When it comes to Catwoman of the DC Comic universe, it’s pretty difficult to ruin the character. A cat burglar who is clever, beautiful and Batman’s match, she’s pretty much the whole package. It takes some majorly poor acting, not to mention awful writing, to render any on-screen version of Catwoman as unwatchable.
Even so, there are a few versions of Catwoman that just aren’t any good. Then there are versions of Selina Kyle (and her other alter egos) that are so awesome we had a hard time it wasn’t the actual character herself, creeping out of the pages of the comics to portray herself on screen.
Halle Berry, Catwoman
One of the most memorable Razzie performances that’s often cited as Worst Movie Ever, 2004’s Catwoman featured Halle Berry as the worst version of the character. As Patience Phillips, she not only was an annoying femme fatale, but she also had some of the worst writing any version of Catwoman has ever endured.
It’s really not fair to Berry, who has been such a good sport about the flop. Had she been provided everything from a better plot to a better costume, she could have knocked it out of the park. She really deserves another shot at it, if she wanted one.
Melendy Britt, The New Adventures of Batman
Between random meowing in an actual cat voice, a slow and steady monotone and a character so flat you could mail her without using extra postage, Melendy Britt’s Catwoman was one of the worst versions of the character. She’s an all-out baddie, which almost never works as well as the complex Catwoman who toes the line between good and evil.
Britt’s character’s costume on The New Adventures of Batman was even dumb, with its non-matching black mask, white gloves and orange costume (what burglar would wear orange?). It even featured a ridiculous cat emblem that looked much more at home on a Thundercat than a DC villain.
Tress MacNeille, The Dark Knight Returns
A cross between Ursula the Sea Witch and one of Miyazaki’s many elderly characters (maybe Howl’s Moving Castle’s Witch of the Waste?), Tress MacNeille’s Catwoman is nothing like the Catwoman we all know and love. The only thing she really has going for her is bringing some much-needed representation of an aging character to the screen, but it’s in such a pathetic way we can only wince watching it.
This Catwoman is fragile and depressed, which wouldn’t be problems at all if they were portrayed with a defter hand. Instead, they perpetuate tropes about mental illness and aging, rendering the character a shell of her former self.
Zoe Kravitz, The Lego Batman Movie
2017’s Lego Batman Movie was a hilarious romp into the Batman as well as the Lego universe, and while the Joker was a main focus in the film, sadly Catwoman was barely in it. Zoe Kravitz didn’t get a good chance to demonstrate how she could voice the character with so few lines, particularly when the lines were used as a spoof, with, “Meow, meow!” prefacing and ending them.
Yes, it was funny, and we loved Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon, but after all of these years it seemed as if Catwoman should have had more inclusion in the film. Perhaps we’ll see more of her next time.
Jennifer Carpenter, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight
While Gotham by Gaslight was a fun take on what Batman might be like with a Victorian twist, it certainly wasn’t the best version of Catwoman. In fact, in this version, there’s only a reference or two to cats as the cabaret dancer Selina Kyle, Batman’s girlfriend, is definitely not Catwoman.
Kyle is sassy and strong, sneaking away with Bruce every chance she gets to enjoy time alone with him to the point of even ending up naked in a stagecoach, but a singing Catwoman really isn’t our favorite. Without the name and a bit of the attitude she wouldn’t even be related to Catwoman.
Nika Futterman, Batman: The Brave And The Bold
It’s too bad that Nika Futterman’s Catwoman suffered from such terrible one-note writing, because she would have otherwise been an excellent character. Once again, she’s written as mainly just a villain, without much more to her story, and the only times that she appears to be a sympathetic character are when she’s flirting with Batman.
Unlike some of the better animated versions of Catwoman, the Batman: The Brave and the Bold version is actually cartoonish in her portrayal, and almost campy in her suggestive dialogue at times. While not as awful as some versions of Catwoman, this one certainly wasn’t the best.
Lee Meriwether, Batman: The Movie
In 1966, we witnessed just what it meant to take Catwoman to too-catlike-for-her-own-good levels in Batman: The Movie. While Lee Meriwether was able to bring Catwoman to life in fun and clever ways, she also unfortunately… licked her hands to wash her face. It’s not like Catwoman’s never done something like this, but it was done so obnoxiously that it ended up being distracting.
There were some cool aspects of this character, though, like her romance with Batman, her alter ego Kitka and her super cool 60s costume that really deserves a retro resurgence this Halloween.
Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises
Anne Hathaway is an incredibly talented actress, and she played a cool, competent Catwoman. She was the least campy, the most grounded and honestly the best version for Bruce Wayne over the years that we’ve seen on screen. In this context, the Catwoman of The Dark Knight Rises could be considered the best.
There’s just one problem: she’s not as engaging to watch. She has some cool lines and moments, but she doesn’t command the scene like some of the better versions of Catwoman have done. In this light, she’s kind of the heart-healthy oatmeal of Catwomans, serving as the kind we need but not necessarily what we want. Her hair is also too long for her work; that is nothing but a safety hazard right there.
Gina Gershon, The Batman
One of the best things about the version of Catwoman portrayed on The Batman was the fact that she had layers previous versions failed to convey. Her double life, one of the key elements of her character that makes her so irresistible, is pitted against Batman’s to depict its complexities. Despite the weirdly-shaped ears of her costume, she was simply written better than many previous versions.
Like Anne Hathaway, Gina Gershon is an accomplished actress and she lends her voice to Catwoman here rather impressively. There are different tones and voices for the character’s various aliases that really do the character justice.
Laura Bailey, Batman: The Telltale Series
Batman: The Telltale Series saw one of the best animated versions of Catwoman to date in 2016. While it was a episodic point-and-click graphic adventure video game rather than an actual animated series, it was no less impressive. Not only did Laura Bailey’s version of Catwoman look super cool, but she toed the line between light and dark so lightly that we were left surprised at times.
This version of Catwoman not only recognizes the importance of being on the side of good, but actually has an inner conflict about what that means to her own life. She also has some of the best stealth and combat moves out of any Catwoman character, video game or not.
Eliza Dushku, DC Showcase: Catwoman
It’s only a 15-minute short, but 2011’s DC Showcase: Catwoman features one of the best versions of Catwoman, live or animated, that exists. Eliza Dushku was the perfect pick for voicing this character, who not only acts as a vigilante this time around but also features fantastic nuanced layers of wit, physical prowess and only a smattering of her Siren side as needed.
Both the voice and the animation, added with the writing itself, demand more here. While Catwoman has definitely shown this side in other forms since, including the comic books and in Dark Knight Rises, she really deserves an entire arc more like the one in DC Showcase.
Grey DeLisle, Arkhamverse
Grey DeLisle’s version of Catwoman in the games Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight is not only the best version of the character in a game, but one of the best incarnations of Catwoman herself. She is one of the most layered Catwomans ever written, complete with cruelty and kindness, playfulness juxtaposed with ruthlessness and a catlike presence that’s not overdone by any means.
She’s a temptress, yes, but in a subtler and more affecting way than many other Catwomans have been, and in battle she’s cunning, displaying both wit and finesse. This powerhouse of a Catwoman really needs her own show.
Adrienne Barbeau, Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is one many of us grew up on, and it was Adrienne Barbeau who first brought Catwoman to life in a multi-dimensional, animated format. She’s the version many of us also have on our desks as an action figure. She’s always got one foot on the right side of the law and one on the wrong, meeting Batman as an equal in both action and dialogue.
Adrienne Barbeau’s Catwoman wore a beautifully subtle costume, had a more meaningful relationship with her cat than other versions of the character even hinted at and brought true villainy to the table without coming off as a flat bad guy trope. We wonder how Jennifer Morrison will do in this year’s animated movie Batman: Hush?
Julie Newmar, Batman
Julie Newmar will always hold a place in the hearts of fans because she was the original Catwoman on the original Batman. While newer versions of Catwoman have evolved her more one-dimensional version into a much more intense and interesting character, Newmar will always be the one who paved the way for other versions to even happen.
Newmar also had fantastic chemistry with Adam West, bringing the cat-and-bat dynamic to the screen long before we saw it between Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale. She wasn’t the most brilliant of adversaries yet, but she was something completely new and inspiring.
Camren Bicondova, Gotham
NBC’s Gotham is a delightfully dark prequel to the Batman movies, animated series and games that we’ve devoured over the years and as such, it’s like cake. Camren Bicondova not only looks but acts as we would expect a young Catwoman to do, and her face could have been pulled out of a comic book. To be fair, she also looks like a teen Michelle Pfeiffer, which has something to do with it, but she’s pulled off an incredible version of Catwoman that we all now accept as her canon backstory.
It’s too bad that Bicondova will be replaced by Lili Simmons in the next season since Catwoman’s now grown up, but we look forward to seeing where Simmons will fit in the list very soon.
Eartha Kitt, Batman
Eartha Kitt was the most ground-breaking version of Catwoman. Only a year after Uhura debuted on the original Star Trek, Kitt replaced Julie Newmar in 1967 as the first Black Catwoman we’ve ever seen. Kitt’s voice is the embodiment of Catwoman as it is, so when she spoke it came out with a purr in a way she made seem effortless.
Kitt changed everything about Catwoman, from her speech to her very personality, and made a fantastic opponent to Adam West’s Batman. Confident and more action-oriented than her predecessor, Kitt made us believe that Catwoman was a force to be reckoned with while adding some much-needed representation to television.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns
Michelle Pfeiffer is the casual Batman fan favorite as well as one of the best versions of the character in any media. Alluring yet brutal, she’s an amalgamation of all of the previous versions of her character, giving Tim Burton’s Batman Returns the dark yet playful villain it needed to balance the crazy Penguin’s antics. Keaton was definitely one of the best Batmans, and Pfeiffer met him shot to shot as an adversary, making the film one of the best Batman movies to date.
From her DIY costume to her savage quest for revenge, she’s one of the scrappiest versions of Catwoman who even pulls off ridiculous moves like licking herself in a cat-like fashion. She gets away with it because she’s slightly mad, and because she’s the best version of Catwoman.
