The Dark Knight Rises – A Brief History of Selina Kyle

Selina Kyle – As with any DC Comics character who’s been around since before World War II, there are a lot of revisions and different versions of Catwoman.  In the real world, she first appeared in 1940’s Batman #1 (the same issue where the Joker first appeared) as the Cat.  She wore a fancy gown and committed extravagant robberies while wielding a cat-o’-nine-tails.  Yep, that’s where her name originally came from.  The Cat was revealed to be a wealthy society woman, trying out crime for kicks.  Ten years later, now renamed Catwoman, she revealed that the society story was a front – she was actually a stewardess with amnesia.  And nobody ever mentioned that again, so the original backstory stayed in place.