What is your preferred background story for Catwoman?

[johnnygobbs]

I'd love to read your reasons as to what your preferred version of Catwoman is, and what your least favourite version is too, if you have one.

Also, do you think there is a canonical origin story for Catwoman?  Batman's backstory is pretty consistent, except for 'Elseworlds' type stories, but does Catwoman have a similarly established/predominant backstory?

[Edd Grayson]

Mysterious burglar/jewel-thief and evil femme fatale sound just about right. I think that's what Catwoman should be, essentially.

I really like some of the others too, like the Batman Returns and Batman TAS ones, the performances were good and she still had elements of the classic character.

The abused orphan one would work too as a less fantastical interpretation.

The one I dislike would be wealthy heiress, it just sounds so stale and lazy for a character like Catwoman.

[Catwoman]

is it bad that i don't have a preference? i just like her as she is, regardless of how she got there.

[The Laughing Fish]

Anything that doesn't involve her working as a prostitute for a living.

[Silver Nemesis]

Anything that doesn't involve her working as a prostitute for a living.

^ This. I also don't like versions of her origin that involve sexual abuse.

I voted for the amnesiac flight attendant origin, simply because my two favourite versions of Catwoman are the Earth-Two version from the comics and the Pfeiffer version from Batman Returns. And I see the origin of the Pfeiffer Catwoman as an updated variation of the flight attendant story (fall from a great height resulting in head trauma, identity crisis, amnesia, etc). I also like origin stories that offer some kind of rationale behind the cat motif. In the case of the near-death origins, Selina can attribute her survival instincts to her feline totem. That at least gives her a basic psychological reason for dressing as a cat.

As for which version is definitive, that's hard to say. The common element in most of her origin stories is that she suffers some kind of physical and mental trauma; either as the result of an accident or a deliberate act of violence. In the case of the more violent origins, her assailant is usually a domineering male figure in her life (her husband in the Bronze Age Earth-Two canon, her pimp Stan, her boss Max Shreck). By becoming Catwoman, she emancipates herself from this person and usually exacts revenge against them. That seems to be the basic narrative pattern to which several of these origin stories adhere. So I suppose that's the closest thing she has to a definitive origin story.

[johnnygobbs]

I generally have a lot of issues with fantasy fiction that use sexual abuse as a plot element, but in Catwoman's case I don't find this backstory exploitative so much as potentially empowering.  By giving Selina Kyle a hard-luck-story but depicting her as a strong-willed, assertive adult evening the score against the men, or types of men, who abused her and her friends as a child, you turn her into a powerful, inspirational figure for people who may have suffered abused themselves, sexual or otherwise.  Of course, this is all predicated in her being portrayed as more of a heroine or anti-heroine rather than an irredeemable and full-on 'baddie'.

However, for all that I don't like Frank Miller's depiction of Selina as a prostitute.  It suggests that Selina hasn't been able to transcend her tragic past and is forever condemned to being a victim of male oppression/abuse.  Selina, the adult, should be presented as a character who is at least fighting to escape her grim roots.

As you pointed out, Silver Nemesis, the abiding constant in most depictions of Catwoman's background is that she is someone who has escaped from an abusive, usually male, figure and part of her arc is in finally being able to avenge her abuser, or a surrogate figure who is responsible for the abuse of others.  Once again, without condoning violence I think this narrative can be empowering for many readers, giving a purpose to Selina/Catwoman in the same way Bruce's vow to protect Gotham and spare the city's inhabitants from the fate that befell his own parents gives purpose to his backstory.

[riddler]

Where is the option for my choice?

Grew up in Georgia as a Braves fan, became a solid baseball player and a fan fic writer, takes regular cat naps, struggled with her sexuality but is drop dead gorgeous, incredibly witty and doesn't take crap from anyone

[Catwoman]

Where is the option for my choice?

Grew up in Georgia as a Braves fan, became a solid baseball player and a fan fic writer, takes regular cat naps, struggled with her sexuality but is drop dead gorgeous, incredibly witty and doesn't take crap from anyone

i vote for this too.

[johnnygobbs]

Where is the option for my choice?

Grew up in Georgia as a Braves fan, became a solid baseball player and a fan fic writer, takes regular cat naps, struggled with her sexuality but is drop dead gorgeous, incredibly witty and doesn't take crap from anyone

i vote for this too.

I've never heard of that version of Catwoman before, so I'm sorry.  It's not an option.

[riddler]

Well I've never met a version of johnny gobs who isn't a troll so I guess we're even?

Oh sorry C I hope I didn't steal your line 


Also Catwoman should be left-handed to add to the deceptive aspect.