THE BATMAN Casts Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman

Robert Pattinson's Batman is about to be hooked on a feline.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed actress Zoë Kravitz has been cast as DC Comics superthief Catwoman/Selina Kyle in Matt Reeves' upcoming Warner Bros. film The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon.

According to the article, the decision came down over the weekend after a rigorous testing process that saw saw Kravitz, Ana de Armas, Ella Balinska, and Eiza Gonzalez read with Pattinson.  The testing process took place over the first week of the month, and the four were then narrowed down to two late last week.

The Batman is said to be a noir-driven Batman movie, rumored to be based on the popular 13-issue limited series Batman: The Long Halloween, written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale.

Kravitz, 30, is the daughter of musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, and is best known as Leta Lestrange in the films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.  She previously voiced Catwoman in The Lego Batman Movie, and has appeared in the comic book movies X-Men: First Class as Angel Salvadore and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as the voice of Mary Jane Watson.  Her other films include Mad Max: Fury Road, After Earth, Divergent, Gemini, Rough Night, and Kin.  In addition, she's appeared on the television seies Big Little Lies, Portlandia, and Californication.

Created in 1940 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Catwoman first appeared in Batman (vol.1) #1 as Selina Kyle, a mysterious burglar and jewel thief known as The Cat who was depicted as a femme fatale who both antagonized and attracted Batman.  After taking on the Catwoman alias, Selina operated as a socialite by day while routinely encountering Batman at night.

In 1987, writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli revised Catwoman's origin in the storyline "Batman: Year One", itself a revision of Batman's origin.  Selina worked as a dominatrix in order to survive and wanted to break away from her malevolent pimp and former boyfriend.  She witnessed his crimes and, because of an event that occurs to her sister, feared for her sister's life.  She began to study self-defense and her instructor inspired her to realize that prostitution was no life for her or her protege, Holly Robinson, a young runaway who idolized her.  As the story progressed, Selina drawn into a burglary, donning a catsuit costume so she wouldn't be be revealed.  She developed a taste for burglary and began to do it in a Robin Hood-like fashion than an actual thief.  After her initial confrontation with Batman, she was inspired to stay in her costume and become the "Catwoman", realizing that if there was a "bat", there could also be a "cat".

Stories involving the current incarnation of Catwoman have revealed that Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them.  She was sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster, Selina escaped to return to the orphanage.  After developing a romantic relationship with Bruce Wayne, he proposed to Selina, only for Selina to not show at the wedding because she feared that Bruce couldn't be Batman if he was truly happy.  The two separated for some time, but recently rekindled their relationship.

Kravitz will be the fifth actress to portray Catwoman in film, after Lee Meriweather in Batman (1966), Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, Halle Berry in Catwoman (as an alternate version named Patience Phillips), and Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises.

The Batman is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 25, 2021.