Matt Reeves revealed a long time ago that The Batman will act as an origin story of sorts for Paul Dano’s Riddler, Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepott and Zoë Kravitz’s Selina Kyle, with Robert Pattinson’s title hero a Gotham City veteran by comparison as the story picks up during the Caped Crusader’s second year on the job.
Based on the footage from the trailer that debuted at yesterday’s DC FanDome, the future Catwoman hasn’t yet become the iconic figure beloved by comic book fans the world over. She might get into a scrap or two with the Dark Knight, but at one point she looks horrified after witnessing the nocturnal vigilante dishing out his own method of justice.
Before the footage aired, Kravitz admitted that Selina’s journey to becoming Catwoman is only at the beginning, with The Batman finding her a million miles away from closely mirroring her counterpart on the printed page.
“I obviously understand the gravity of a character like this and what she means to so many people. But what felt really important was to really focus on the story that we’re telling in this moment, you know, and try and create a real human being. I don’t want her to be an idea.
You know, I want her to be a real human being in a real situation, in a real city, trying to survive and reacting to her own pain, and her history. So I really, really focused on this particular story in this particular moment in this woman’s life. Because this is the foundation that we’re setting right now, right? As we move forward and see her become Catwoman, that heart and that humanity will always be there.”
If Kravitz is already teasing what comes next for Selina in the sequels, then there’s a chance she might not get a happy ending by the time The Batman draws to a close. Catwoman and the Dark Knight arguably work better when there’s plenty of tension between them rather than being outright allies, so the first installment in the franchise is set to lay down markers for where she ends up heading in the future.
