Catwoman Revealed

[The Dark Knight]

http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/selina_kyle.html

First impression? Disappointing and bland. Hardly evokes Catwoman, to tell you the truth.

I will definitely need a full body shot.

[The Joker]

Hopefully, this is just a photo of cat burgler Selina Kyle, and not what Catwoman in full costume is being reimaged to look like.

[The Dark Knight]

Spy pics of a stunt woman in the suit, riding the bat pod have emerged.

Looked pretty darn hot, honestly. Throw a mask on there and you've got a deal.

[Seantastic]

I don't think its that bad, however I couldn't care less about Catwoman tbh.

[Furstmobile]

This is a massive disappointment. A high-tech Julie Newmar? Really?

[The Dark Knight]

This is a massive disappointment. A high-tech Julie Newmar? Really?

Cat ears and a mask of some sort are needed.

Otherwise it's just a generic, run of the mill effort.

[BatmAngelus]

Spy pics of a stunt woman in the suit, riding the bat pod have emerged.

Looked pretty darn hot, honestly. Throw a mask on there and you've got a deal.

Agreed.  The suit itself- from the neck down- looks really good: http://justjared.buzznet.com/photo-gallery/2566968/anne-hathaway-as-dark-knight-rises-catwoman-first-look-04/
I'm glad they went with the traditional skin-tight leather, rather than fan ideas that she'd be stealing Wayne Enterprises equipment and it'd have the padded armor look of Batman's suit (considering my feelings for the current Batsuit- no thanks).

As for the mask, there are also spy pics of a woman on set carrying a mask that reminds me of the ones that Newmar, Meriwether, and Kitt wore in the 1960s show:
http://eyeprime.net/2011/08/marion-cotillard-shoots-for-the-dark-knight-rises/
If you look closely, I think you might see a hint of the mask under the goggles.
Batman-News.com also says that a source told them that the character will wear a cowl/mask "at some point in the movie": http://batman-news.com/2011/08/05/first-official-photo-of-anne-hathaway-as-catwoman-in-the-dark-knight-rises/

We're all hoping that this is just how she looks for that scene and that for most of the movie, she'll have the traditional mask/cowl.  But if that's the case, it seems a little weird for WB to release a picture of that instead of the full costume.  When the first pic of Scarecrow was released, he was a man in a suit with a burlap sack over his head.  That wasn't an incomplete costume.  That wasn't a "That's how he'll look at first and it'll evolve into the comic book Scarecrow look."  That was his look for the entire movie.

Now, I'm hoping Hathaway wears a mask/cowl for the majority of the movie, too, instead of the shaded goggles(which to me, just make her look like a Trinity clone with longer hair and less stylish shades).  But even then, if that's the mask and there's no cowl...that's disappointing.  Sure, it's true to the 1960s era of comics, but that's when the character had been established already and had worn more cat-like suits before.  And I know that Selina Kyle didn't even wear a cat-like costume in her first appearance (and was just called The Cat).

But let's look at it in the context of this film- why would this character be called Catwoman?  That's like if Bruce Wayne kept the ski mask on that armor and they still called him Batman.  It doesn't make sense to me for her not to have the cowl as well and earn that title.  If we can have Christian Bale wearing rubber bat ears in two movies, we can have Anne Hathaway wear cat ears in one movie.
Also, given Nolan's love for realism, I would think the domino-style mask like this would be useless.  In real life, those don't exactly hide your identity.

Which brings up the other issue- Nolan's kept referring to the character as Selina Kyle.  I thought people were overreacting or reaching when they pointed out "Well, Nolan and the press release only say it's Selina Kyle.  Maybe Catwoman's not in the movie." 
Honestly, I laughed when I first read that.  But if you add in the lack of mask in this picture and Nolan's penchant for realism... is it possible that we're just getting a hi-tech thief named Selina Kyle?  I certainly hope not. 

But considering the hyper-realism element to Nolan's films, we're all starting to question whether or not the most basic elements of iconic character designs are going to make it into this movie.  And that's sad to me.

[Silver Nemesis]

Could this be the mask? Or is it simply one they used for dress rehearsals?



My opinion is pretty much the same as everyone else's. I'm hoping this is just a prototype costume worn early in the film. The suit is fine – it's got a sleek Jim Lee look to it – but she really needs the cat ears. I don't mind if it's an eye mask or a cowl, but she needs the ears.

It definitely has a sixties/Julie Newmar vibe. The 1960s was the only decade in the comics when Catwoman consistently wore a domino mask instead of a cowl. It was also the decade that first introduced Catwoman's night-vision goggles – in 'The Case of the Purr-loined Pearl!' (Batman #210, March 1969), to be precise.



Having said that, the domino masks still had cat ears. It's the one consistent element of every costume Catwoman has ever worn. The only time she didn't have the ears was in her first few appearances when she didn't wear a mask at all.

So overall I'd say I'm disappointed by this pic. But I'm hoping there'll be another costume we haven't seen yet. Its possible Warner Bros released this particular picture prematurely because they knew those pictures of the stunt double were going to be leaked anyway and they wanted to reveal the outfit first. In which case, there could still be another costume we've yet to see...


EDIT: Apparently I was right (aha!).

Update: Not surprisingly, Warner Bros. didn't release this image for shiggles. They knew that paparazzi and bystanders galore would be snapping shots of the actress (and/or her stunt double) today, straight from the set in Pittsburgh, and they wanted to get a more finessed image out there first.

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/118/1186306p1.html

[Azrael]

I'm optimistic enough to think this is an "prototype" disguise for Selina. However, she's seen riding the Bat-cycle, presumably fighting against the LOS, so at this point she's become an ally with Batman. If this promo still is from a scene from the film, it's well into the film, since according to the "spoilers", she starts off as a villain, and then becomes an ally.

Promo still aren't always telling the truth, of course, and it makes sense that they wanted to release this pic to be first before the paparazzi/spies etc. post a blurry pic.

...

It's against Batman LAW to say these things, but I like Michelle Pfeiffer's costume more than this Matrix-clone. Also, Catwoman in Arkham City looks fantastic.

[Gotham Knight]

looks like crap. big surprise. If ya stuck ears on it... it would still look like crap. I'm optimistic though, the fanboys will flood the net with false praise and drown any nasty signs of protest with claims that "Oh yeah, I always thought Catwoman wasn't realistic looking enough. Nolan FTW."