Batman’s romance with Catwoman is the stuff of legends. The duo is DC’s on-again, off-again powerhouse couple. Even though it shouldn’t take the world’s greatest detective to figure out why it’s a bad idea to date a criminal if your whole job is putting them away, that doesn’t mean the relationship doesn’t often serve to Batman’s advantage.
Having a master thief as your love interest comes in handy when you need to gather information or spy on a supervillain, especially when you know they can take care of themselves. Though Robin and the Bat-Family have their roles to play, there are times when Selina acts the part of Batman’s partner better than anyone can.
10 Finding a Runaway Together
In Batman/Catwoman #1, writer Tom King and illustrator Clay Mann tell the story of the duo’s romance through the ages. At the heart of the comic is the mystery of what happened to a fourteen-year-old boy named Andrew Beaumont, who also happens to be the son of Bruce’s ex-fiancé/villain, The Phantasm.
Selina’s connection with the underworld leads the duo to where the boy was last seen, and without much trouble (besides a scuffle with Sewer King), they finally discover that he is dead.
9 Batman’s Confession
The “War of Jokes and Riddles” storyline is still considered by many fans to be a masterpiece. Written by Tom King and illustrated by Mikel Janin, it picks up right after Bruce proposed to Selina. The whole series works as a confession of all of his failures during the war that he needs Selina to know about before she accepts his proposal.
Although Catwoman doesn’t do much in the story, she does the one thing for Batman as a partner that no one in the Bat-Family can do: she can let him be vulnerable. Bruce is clearly anxious when telling the story. At the same time, he can finally tell someone the truth—his hands aren’t always clean.
8 Casino Blowout
When The Penguin and the Falcone family go to war against one another, Catwoman takes an interest when people from Gotham Underground start to go missing. In Scott Snyder‘s Batman Eternal, Selina infiltrates The Penguin’s casino to learn more information. When things go south and she has to switch to a more personal approach, the casino ends up coming under attack.
Batman has his hands full with Professor Pyg at the time, so Selina is left to do most of the rescue on her own. Even The Penguin, who she was choking answers out of only a second ago, ends up being saved by her when he’s too greedy to let his money go to save himself.
7 Catwoman or Catbird?
During the events of John Layman‘s and Jason Fabok‘s story in Detective Comics Vol. 2 #27, Gotham becomes the brightest and best city in all the world, at least if you were infected with the right drug. Scarecrow managed to poison the city into believing a mass illusion that covered the truth of Gotham with a false utopia. In this perfect version of events, where crime is basically as nonexistent as unemployment, Catwoman—or rather, Catbird—is Batman’s perfect sidekick.
They really are perfect together. The duo even takes down Poison Ivy without much fuss, even if her only crime was seeing through the illusion. Everything is going grand until Batman sees through the illusion, leading to Selina and the rest of the Bat-Family teaming up against him.
6 Fashion Expert
In a very dated 1981 Detective Comics issue written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Don Newton and Steve Mitchell, Catwoman is visited by Batman because he’s in need of her fashion expertise.
There is a serial killer going after fashion designers all over Gotham. Batman left their last encounter with more than a few bruises, as well as some of her clothing. He visits Selina in hopes she can identify the clothing’s designer, as they might be the next victim. Why Gotham’s greatest detective doesn’t know anything about the city’s greatest fashion designers, we’ll never know, but since, according to Selina, he had bought her a dress from the same designer, we’ll just assume it’s the 80’s gender norms talking.
5 The Avenger Catwoman
Catwoman’s panther, Diablo, was poisoned in Doug Moench’s Batman #382. The culprit was a terrorist by the name of Darkwolf who had a grudge against Catwoman for stopping his plans of starting a war in the past during her stay in Egypt. While stopping said war, Diablo had left Darkwolf scarred, and he longed for revenge.
Finding Diablo poisoned, Catwoman teamed up with Batman to find the terrorist and act out her own revenge. Disguised as a flight attendant, Selina snuck into a plane Darkwolf was taking hostage, opened the door for Batman to enter through, and gave Darkwolf some more scars for him to remember her by.
4 Taking Down Superman Together in Hush
Jeph Loeb‘s Hush is still one of the most important Batman storylines in recent decades, and Batman’s takedown of Superman is definitely a highlight. None of it would be possible without Selina’s less-than-honorable tactics. While Batman kept Clark busy, Catwoman threw Lois Lane off a building to snap Superman out of Poison Ivy’s control.
The thing is, if the plan hadn’t worked, Lois might very well have ended up dead. Catwoman might be willing to risk someone’s life, but those in the Bat-Family likely would not have.
3 Crime-Fighting Abroad
Catwoman and Batman travel to Tokyo in Grant Morrison‘s Batman Incorporated #1 in search of a candidate to become Batman in Japan (because we don’t seem to have enough versions of him). In the comic, Batman stops along the way to steal from Dr. Sivana, and who better to have along for the heist than the cat-burglar herself?
Selina shows off her skills as a thief by breaking into the lock about as fast as Batman can take down an invisible sentinel Dr. Sivana placed on guard duty. The duo’s teamwork shines in situations like this, where their banter is fun without slowing any of the action down.
2 Breaking Up the Party
In Jeph Loeb’s Batman: The Long Halloween #6, Catwoman is once again at odds with Poison Ivy, but this time in order to save Bruce Wayne from Ivy’s control.
The fight isn’t long, but it does the trick. Bruce jumps in to intervene on Ivy’s behalf, but Selina removes the vines keeping him under control, and he collapses to the ground before it gets too heated. Selina proves once again that her willingness to overstep boundaries in Bruce’s life is exactly what he needs sometimes.
1 Fear and Madness VS Cats and Bats
Still in the Batman: The Long Halloween storyline, Catwoman shows off her moves again when she helps Batman take down Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter without much fuss. Truth be told, she really didn’t need to. They were no real threat to Batman alone, much less when he had help. But her reason for helping in this scenario is the reason she’s so different from the rest of the Bat’s allies. They fight crime because it’s the right thing to do, but Selina doesn’t care about the right thing—she does it because it’s fun.
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