The Cat (Anne Hathaway)

"I take what I need from those who have more than enough. I don't stand on the shoulders of those with less."

- Catwoman

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

Early life
Selina Kyle was born on September 21, 1985. She broke out of a women's correctional facility for the first time when she was sixteen years old. Over the years, she developed a long record of criminality.

Thief in the Night
"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 Bruce 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. Selina is confronted by the withered-down appearance of Bruce Wayne who informs her that the pearls belonged to his mother and that she can't have them. She stops pretending to be a simple maid and then she kicks away his cane and then climbs onto a window ledge and performs a backflip, landing safely on the ground below outside the manor. She then discards her maid outfit and grabs a ride with a Congressman who then disappears and galvanizes the GCPD into finding him.

The next night, Selina goes to a bar where she brings the Congressman 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 "clean slate" device that would erase her existence from every database in the world. Selina hands him a set of Wayne's fingerprints 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 her friend Jen 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 valet parking ticket by distracting him with a kiss before she parts ways from him. She claims to the valet that she was Bruce Wayne's wife before she steals his Lamborghini.

The Bat and The Cat
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 live TV report titled "Return Of The 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.

Taking Batman to Bane
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 asks 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. Eventually Selina 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 witnesses 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 as afraid of Bane as she is and that she is not sure if they have killed Bruce.

The Storm
Selina is sent to Blackgate Prison 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.

After Selina saves a kid from some thugs, she is confronted by a returned Bruce Wayne, who once again asks for her help to save the city, and tells her that the nuclear bomb is going to go off the next day. He hands her the clean slate device she had wanted, giving her motivation for aiding him. Selina helps Bruce rescue Lucius Fox, and Lucius told Bruce that he liked Selina as Bruce's girlfriend, to which Selina retorted, "He should be so lucky." To assist her, Batman gives her the Batpod, 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 using the Batpod's cannon fire, and she and Batman chase after Talia in the bomb truck, a woman she had only known as Miranda Tate, Bruce's "stuck-up girlfriend." Selina and Batman pursue Talia's convoy of Tumblers and take them out one by one until the bomb truck itself is finally stopped in a crash landing. Seeing no choice, Batman concludes that he must use The Bat to carry Talia's nuclear bomb over the bay. He tells Selina there is no autopilot. Knowing that Batman will not survive the ordeal, Selina says to him, "I guess we're both suckers," and then kisses him goodbye before he flies off. The bomb explodes out over the bay and both Batman and Bruce Wayne are thought to be dead.

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

Abilities
Selina Kyle is a master thief and a mistress of disguise. She can crack safes thought to have been uncrackable, and uses tools such as high-tech goggles. As a grifter, she uses her sex appeal to con wealthy men. Her agility and flexibility are assets in her fights, in which she can hold her own while aided by her bladed high-heel boots. She can learn new skills quickly to adapt to her environment.

Behind the scenes

 * Director/Writer Christopher Nolan was prodded by his brother Jonathan to include an interpretation of Catwoman in the story of The Dark Knight Rises, as his brother considers her as an essential part of the Batman mythology.
 * 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

 * Selina Kyle is never referred to as Catwoman, instead being referred to only by her name, although she is referred to as "The Cat" in a newspaper. Bruce Wayne calls her a cat burglar, and Selina asks Daggett if a cat has his tongue as she pins him against a wall. Catwoman is only used in the film's novelization and merchandise.
 * 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