Creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger knew they had something special when they created Batman. But the story needed a bit more to challenge the character and add another layer to the already complex hero. Kane and Finger wanted to create a character that would add sex appeal to the comic book and also appeal to female readers. Thus they created Catwoman, the friendly foe who lives in moral ambiguity, both as a villain and hero and as a love interest for Batman.

Inspired by actress Jean Harlow, Kane and Finger created her for Batman #1 in 1940, known simply as the Cat. Selina Kyle is a trained gymnast and athlete and an expert in hand to hand combat. She is stealthy, quiet, and possesses extremely good balance and precision in her movements. As Catwoman, she uses her skills to steal famous art and jewelry, often with cat motifs.

Though infamous in Gotham and comics, in her first appearance Catwoman did not wear a cat costume. The outfit changed dramatically in her second appearance when she wore a face covering theatrical mask of a cat. Later her costume was a dress with a hood and ears attached to them, then a catsuit with attached boots and mask made from glasses. In the 1960s her costume was green, which was a common color on villains, and transitioned into a skintight purple catsuit in the ‘90s. The shiny black catsuit started being used in comics after Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Catwoman in the film Batman Returns. In the newer comics she appears with a high-tech suit and domino-shaped goggles. Throughout her timeline, Catwoman has had many costumes with added retractable metal claws on her gloves and occasionally on her boots and sometimes her suit even had a tail.

Catwoman’s favorite weapon has always been a whip, using both a standard bullwhip and cat o’ nine tails with expert precision. Cleverly, Catwoman decided on the whip as her weapon of choice because skill and training are needed to handle a whip, therefore if she was disarmed by a foe it wouldn’t be likely that it’d be used against her. Though, sometimes she does use a pistol if her whip has been taken from her.

During the Silver Age Catwoman used many themed weapons, equipment, and vehicles. This time period relied heavily on cat-themed items including a car which was deemed the “Cat-illac,” which appeared in the comics and then in the 1960s Batman TV show. In the TV series she used sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue people. Catwoman also uses caltrops, a weapon made of sharp nails or spines on a stable base that points upward from the ground, and bolas, a throwing weapon made of interconnecting cords with weights on each end. Her other weapons include using rope to entangle people and duct tape to gag them. Of course, one of Catwoman’s greatest weapons has always been her talent for using her attractive physique and feminine wiles to control men.