Interaction between Batman and Catwoman in Comic History

[Glaucus]

I have all the Batman comics including the ones with Catwoman.
I read them over and I analyzed out interaction.


From what it seems, there has been a mutual attraction from the very beginning since Batman #1.


Catwoman is known as the femme fatale, but she was actually depicted as having genuine romantic feelings for Batman.
She wasn't a lady that was just toying with Batman's emotions. She wasn't into killing people.


Batman #1 - Batman let Catwoman get away. Well...Robin thought so. Batman clumsily bumped into Robin when Robin was trying to catch Catwoman from escaping off their boat. Batman was attracted to her.


Batman #2 - Catwoman didn't want the Joker to poison Robin to death.


Batman #3 - Catwoman kisses Batman and then pushes him to get get away. Was it from a romantic attraction or was it to get away from him?
Well...the issue ended with her driving, wishing that Batman was driving and she was sitting beside him just as another boy and girl out for a ride on a moonlit night and that it would be sort of nice. This showed that Catwoman definitely had romantic feelings for Batman.


Batman #10 - Catwoman kisses Batman for saving her life after a bad guy was going to shoot her. After she kisses him, she got away. Dick even said that Bruce wanted her to escape


Batman #15 - Catwoman is in love with Bruce Wayne and actually wants to reform. Bruce Wayne takes advantage of that to try to get Catwoman to reform. Catwoman sees Bruce with another woman, and she gets suspicious. She pretends to be that same woman and talks to Bruce, and she comes to conclusion that Bruce doesn't love her and so returns to being her old self.


Batman #39 - Catwoman saved Batman from getting shot by a crook when he was lying on the floor unconscious. Catwoman wonders why she saved him and she thinks that she's confused.


Batman #47 - Catwoman kisses Batman when she's in a disguise in connection to a caper.


Batman #62 - Catwoman saves Batman from the wall of a condemned building which led to her knocked unconscious. This is where it's revealed that she has amnesia. Catwoman helps as a police operative.


Detective Comics #211 - Catwoman left a knife and silken cord in Batman's utlility belt, knowing that Batman would use it save his life. She had claimed that there was nothing in his utility belt. She had recommended the bad guys give him back his costume and utility. Batman knew that Catwoman actually helped him. Robin even told Batman that she's always been soft on Batman.


Detective Comics #369 - The end of the issue shows Selina reading the paper about the new Bat-Girl.


She says "She has her nerve trying to cut herself in on my man. I've known Batman a lot longer than that Jill-come-lately. If he belongs to anybody, he belongs to Catwoman." In her mind, Batman is her boyfriend. She obviously is in love with Batman and is very possessive of him.


Batman #197 - Selina/Catwoman puts on a green costume for the first time. She competes with Batgirl for Batman's love by being a crimefighter too, making Batgirl look bad. She wants Batman to marry her and she even sets a trap for him and wants to get her to marry him. Damn...........ummm....Catwoman didn't seem like a femme fetale. She's more like fatal attraction (if I can't have Batman....nobody can), but she's not into killing. It's that her love for Batman makes her act irrationally and erratically. Batman says that Catwoman loves her. Robin responded by saying that everybody knew that except him.
Batgirl told Catwoman that she wasn't even romantically interested in Batman. Catwoman was jealous and competed with Batgirl for nothing.


Batman #256 - Bruce looks at picture of Catwoman/Selina in Batcave, and he says "Whenever I meet a woman that I care for, she's an enemy and that's my curse"




I get the idea that Bob Kane actually created Catwoman to be a complicated love interest for Batman from the very beginning. It's very obvious when you read the comic book issues. She even shows an actual attraction to him by the 3rd issue. Batman showed an attraction to her in the first comic.


There is some love-hate dynamic, but it's more love than hate. It's more about the fine line between love and hate. Batman wants to reform her.
It also shows that Selina/Catwoman was in love with both Batman and Bruce Wayne.


Throughout the history of comic book, There is a love-hate relationship with Batman. Catwoman is in love with Batman, but at the same time she hates him (or to put it more accurately) or is angry with him for getting in her way to foil her crimes. She never showed any desire to hurt or kill him to the point that she even saved his life from being killed by others numerous times. She also showed a certain possessiveness towards him. She also was in love with Bruce Wayne. She also has history of reforming but reverting. There has always been an ambiguity about her, and it's strongly connected to her feelings about Batman.


The truth is Selina/Catwoman always was in love with Batman since the first Batman comics in 1940.


Bob Kane made her to be a complicated love interest of Batman in that she was not only his enemy but also his would-be lover who tempted him not just out of mind games but of actual romantic feelings for him.


This didn't even change when she was brought back after years of hiatus. Heck...even Batman acknowledged that Catwoman loved her by 1967, and it was stated that Robin and everybody else knew. It was just that Batman was too blind to see because of his own conflicted romantic feelings for Catwoman.


I actually thought that Catwoman didn't have romantic feelings for Batman until the 1970s.


I thought that she originated as a femme fatale to manipulate and tempt Batman without having any feelings for him. I was wrong.
Now after going over the first Batman comics, Catwoman was actually created to be a complex villain with her romantic feelings for Batman and not into killing others.


The tv show and early cartoons weren't that close to the actual Catwoman/Batman interaction. Well..the Julie Newmar Catwoman and Adam West Batman did show some typical Batman-Catwoman interaction.


Julie Newmar played Catwoman as more of a tease and temptress. She didn't play a Catwoman that was actually in love with Batman.




I didn't know that Catwoman had genuine feelings before the 1970's. From all the things that I read over the internet, there are different views and perceptions about Catwoman/Selina and her feelings about Batman/Bruce Wayne. Some write like Catwoman/Selina is such a femme fetale that she is just playing mind games with Batman. There is some that write that Catwoman is all about using her sexuality for a weapon and tempting Batman without having any feelings for Batman. There are some people that think that Catwoman/Selina doesn't have feelings for Bruce and that she has only has feelings for Batman.

The early Batman cartoons and television series didn't really touch on the comic Batman-Catwoman interaction that much. However, there was some typical Bat/Cat interaction between Adam West and Julie Newmar in the series. It seemed to go away with Eartha Kitt in the role.
BTAS showed a more accurate portrayal of Catwoman in regards to her being in love with Batman. However, they never showed her to be in love with Bruce Wayne. From the Batman Returns movie, I didn't get the impression that Catwoman had a romantic attraction to Batman. She seemed lethal to him when she stabbed him in the side. At least, there was a romantic dynamic between Selina and Bruce.




I am hoping that Dark Knight Rising movie actually depicts Catwoman how she really was in the comics - a woman who wasn't just a femme fatale but also a woman that was in love with Batman. She's the woman that tempted and teased Batman on the outside but truly loved him on the side. She also loved Bruce Wayne. When it came down to the very end, she even saved his life no matter how he got in the way of her crimes of theft and burglary.



For once, I want to actually see that real comic book Catwoman on screen for the first time.

 

[CConn]

Batman and Catwoman did it in Catwoman #1.

 

[Matt.S99]

And we learned that Batman doesnt last very long.

 

[Havok83]

Did either ever actually love the other? Were the words said?

 

[godisawesome]

Of course not. Judd Winick does sex, not romance.

(My apologies to Judd Winick, fans of his book, and the rest of humanity.)

 

[Havok83]

Of course not. Judd Winick does sex, not romance.

(My apologies to Judd Winick, fans of his book, and the rest of humanity.)

well he's not the only one to ever write them

 

[Glaucus]

And we learned that Batman doesnt last very long.

Batman doesn't last long when it comes to resisting Catwoman's advances.

That's what it was referring to.

 

[Glaucus]

Did either ever actually love the other? Were the words said?

yep

The Golden Age version/turned into Earth 2 Bruce Wayne/Batman and Selina Kyle/Catwoman got married and had Helena Wayne/Huntress for daughter.



check out the comics in 1980's

also check out the Heart of Hush series in 2008

 

[jaymes_e06]

You mean to tell me she wasn't just a booty call?

 

[Glaucus]

Batman and Catwoman did it in Catwoman #1.

They continued in the first pages of Catwoman #2. They had rough sex.
Catwoman even told Bruce they have skills.

I laughed when I saw Batman lying down with his arms around a pillow with a little grin and Catwoman was lying on top of him looking like she got satisfied.
Batman's shirt,belt,and gloves were off. Catwoman's whole costume was off except for her cowl and goggles. She's just wearing a braw and panties.

They showed that Batman cares for her. Catwoman's internal dialogue shows that she really likes Batman.

What's even better is that she's also strongly attracted to Bruce Wayne.
It seems that Bruce Wayne recognizes Catwoman without a mask. He seems to very attracted to her. There is definitely a mutual attraction.

I like that Selina/Catwoman is strongly attracted to both Batman and Bruce Wayne even though she doesn't know that they are one and the same. Interestingly, she will be torn between 2 men who are actually 1 man.

 

[Glaucus]

You mean to tell me she wasn't just a booty call?

She's definitely wasn't just a booty call.

I was reading a special Batman comic.
It said that Bob Kane created Selina Kyle/Catwoman to be an antagonist to Bruce Wayne/Batman and play off the attaction between opposites.
It seems very obvious in the comics.



In the new comic book series,

Issue #1
Batman went on to check on Catwoman to see if she's alright. She was concerned for her safety, but Catwoman pounced on him. He resisted her a little, but he gave in to her. They had sex.


Issue #2
The sex continued.
Both looked satisfied.
Batman again showed concern for her.
Catwoman says to him that it almost seems that he's trying to say that he likes her.


Her internal dialogue showed that she had sex with Batman and that she likes him.



I'd rather see the antagonistic flirting/fighting masking sexual tension.

I am both a fan of Batman and Catwoman as well as fan of the Bat/Cat relationship, but I don't like Batman having sex with Catwoman while she's in her unredeemed criminal stage. I don't like Batman compromising himself. Catwoman would flirt and tease in the earlier comics.


The sex is not a problem with me. I don't mind that Bruce has sex with other women and Selina have sex with other men. I just don't think that their having sex with each other is a good idea because Selina doesn't know Batman is Bruce Wayne. I don't like Batman compromising himself with a known unredeemed criminal. What about the chase and Batman's half-hearted attempt to bring her to justice. How is he going to do that if he's having sex with her. Batman always had history of going easy on her, especially the modern age version. I don't want the reason to be because he's been having sex with her. Could you imagine what the Joker would say. He even noticed their connection in the Catwoman volume 2. I will post about that later.

 

[Glaucus]

I don't think that Selina Kyle was only in love with Batman's costume. I believe that she is in love with Batman as a person as well as loves Bruce.


Now more about the Modern Catwoman that started at
Batman #404 (February 1987): "Batman: Year One, Ch. 1: Who Am I, How I Come To Be"
Selina Kyle was actually inspired by Batman to become Catwoman.


according to Batman #503
Catwoman was the first person to realize during the Knightfall saga that John Paul Batman wasn't Bruce Batman.
She even said that heat pheromones was evidence that he wasn't the real Batman;she said that Batman wreaks of Biochemical attractants and told John Paul that he's almost sterile. She straight up called him out and told him that he's not the real Batman without any doubt.
She read the guy like an open book and knew that it wasn't him because the chemistry between her and John Paul Batman was absent unlike it was with her and Bruce Wayne Batman. She didn't even know Bruce Wayne's identity at the time.
That seems that she always felt a strong connection that went beyond Bruce Wayne's costume.


The Hush saga
Batman revealed her secret identity to Catwoman
Selina and Bruce were at date opera,and they seem natural with each other.
Catwoman tried to stop Batman from killing the Joker because she didn't want him to destroy himself.
She really cared about Batman destroying himself, knowing that he can't toe the line between light and dark like she can.
What attracted her to Batman was his being a crusader who fought for what he believed in. She respected him for that. She wouldn't want him to change. Batman has a dark side that he has to keep in check. How can you not after being traumatized from seeing his parents murdered. With Batman, there is a fine line between justice and revenge. Batman needs detachment to do his job. He can't afford to get all emotional because that would make him weak. I am not talking weak in the sense of he will get his butt whipped. I am talking about weak in regards to that his psyche could be overwhelmed in darkness. If he starts killing, then he will end up being the very same thing that he's fighting against.
She even tried to stop him after being shot, and he knocked her out hitting her in the bullet wounded shoulder from her being shot by Harley Quinn.



After the Hush saga,

Catwoman volume 3 #32 "It Only Takes A Night"
Selina wanted her and Bruce to go out on a real date and forget about the masks.
They looked like a typical romantic couple on a date.. She even invited him over for a nightcap and they cozied up with each other on the couch. It ended with her being covered in only a blanket when she was lying on the couch.

Throughout the volume 3 Catwoman series, she addressed Batman-dressed, Bruce when in private. She didn't see Batman. She saw Bruce Wayne.




Detective Comics #845 (August 2008): "The Riddle Unanswered"
After the prison planet thing, Selina told Bruce about she heard about his blossoming romances with Jezebel Jet and Zatanna.
She came off like she was both hurt and jealous. She accused Zatanna of moving in on her while she was gone. She seemed like she was a typical exgirlfriend who hadn't moved on. She definitely had romantic feelings for Bruce.




Heart of Hush saga
Selina was showing jealousy about Batman/Bruce in regards Jezebel Jet.
Selina went to talk to Zatanna because she heard that Zatanna and Bruce were getting closer.
She was down when she said that Bruce moved on. After Zatanna said that Selina should be happy for Bruce, Selina said that it's for her to be about Bruce that brought so much emotion into her life.
She was going to tell her how she felt about him, but she didn't get the chance. She ended up getting attacked and stabbed after being shocked by her attacker's the face which was Bruce's. Of course, it wasn't him.
At the end of the Heart of Hush saga, Bruce confessed to Selina that she's the only woman that held his heart and that he will love her always.


She was actually torn between two men - Bruce Wayne and Batman.
It seems possible that she knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman, but she waited for him to confirm it.
or
she unconsciously knew from being very attracted to both men.


I don't believe that was in love with Batman because of his costume.
I believe that she was in love with Batman because of what was behind the costume.


I actually believe that Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle were made for each other. I believe that they can't exist without the other. Catwoman/Selina Kyle is the iconic love interest of Batman. They have a 70 year history.
The golden age comic versions of them married each other in the comics too. Then when the silver age comic versions were made. Then the writers dismissed the golden age versions as another reality. Bob Kane definitely created Catwoman/Selina Kyle to be the main love interest for Batman/Bruce Wayne. Like soap operas where couples get together break up and end up getting together again, Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle do the same thing. They always eventually end up together in some way.
It seems to be a cycle.

Throughout her 70 year existence, Catwoman wasn't always the villain in the comics. .
Catwoman/Selina Kyle always ended up reforming and joining Batman/Bruce Wayne in the fight against crime.

She did it in the golden version, but she ended up being blackmailed into becoming Catwoman to commit crime again that led to her death.
She did it in the silver version, but she ended up being converted to bad again through some mind machine by the Joker. She was definitely in love with Batman. Batman was very pissed off with the Joker for messing up Catwoman's mind, feeling that he lost her.
It was definitely personal. (Detective Comics #569 (December 1986): "Catch As Catscan")

She did it in the modern version. Unfortunately, it was mindwipe that led her to turn over a new leaf. Even before that, she had some conscience and didn't kill and even saved lives. I think the writers did a lousy job with her character development. A lot of it didn't make sense.

It's mainly the television shows and movies that always depict Catwoman as a dangerous villain.
I think Batman the Animated series and the Batman showed Catwoman as not-so villain like.
The former cartoon series definitely showed that Catwoman had feelings for Batman and was even concerned for his safety. In the last episode,she helped him out when that big wild cat was going to tear him to pieces.

 

[Glaucus]

There is definitely a lot more.


Balent's Catwoman issue #38
Selina thought about why she couldn't stop thinking about Batman. She thought he was like no man that she ever known because the night fits him like a glove the way it suits her. She even thought that maybe he is that rare animal - the one real man that every woman meets once in a lifetime. In that same issue, Bruce admitted to Alfred to that he felt attracted to Catwoman. Alfred thought it was normal and healthy.


Balent's Catwoman issue #39
Selina dreamed about Batman. She was wondering what was wrong with her.
She said that she was getting so soft and simple that she almost regretted getting the Joker and Two-Face after Batman to divert Batman from stealing the Rutherford Catseye pendant. This was a scene right after Bruce admitted that he was attracted to her and he was disturbed by that. He told Alfred that he can allow himself to be attracted to criminal. Heck..Alfred didn't even see anything wrong with being attracted to Catomwan. Alfred thought it made him human. It seemed throughout the history, Alfred had a little soft spot for Catwoman too. He even told her in the Hush story line that he thought the world of her.




Balent's Catwoman #65
Joker wanted Catwoman to turn into a killing machine. He thought it was a great way to deeply hurt Batman.


Batman:
"Enough with the games,Joker!
This ends now!"

Catwoman:
"No! Not until he tells me why!
I demand an explanation!"

Batman:
"It isn't worth it.
Nothing he says will make sense/"


Catwoman:
"He turned me into assassination magnet. A spectacle!
He tricked me and tracked me, made me life hell or forty-eight hours.
There must be a reason."


Joker:
"But I didn't murder anyone.
Don't you get it?
She did! Your girlfriend.
That was the whole point."

Batman:
"My what?"

Joker:
Batman's girlfriend on killing rampage!
Can't you see the headlines now?"

Catwoman:
"You-you're crazy!"


Joker:
"I take it that you are also just noticing that you're made for each other."

"Oh, Don't try to deny it, kiddies.
Uncle Joker knows of what he speaks!"

"First there is that animal pas de deux
Have you noticed how couples dress up like each other after awhile?
But it's disgusting really. There you have it."

"Then come on this little silly matter of both of you living in Gotham all this time."
What are you afraid of missing?
The Plagues, the assylum breakouts,or the natural disaster. Please! No one's apartment is that nice!"

Batman:
"The police will be here any minute"

Joker:
"Ooh! Ooh! And That! The Clincher!"
Batsy has put me in Arkham...how many times now?
And you? Not once!"


Joker:
"Either this is true love, or you have compromising pictures of him and whatshisface from Metropololis!" (I thought that was funny....The Joker mentioning the possibility that Batman and Superman are having a homosexual relationship.......hahahaha!)

"Trust me, kitty. I know how to get under his skin. It's been my life study. And I couldn't think of anything that would tick him off more than watching you turned into a killing machine."

Batman was wrong. What Joker said made perfect sense! Joker sees that Batman and Catwoman are made for each other and that there is true love between them.
It seemed like Joker made a good shrink even though he badly needs one himself. hahahahahaha!

In the Silver Age version, Joker did hurt Batman deeply by changing Catwoman back to bad through a mind machine.
It's a similar to what Joker did to Catwoman in the modern age version. He attacked Batman by attacking his heart figuratively. Of course, it didn't turn out well for him. Catwoman got the last laugh. She brought him back to Arkham Assylum and tricked him into thinking that she killed Batman.


Batman goes easy on her like he always did. From what I saw throughout the modern comics, he never really arrested her.
Commissioner Gordon had to lay a trap,and that was what got Catwoman captured. He even used Bruce Wayne to help. After Selina/Catwoman got sentenced for 2 years at some women's facility, Bruce didn't seem happy about that. That was Balent's Catwoman issue #79.



In the last episode of the Balent's Catwoman series, #94
Catwoman/Selina wanted to explore things between Batman and her.
She told Batman how she became Catwoman like how it showed in Batman Year One. She really opened herself to him. She even straight up kissed Batman on the lips after that. Batman broke away responded to her as "Selina" and not "Catwoman" which told me that he was touched but conflicted. There was like anguish on his face.
She told him that he can't deny that there is something between them and she asked him if it was time that they did something about it. Batman says that they had this conversation before. Selina says that they haven't and that they flirt,fight,and chase each other over rooftops. She says that they never talk about the reason that they keep doing the dance over and over again. She even told him that maybe it's time that they did without the costumes,and Batman told her that she know that can never happen.
She told him that he doesn't expect him to give up his vigilante life style any more than he can expect her to give up her criminal lifestyle but they owe it to themselves to find out who they are away from the city. She even told Batman that she's leaving for Sao Paulo and to come with her. She said that she wasn't asking forever but a little while and that Gotham will still be there when he gets back. Then she left. Batman didn't even respond. He certainly didn't try to catch. She actually stole something and set an alarm to initiate that conversation. Batman had no intentions on arresting her. He never did except that one time he wrapped her up against a lightpost and she escaped from the cops. That was their very first meeting. After that, it was like he went easy on her.

In the conversation,
Catwoman/Selina Kyle really bared herself to Batman and expressed how she felt about him. She wanted to explore the connection that they had as their true identities and not as Batman and Catwoman.
It wasn't about Catwoman/Selina being in love Batman's costume. She was actually in love with Batman himself and the man behind Batman. She wanted to be lovers instead of enemies. They weren't really enemies to begin with. There was a mutual attraction, and they both fought against it. Batman resisted it by telling himself that he can't afford to cross the line of good. Catwoman resisted by covering it up as like she was playing. She was known as the femme fetale. It seems that when it came to Bruce/Batman, her femme fetale persona was her denial and the cover up of her true feelings for him.


After the Balent Catwoman series was over, Batman/Bruce never turned her in after Selina Kyle and Catwoman were assumed to be dead. He even helped her to stay hidden. He even protective of her being found out by Slam Bradley. As Bruce Wayne,he was protective about Selina Kyle. As Batman, he confronted Slam about it,and he told Slam that he didn't want her to get hurt. He found Selina, and he even offered to help her including help her see a doctor that he trusted. Batman/Bruce was already in somewhat gray area when it came to Catwoman/Selina. In a way, he was a like a hypocrite because he helped a known criminal stay free. He did it because he saw the good in her, and even told her. Selina even thanked him for his help. Selina also saved Batman from getting shot by hitting the would-be shooter with a brick. She definitely didn't want to see him killed or hurt.



The stories of Batman and Catwoman are like one big soap opera. Will Bruce finally admits he loves Selina and reveal his secret identity to her? Will Selina admit that she loves Batman and it's not really a game for her? Will Batman be able to maintain his integrity? Will they have a relationship? Will they get married? Will they have children together? Will Selina give up her criminal life style for Batman and join his crusade against? Will they have a lasting relationship or will it be cut short. Will the tragic death of one of them do them forever apart?

 

[ivankamart]

Good choice, I've always enjoyed this piece too!

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[batmanswife]

I don't like the relationship between Batman and Catwoman, because I just can't see an actual bat and an actual cat being with each other out in the wild.