Catwoman's nine lives

[The Laughing Fish]

Okay, so we know that the film heavily hinted that Selina Kyle was resurrected by cats after Max Schreck tried to murder her, and this enables her to become Catwoman with the ability to cheat death by having nine lives. Well, I've read arguments from some people who suggested that might not be the case, and she survived because of luck rather than obtaining supernatural ability. These claims include:

• When Schreck threw Selina out of the window, her body striking through the flag tents softened her fall on her way to hitting the ground , which allowed her to get knocked unconscious instead of getting killed.
• Catwoman's fall into a truck full of kitty litter after her fight with Batman saved her life.
• Her fall into the greenhouse wasn't quite fatal as it looked.
• Her getting shot by Schreck wasn't lethal because she was getting hit in the arm and legs.

I can accept the kitty litter and the gunshot wounds as valid excuses, but the other examples are hard for me to suspend my disbelief. And besides, her "kiss of death" with Schreck in the end was way too deadly for anybody to survive for my liking. So yes, I do believe that she had the supernatural ability to have nine lives. I guess it could be argued that she lost three lives instead of eight, by the end of the movie. 

[JokerMeThis]

One thing interesting to me is, if I recall correctly, after Selina hits the ground and is lying there we don't see her breath. This suggests to me she is dead.

Also, she seems to have perfect eyesight as Catwoman because she's no longer wearing glasses. It would stand to reason to me that a supernatural force which can raise the dead and bestow immortality can also cure all illnesses in the subject and make them perfect in every way, including having perfect eyesight.

I can't believe that a normal person could fall through the glass of the greenhouse and survive or at least not be horrifically injured and in too much pain to go on.

Even if Max only delivered non-fatal gunshots into her body, if she was a normal person, she'd be in too much pain to go on and do what she does after. And then a short time later running around Gotham dropping off her cat for Bruce to find and then moments later be on the rooftops. Not only would she be in too much pain but she'd bleed to death.

And I don't see how she could survive the kiss of death if she wasn't supernatural.

I see cats in this movie as being sentient and supernatural beings. They resurrected Selina giving her a chance to give justice to the man who murdered her. It's like the movie The Crow. It also reminds me of an H.P. Lovecraft story called "The Cats of Ulthar" which can be read online.

In another time and place another group of cats did the same thing for Halle Berry's character in the Catwoman movie.

[Catwoman]

Interesting theories. I especially enjoyed yours JMT (no offense TLF lol) and I am glad that someone else has FINALLY given some opinion on the fact that she no longer needed her glasses. I like your idea about it being restorative or whatever but I'm not sure about it "making them perfect in every way" because mentally she is, obviously, very not perfect which is part of what made Michelle SO enthralling on screen.

One of my fav aspects of this movie and this version of Catwoman is the nine lives dealio, so I've given it a lot of thought and what not. I always assumed there was a little bit of supernatural stuff going on with her and that she really DID acquire the nine lives of a cat and that the deaths she counts off first to Batman on the rooftop and then at the end are real. The falls, everyone handles falls different at certain heights but all three could have been deadly. Obviously she could have survived the first two gun shots (to her upper right arm and her left collar bone) but she would have probably had handicaps and like JMT suggested she would also bleed a lot, possibly to death. The second set of shots, I always assumed (or pretended, lol) that they were into her stomach which is obviously a lot more dramatic and potentially fatal. Plus, for a "belly girl," they're also sexy but we won't get into all of that since Kitty might get a little kinky. If they were to her legs like seems to be the most popular theory or to her hips, then you have the same stuff I suggested about the first two shots with handicaps and a lot of bloodloss (especially if one or both of her femoral arteries were severed which is often fatal).

The kiss of death, I've seen some crazy theories about her suit being what prevented her from being fried along with Max, as well as some other things. The thing is, in Dan Waters' original (very traumatizing) script, Max shoots her five times, leaving her with the one life left and she is very graphically electrocuted along with Max (she is described as "the current-conducting Selina"....uggg) and most certainly dies a ninth and final (as in completely final) time. Her survival with one life left, taking the whole "let's let her live because we want to capitalize on her total awesomeness even though we're going to piss around for 12 years and put out some sh*t with some chick named Halle Berry running around in an outfit that makes this looks like a prom dress" aspect out of it and just focusing on the fact that she lives despite the electrocution, is to me a sign that they definitely wrote her as being somewhat supernatural.

[Edd Grayson]

Her survival with one life left, taking the whole "let's let her live because we want to capitalize on her total awesomeness even though we're going to piss around for 12 years and put out some sh*t with some chick named Halle Berry running around in an outfit that makes this looks like a prom dress" aspect out of it and just focusing on the fact that she lives despite the electrocution, is to me a sign that they definitely wrote her as being somewhat supernatural.

Agreed, and I think they should have made a sequel with Michelle shortly after. They wasted that chance.  And no disrespect to Halle Berry personally, but her movie and the character she played simply can't compare.

[riddler]

My theory is that the cats bringing her back gave her cat like powers; it's easy to tell her athleticism greatly improved; she went from a klutz to being quite agile. Many of her movements are cat like, she grooms herself (although that may be for show), we see her sniffing around. Cats do have excellent eye sight hence why she no longer wears glasses.  Now of course cats don't actually have nine lives, that's an expression. It is conceivable that she'd have survived her falls from Batman and the Penguin (especially if she used her limbs like a kitty). The gunshots never strike her in the heart.

[Catwoman]

Her survival with one life left, taking the whole "let's let her live because we want to capitalize on her total awesomeness even though we're going to piss around for 12 years and put out some sh*t with some chick named Halle Berry running around in an outfit that makes this looks like a prom dress" aspect out of it and just focusing on the fact that she lives despite the electrocution, is to me a sign that they definitely wrote her as being somewhat supernatural.

Agreed, and I think they should have made a sequel with Michelle shortly after. They wasted that chance.  And no disrespect to Halle Berry personally, but her movie and the character she played simply can't compare.

I meant no disrespect to Halle either, the "some chick" comment was because had anyone even heard of her in 1992? lol. I'm asking honestly, the first thing I ever saw or heard about her in was X-Men. And she's a good actress I guess, but I'm like bitter over the Catwoman movie turning into that garbage (which I never have and never will watch) and the fact that most of my issues with X3 are because Brett Ratner decided to cow to her demands about Storm being the leader or else she wouldn't do another movie which resulted in a lot of stuff that I won't say since even though the movie is 9 years old I don't want to get yelled at for spoilers.

Here is what I wish. Since Michelle is 57 and I guess playing Catwoman live is out (but hell if Harrison Ford can do Indiana Jones and Han Solo in his 70s anything is possible) and since Tim Burton has such a love of traditional animation, I wish WB would let him do an animated movie with her as the voice. They could get Johnny Depp to voice Bruce, that'd get Tim involved real fast. lol.

[Catwoman]

Oh sh*t, I just looked her up. I forgot she was in the Flintstones and she was married to David Justice who was my fav baseball player at the time! Oops.

lol

[Edd Grayson]

I wish Michelle voiced Catwoman too. She did say that she hated the suit, but I don't think she'd decline doing voice work for one of her best and most famous characters, if a project would come.

[Dagenspear]

I meant no disrespect to Halle either, the "some chick" comment was because had anyone even heard of her in 1992? lol. I'm asking honestly, the first thing I ever saw or heard about her in was X-Men. And she's a good actress I guess, but I'm like bitter over the Catwoman movie turning into that garbage (which I never have and never will watch) and the fact that most of my issues with X3 are because Brett Ratner decided to cow to her demands about Storm being the leader or else she wouldn't do another movie which resulted in a lot of stuff that I won't say since even though the movie is 9 years old I don't want to get yelled at for spoilers.

Storm wasn't given the leader role in x3. I don't know what issues would come from that though if she had.

God bless you! God bless everyone in your life!

[The Laughing Fish]

If Halle Berry's Catwoman was any different (i.e. good), she would never have returned to play Storm.

Halle Berry had initially decided not to reprise her role as Storm for this film, citing lack of character development in the previous two installments and a tense relationship with director Bryan Singer. However, after Singer's departure and suffering a major box-office flop with Catwoman (2004), Berry agreed to return on the condition that her role be expanded. Consequently, in this film Storm replaces Cyclops and Professor Xavier as team leader of the X-Men (which is keeping with the comics, where for a time Storm served as team leader in Xavier's absence).

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376994/trivia

It goes to show that she was banking on Catwoman to allow her become the main star of a superhero franchise, which she obviously didn't get to be in any of the X-Men movies.

Back on topic now...

One of my fav aspects of this movie and this version of Catwoman is the nine lives dealio, so I've given it a lot of thought and what not. I always assumed there was a little bit of supernatural stuff going on with her and that she really DID acquire the nine lives of a cat and that the deaths she counts off first to Batman on the rooftop and then at the end are real. The falls, everyone handles falls different at certain heights but all three could have been deadly.

I remember you raised a very good point in another thread that Selina must have had some athletic ability as she referred to playing racquetball in one scene (though I can't remember which scene it was. Was it when she returned to her apartment after Batman rescued her from the Red Triangle Gang goon?). It could be said that she wasn't completely inept, the cats' resurrection allowed her to reach her potential greatly, and give her some confidence that she never had.

I wish Michelle voiced Catwoman too. She did say that she hated the suit, but I don't think she'd decline doing voice work for one of her best and most famous characters, if a project would come.

It's not surprising to hear that she'd hate the suit - I can't imagine how tight and uncomfortable it would be to wear it.