The Batman: Catwoman’s 6 Best Quotes

Content Warning: Major SPOILERS For DC’s The Batman Are Discussed In This Article

After spending five years in development, Matt Reeves’ highly-anticipated The Batman has finally hit theaters. This new and blossoming Bat-verse has made some bold reinventions of beloved characters from this corner of the DC universe, and Zoë Kravitz’s iteration of Selina Kyle/Catwoman is one of the standouts from the movie.

She’s arguably one of the most fleshed-out versions of the hero/anti-hero, and Kravitz delivered some of the movie’s most memorable lines of dialogue. They ranged from smooth, flirtatious, to disarmingly introspective of the brooding Dark Knight opposite her in a way that only Catwoman could convey.

Selina’s Soft Spot For The Lonely

“I Have A Thing About Strays.”

Though Catwoman’s moral allegiances have fluctuated in the comics over the decades from villain to antihero to hero, she’s cemented herself as one of DC Comics’ best street-level superheroes. And even in her proto-vigilante character arc in The Batman, she’s used the unforgiving upbringing forced on her in Gotham City to develop a particular affection for the lonely and somber.

Losing her mother to organized crime — and Carmine “The Roman” Falcone specifically — is what eventually drew her to adopting stray cats off Gotham’s streets, and this quote said to Batman is as clever as it is multifaceted. It’s a line showing her classic brand of flirtatiousness and romantic back-and-forth with the Dark Knight, but this double meaning gives a subtle insight into Batman and her interest in him. Even when Bruce thinks his guard is up under the cape and cowl, he can’t hide everything he’s buried psychologically from Selina.

The Dark Knight’s First Love

“Who Am I Kidding? You’re Already Spoken For.”

Catwoman’s complex romance with the Caped Crusader is undoubtedly one of Batman’s most important relationships in the comics. This quote in The Batman‘s finale during the aftermath of the Riddler’s flood captures that complexity. Bruce Wayne has yet to meet someone in such a profound and romantic light until Selina unexpectedly came into his life, and certainly not someone who’s brought him down to earth in the same way.

Pattinson and Kravitz do well in portraying their evolving relationship, and this quote is equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking. They’ve developed a significant bond after being caught up in the whirlwind of the Riddler’s grand scheme, but despite the mutual passion, the Batman can’t pry himself from Gotham City. He refuses to give up on it — and more importantly, the people that make it — ironically after Selina partly gave him this newfound perspective and hopeful worldview.

Selina’s Great Capacity For Compassion

“If We Don’t Stand Up For Annika, No One Will.”

The Riddler’s plan suddenly forced Batman and Catwoman into each others’ lives, with both having different motivations for becoming even more involved than they thought they were. Selina’s girlfriend Annika mysteriously goes missing after being petrified of being hunted down for something sinister she knows about the criminal underworld. Gotham’s vengeful guardian wants to hunt down and put a stop to this shadowy serial killer, while Catwoman will do anything to make Annika’s killers pay.

The latter meeting Batman at the Bat-signal was an appeal to Bruce’s humanity, Selina’s capacity for compassion, and a wider metaphor for Gotham City’s incompetence. The city’s downtrodden population has been beaten into hopelessness and apathy, where those in power like Carmine Falcone or the Penguin can sweep murder under the rug as if it was a mild nuisance.

DC’s Most Iconic Romance

“The Bat And The Cat. It’s Got A Nice Ring.”

Being Batman and one of DC’s most iconic romances, it was a great creative move to capture both Batman and Catwoman’s early days together in The Batman. With rumblings of a potential trilogy on the horizon along with the confirmed HBO Max TV shows (Penguin and GCPD/Arkham spinoffs), this first movie had plenty of memorable interactions between the Bat and the Cat to plant the seeds for their developing relationship.

Their final scene in the movie was also a well-executed example of a bittersweet close, with Selina adamant that Gotham can’t ever change for the better, while the Dark Knight is inspired to become more for its sake. It gave one of the most palpably romantic scenes as a result, though heartbreaking as it also is, with Selina smoothly suggesting they run away together. Even more emotional is the visible tension on the otherwise stoic Batman’s face as he seems to strongly consider it.

Kindred Spirits, For Better & Worse

“You Assume The Worst In People. Maybe We’re Not So Different After All.”

That same meeting between Catwoman and Batman at the Bat-signal also provided a saddening bit of self-deprecation by the former, though, it served as insight into both these characters’ mindsets. Selina has lived her whole life in Gotham City operating under survival mode since her mother’s murder, as she can’t afford to think about the lives of anyone else besides her and Annika.

Meanwhile, Bruce’s trauma stems from the loss of his parents as a child and shutting himself away from the rest of the world. Even though they essentially come from two different worlds within the same city, they’ve essentially both grown jaded and cynical of their environment. This could be the part of Selina that compelled her to leave Gotham for Blüdhaven, while the newfound optimism Batman found within himself thanks to her convinced him to stay.

What Batman Hides Underneath The Cowl

“Who Are You Under There? What Are You Hiding?”

This quote is another showcase of how Catwoman can navigate around the minefield that is Batman’s mind in a way only she can, whether it’s in comics, TV, or movies. In The Batman‘s incarnation of this complicated duo, Batman and Catwoman are still learning about each other, even though this relationship started in a collision course set by a gruesome string of murders.

And like some of the other interactions between them, this simple yet effective line is also a disarming one for Bruce. Selina maintains her classic brand of flirtatiousness but is also genuinely curious at what this brooding hero is hiding under that cowl that isn’t merely his identity. That question is a lot more complex than she’d think, as part of what makes Batman one of DC’s best heroes is how much there is to unpack when it comes to his psyche.

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