10) Selina Kyle/Catwoman – Batman Returns, The Dark Knight Rises
How could we ever write a list about the most kick-ass heroines and not include the biggest anti-heroine Gotham has to offer? Whether it’s Michelle Pfeiffer’s sultry seductive turn as the prowling burglar or Anne Hathaway’s deadpan jewel thief, the character is one that packs as much punch in the personality department as she does in full-on combat.
Technically, she is a villain and is motivated by her pension for revenge and glamor – but that doesn’t stop her from killing Christopher Walken’s Max Shreck with a deadly electric taser kiss (Batman Returns) or blowing Bane away with a well-timed shot from the Batpod (The Dark Knight Rises). What can we say? We’re a sucker for a character that breaks the rules – and in this case, it is Catwoman who breaks Batman’s only rule.
The Caped Crusader is not allowed to kill anybody – it just isn’t in his blood. But Selina Kyle? Well, her blood boils like a kettle of vengeance and she is more than adept at mopping up any scum Batman spares. Despite dancing and prancing across our screens in the tightest-fitting one-pieces we’ve ever seen, it’s her personality and devious nature that makes the character so endearing to the audience.
In all honesty, Catwoman was the best thing to happen to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, which was otherwise regrettably a step down from the quality we’d come to expect after The Dark Knight. Let’s hope we see her again in the expanding DC movie canon – and pray Halle Berry doesn’t return for another go-around.
– Dale Barham
