Let us hope Warner Bros. is casting Zoë Kravitz for more than a single turn in the Cat-suit. Because history hasn't been so kind to the character.
The studio announced Monday that for its next solo Batman movie – in which Robert Pattinson will inherit the cape and cowl from Ben Affleck – Kravitz will play Catwoman, an often femme fatale role that has a widely varied half-century screen history.
New Catwoman: Zoe Kravitz at premiere of HBO’s Big Little Lies season two in May 29, 2019, in New York.Credit:Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Kravitz (Big Little Lies) is no stranger to superhero movies: She voiced Catwoman two years ago in WB/DC's The Lego Batman Movie; voiced Mary Jane in last year's Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; and played Angel Salvadore in 2011's X-Men: First Class. (And she also could star in a DC crossover with her stepfather, Aquaman star Jason Momoa.)
Yet not only has the Divergent trilogy actress never had an extended turn in any one superhero franchise, but the on-screen history of Catwoman (often aka Selina Kyle) is marked mostly by short stints in supporting roles.
In the '60s, Batman: The Movie and the TV series it spawned couldn't even stick to a single Catwoman actress during a relatively brief run: Lee Meriwether, Julie Newmar and purring Eartha Kitt all played the DC character, who was created eight decades ago.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns.Credit:Warner Bros
Catwoman has been voiced by numerous actresses in animated projects, including Adrienne Barbecue (Gotham Girls) and Eliza Dushku (the Catwoman and Batman: Year One videos). Yet in live-action roles, two of the most memorable Catwomen – Michelle Pfeiffer from Tim Burton's Batman movies, and Anne Hathaway from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy – never got a shot at a solo movie. Not even the longest-running version, played by Camren Bicondova for five seasons on Fox's Gotham, has received an opportunity for a title series.
Marred role: Halle Berry in Catwoman.Credit:AP
Which is why director Pitof's critically drubbed Catwoman (2004) – starring Halle Berry shortly after her Oscar win – has so marred the character's screen legacy.
And that's where Zoë Kravitz comes in.
It is possible that her Catwoman would appear only in one Batman movie (scheduled to come out June 25, 2021), amid a full gallery of rogues. But given DC's building-out of its own film universe in the past decade, including solo movies for Wonder Woman and Aquaman, it is more likely that WB/DC and director Matt Reeves are casting Kravitz with multiple movies in mind.
Which means that after more than 50 years of the character mostly purring in support of the Caped Crusader, the casting of Kravitz sparks hope for a worthy new Catwoman film.
The Washington Post
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