Elseworlds’ stories often give iconic DC characters strange new appearances and in Batman: Bloodstorm, Catwoman undergoes an exceptionally strange one. She no longer simply takes inspiration from her love of cats—she becomes one.

The alternate universes within DC’s Elseworlds frequently make major changes to well-known heroes and villains. Batman: Bloodstorm is a one-shot comic, which serves as sequel to Batman and Dracula: Red Rain. The first comic turned Batman into a vampire after he confronted legendary literary character, Dracula. This comic pits the Dark Knight against the Joker, who has allied himself with a group of vampires. However, Catwoman receives the most surprising transformation.

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Batman: Bloodstorm was published in 1995. It has the creative team of Doug Moench, Kelley Jones, John Beatty, Les Dorscheid, and Todd Klein. Within this story Selina Kyle is attacked by one of the members of Joker’s group, who can shapeshift into a wolf. This attack doesn’t kill her. Instead, it allows her to transform into a cat, making her name literal and effectively turning her into a werecat when the moon makes the transformation occur. This change is a big departure from the original character, though her role as romantic companion to Batman is unchanged. She is the only one who keeps him from losing himself to his vampiric nature.

Catwoman’s new form gives her a purplish hue, which is slightly similar to her purple suit from the 90s. Her hair is also kept long, though it grows significantly longer in her werecat form. Unlike typical depictions of werewolves, Catwoman has fur on her body, but it isn’t always apparent in the panels she’s featured in. Instead, she appears as though she’s wearing a purple suit. She moves on four paws, as her hands changed to be clawed and animal-like. This is a hybrid style of a werecat and Catwoman’s predominant look for the era. However, it’s definitely rather bizarre, and in many ways disturbing, though much of this comic is.

Throughout this Elseworlds story, Batman is fighting to maintain his humanity, not wanting to give into his vampiric bloodlust. He is better able to do this once Catwoman is at his side. Her transformation occurs only sometimes, so typically she’s able to remain in her human form. The two fall in love with one another and team-up to take down Joker and his vampire allies. However, this monstrous duo isn’t fated to last. Ultimately, Batman loses his humanity once he loses Selina, caving into his vampire side. This form adds a visual duality to Selina, since she is fighting for revenge fiercely as a werecat, while also being a caring human capable of quelling a vampire’s bloodlust. Nonetheless, this isn’t one of her best looks and it should stay solely in Batman: Bloodstorm. Catwoman doesn’t need her name to be literal for her to be fierce and incredible.

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Samantha King
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Samantha King is a Comic News Writer for Screen Rant. She has a B.A. in English & American Literature with a concentration in Shakespeare and a minor in Creative Writing from UTEP. She also has a M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Texas.

Samantha used to get in trouble for reading comics in class back in high school, but she gets the last laugh. She took a graphic novel course in college and now gets paid to write about comics. She runs her own blog at: www.therealworldaccordingtosam.blogspot.com

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