‘The Batman’ Understands Why Batman and Catwoman Work
One of the most intriguing things about The Batman, to me, was the marketing that focused on Batman and Catwoman. The comic book couple has been around for decades, but it rarely gets the exploration that it deserves, whether it’s because they’re barely onscreen together or because Selina only shows up once in a given Batman’s story. But something about The Batman was just right for how these two exist in the comics.
Played by Zoë Kravitz, Matt Reeves’ take on Selina is one that felt like a comic book version come to life. As our Princess Weekes wrote, she is the definitive version of the character on film, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. And it’s why her dynamic with Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne/Batman is so spectacular. The two found what works about these characters, and seeing them come together felt like coming home to the Bat/Cat I’ve known and loved in the comics.
That’s not to say other versions of Bat/Cat don’t work. Notably, I love Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale’s relationship in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. But that felt like a buildup in the relationship in a way that Kravitz and Pattinson just instantly had without it pushing it too much.
It’s about balance
The reason I think I love Bat/Cat in the way I do is because they bring out the best in each other. Granted, what Selina brings out in Bruce might not be deemed his best, but it is a part of him that he often shuts off in his search for justice. Bruce is dedicated to the truth, and sometimes that means he has to get his hands dirty, and Selina is, for the most part, the reason he gets some of the answers he needs. She’s not afraid to do what is necessary to get the job done.
On the flip side of that, Selina is kept from going completely into the “villain” side of her personality by Bruce. He instills in her this sense of responsibility and need to stop herself from going too far. We see it in The Batman with Falcone more than anything. When Selina confronts her father, Carmine Falcone, she’s fully prepared to kill him. In a twist of events, she ends up almost getting strangled by him, and when she has the chance, she’s about to shoot him until Bruce stops her.
The future of Bat/Cat
At the end of The Batman, Selina offers Bruce an out. She tells him to come with her and they can go upstate and steal some money. He knows he can’t leave Gotham, and the two part ways, showing us yet again how well this movie understands their relationship. They’ll always be drawn together because they’re so similar, but they are constantly just crossing paths.
After seeing the movie with Princess, we both squealed about that last moment because it is so much of their relationship thrown into one simple shot. They’re always going on slightly different paths and yet they still aren’t saying “goodbye,” just leaving each other for a while.
I want so much more for them in the Matt Reeves world. I want Helena Wayne. I want them to keep coming back to each other, and I do think that after how Reeves brought them to life in The Batman, he’s going to have our best, BatCat-loving interests at heart.
(image: Warner Bros.)
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