Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. The supervillainess was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel.
The original and most widely known Catwoman, Selina Kyle, first appears in Batman #1 (Spring 1940) in which she is known as The Cat. As an adversary of Batman, she was a whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high-stake thefts. Modern writers have attributed her activities and costumed identity as a response to a history of abuse.
Since the 1990s, Catwoman has been featured in an eponymous series that cast her as an antiheroine rather than a supervillainess. The character has been one of Batman's most enduring love interests, and has occasionally been depicted as his one true love.
A popular figure, Catwoman has been featured in most media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience on the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman motion picture. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in a stand-alone Catwoman film in 2004, although only loosely based on the Batman character. Catwoman is #51 on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list.
