The Cat (Anne Hathaway)

"I'm adaptable."

- Catwoman

Selina Kyle is a world-class cat burglar and mistress of disguise. She’s cunning and devious, but has a deep sense of honor. As Catwoman, she targets Gotham’s wealthiest. Her weapons usually include infrared goggles, bladed high-heel boots, and a belt filled with lock picks. Catwoman was portrayed by Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises.

The Bat and The Cat
"There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."

- Selina Kyle

Masquerading as a maid service employee, Selina Kyle infiltrates Wayne Manor during a special function hosted by the Wayne foundation dedicated to Harvey Dent. Selina is tasked by Alfred to bring a tray of food up to the east room of the manor. While there, Selina explores one of the rooms that contains a safe where she dusts off a set of fingerprints belonging to Mr. Wayne and copied them down onto a printer toner. In addition, she cracks open the safe and finds a fabulous white pearl necklace which she takes and wears around her neck and is confronted by the withered-down appearance of Bruce Wayne who informs her that the pearls belonged to his Mother and she can't have them. Selina toys with Bruce before she overpowers him and climbs onto a window ledge and performs a backflip, landing safely on the ground below outside the manor where she then discards her maid outfit and grabs a ride with a Congressman.

Selina arrives at a bar where she brings the Congressman in whom she had kidnapped and places him there as her insurance while she meets with Phillip Stryver, a hitman of John Daggett who hired Selina for the job. In return, Selina would received a USB device that would erase her existence from every database in the world. Selina hands him a set of Wayne's prints but Stryver plans to double-cross Selina. Anticipating this, Selina set into motion a trap by luring the police force to their location by having Stryver use the congressman's cell phone to summon Holly Robinson to deliver the thumb print. Selina manages to take down a few of Stryver's men just as the police arrive and she pretends to be a victim as she escapes into the night.

A night later, Selina attends a charity gala hosted by Miranda Tate where she attempts to steal from another wealthy socialite during a ballroom dance but is interrupted by Bruce Wayne. During the dance, Selina warns Bruce of "a storm coming..." Bruce manages to retrieve his mother's necklace but not before Selina steals his car keys by distracting him with a kiss before she parts ways from him.

Selina, now disguised in a form-fitting cat burglar outfit, goes to Daggett's penthouse and cracks his safe, hoping to retrieve her prize. She is momentarily distracted by a TV report featuring "The Return of Batman," which seems to delight her. Upon resuming her task, she opens the safe, only to discover it is empty. Selina angrily awaits for Daggett to enter the room where she then grabs him and pins him up against a wall where she interrogates him about the whereabouts of the device. Stryver pulls up behind her with a gun pointed to her head, followed by a group of bodyguards. Selina kicks Stryver in the knee with the steel heel of her stiletto boot and pushes Daggett out the window onto a scaffold that leads down to a sub-roof where she continues to interrogate Daggett, only to learn the device doesn't exist.

At that moment, Selina is surrounded by a group of trained mercenaries. Batman appears on the scene and saves her life; together, they fight the group. Selina draws a gun on one of them but Batman disarms her and tells her, "No guns, no killing." More mercenaries now equipped with ammunition appear, followed by Bane. Batman grabs Selina and together they escape in The Bat.

Batman takes Selina to an abandoned rooftop where he asks her to reveal what she had done with Bruce Wayne's fingerprints. Selina tells him that she sold them to Daggett unaware of what he was planning to do with them but she believes there is a link between them and the stock exchange robbery. Selina then disappears before Batman realizes it.

The Storm
Bruce later visits Selina at her apartment after he is declared bankrupt when Daggett uses his stolen fingerprints to commit economic forgery in an attempt to buy Wayne Enterprises. Bruce ask for Selina's help in finding Bane, while also not revealing his secret. He offers the device that will give her a clean slate, though she is doubtful but eventually accepts. Selina then meets up with Batman in the subway tunnels and leads him to Bane by taking down Bane's underground patrol unit first. However, Selina betrays Batman by locking him within the sewer system drainage area with Bane.

Selina would then witness Bane brutally beating Batman's body physically and mentally, before breaking his back while also discovering that Batman is in fact Wayne, all the while shedding a tear, implying that she regrets her decision to betray Batman. Selina attempted to escape Gotham via airport, but she was intercepted by John Blake, who cuffed and interrogated her on Bane and Batman's fate. She merely replies that he should be afraid of Bane as she is and that she is not sure if they have killed Bruce.

Selina is sent to Blackgate penitentiary until she is freed with all the other prisoners by Bane during his siege upon Gotham. During the following months, Selina begins to have misgivings concerning her beliefs now that the "storm" had arrived. One day after she saves a kid from some thugs, Selina is confronted by a returned Bruce Wayne, who once again asks for her help in defeating Bane and hands her the device she had wanted, giving her motivation for aiding him. To assist her, Batman gives her the Bat-pod, though Selina begs him to escape with her, as he no longer owes the people now that he's given them everything, but he refuses.

Selina uses the Batpod to destroy the rubble blocking a tunnel out of Gotham and goes back to help in the climactic final battle. She arrives just in time to kill Bane, and she and Batman chase after Talia al Ghul, the true mastermind behind everything. Selina takes care of the vehicles on land while Batman, in The Bat, focuses on driving Talia off the road, and succeeds. Seeing no choice, Batman concludes that he must use The Bat to carry the nuclear bomb Talia was carrying over the bay, where it will explode harmlessly. Knowing that Batman will not survive the ordeal, Selina kisses him goodbye as he flies off. The bomb explodes overseas and Batman is named dead.

However, it turns out that Selina and Bruce are living together in Italy, where Alfred sees them eating at a restaurant.

Behind the scenes

 * Actresses Gemma Arterton, Jessica Biel, Keira Knightley, Blake Lively, Kate Mara, Natalie Portman, and Charlotte Riley were reported to have been sought for the role that ultimately went to Anne Hathaway. Hathaway said to Entertainment Weekly that she believed she was auditioning for the role of Harley Quinn at the time.



Trivia

 * In The Dark Knight Rises, she is never referred to as Catwoman, instead being referred to only as Selina Kyle or The Cat.
 * The Cat was the name used by Catwoman in her first comic book appearance.
 * In the comics, Selina is strongly hinted to be the illegitimate daughter of Carmine Falcone. This is not explored in the films.

Gallery

 * Catwoman (Anne Hathaway)/Gallery