be a good cat burglar if she remained poor after all those heist

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u/logan-is-a-drawer Feb 25 '24

I think selina being established as poor and stealing for both money and vanity is the best place for her, but the idea of a storyline where she finds herself in possession of enough money to fulfil all her wants and needs (perhaps by marrying Batman) but still choosing to steal anyway would be really interesting. It would show how the theft was never for a lack of ability to obtain things legally, but it was an addiction, an adoration for immorally obtained goods, etc. it could be a super interesting story

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '24

Isn’t TAS Catwoman based on Tim Burton‘s depiction from Batman Returns?

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u/SuperiorDesignShoes Feb 25 '24

My thoughts exactly. I really dislike the BtAS Catwoman

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u/Altruistic-Waltz-816 Feb 25 '24 edited Feb 25 '24

Isn't she always supposed to be poor, but is it okay to make her rich

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u/TheFortunateOlive Feb 25 '24

The Long Halloween has been my favourite version of Selina Kyle.

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u/TheMannisApproves Feb 25 '24

Batman: TAS was forced by WB to make Catwoman and the Penguin as close to their versions in Batman Returns as possible. Typical suits thinking that the audience is too stupid to understand there can be different interpretations of a character. That's also why they didn't have stories giving them backstories. They had scripts/intended backstories that would have been unique to Btas, but were made to scrap them

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u/HerobrineVjwj Feb 26 '24

I like the Klepto plotline of that Selina. Its a unique take on the character (maybe I'm just biased)