Catwoman (real name: Selina Kyle) is a major supervillainess of the DCcomics' Batman franchise.
Catwoman is a seductively sneaky female burglar and a jewel thief who dresses like a cat and carries a bullwhip while performing her thefts. Though most modern iterations of the character are just as heroic as they are villainous, Catwoman is still commonly recognized as a villain by most viewers and fans, representing Batman's chief female nemesis.
Origin[]
There have been many versions of Catwoman's origin over the years but details of her possible storyline suggested that Selina Kyle was born to Brian and Maria Kyle in the slums of Gotham City. Her mother was never close to Selina or her sister Maggie and would often rather spend time with her cats then her children. Her father was an abusive and drunken man who would always quarrel with Maria, a homemaker. In her spare time, Selina took gym lessons not just as an extra curricular, but to sometimes avoid the domestic violence at home. One day, as she returned home from school, Selina found her mother lying in the bath tub filled with blood. Apparently, Maria had committed suicide by cutting her wrists with a razor blade. Selina’s father hated Selina because she looked like her mother, eventually he drank too much and succumbed to alcohol poisoning. Selina called the police but as soon she hung up the phone, she packed her bag and ran away from home.
Selina lived on the streets while Maggie was taking to an orphanage right away. She became a petty thief who would steal food at grocery stores. 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 documentary 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.
As Selina grew older, she became a prostitute, but she was quietly a cat burglar by night, stealing jewelries and diamonds from museums and rich people's homes. One night, she stole a valuable totem from a museum when suddenly a hooded ninja interrupted her escape and took the valued item for himself. Selina followed the ninja into a warehouse, which turned out to be a secret martial arts academy. The ninja, known only as Kai, told his Sensei that she is an intruder and a thief and must be severely punished. However, after seeing her fast reflexes, the Sensei politely asked her to join the academy so that she can harness the martial arts skills, in which she accepted.
Several weeks had gone by and Selina's fighting abilities improved dramatically but her relationship with her senior Kai was far from nice. He despised Selina (who was nicknamed "Nehko-Chan" in the academy) and would deliberately hurt her during training. It gave Kai even more grief knowing that the Sensei favored Selina more than the other pupils. A few nights later, a news broke up on television stating that Batman was last seen at Robinsons Park. Curious, Selina walked to the park and caught a glimpse of the Dark Knight in action who glided out of sight moments later. She noticed that Batman was bleeding when she saw a trail of blood and it immediately triggered something in her mind: if someone can don a costume and have everyone either be happy or terrified to see him, she can do the same too. The Batman became her omen and Selina decided to become a costume character as well. She bought a cat costume using all of her savings and resumed her stealing profession using her brand new costume and ability. As she was attempting a robbery at a local store, she was stopped by a group of security guards and one of them called her "Catwoman." Selina loved the name and thus, the Catwoman persona was born.
Golden Age: Earth-2[]
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 Batmanand 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 #2 when The Joker threatened to poison Robin the Boy Wonder. Her affection for The Dark Knight becomes evident in Batman #3 by giving the Caped Crusader a kiss. In the late 40's, Catwoman was given the classic purple outfit, which included a cowl and a cape.
During the Silver Age, 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 jewellery 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.