A fictional character associated with DC Comic's Batman franchise. An anti hero, the character was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel. Kane, a frequent movie goer, also mentioned that Jean Harlow was a model for the design.
The original and most widely known Catwoman, Selina Kyle, first appears in Batman #1 (Spring 1940) in which she is known as The Cat. She is an adversary of Batman, known for having a complex love-hate relationship with him. In her fisrt appearance, she was a whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high stake thefts. For many years Catwoman thrived, but from September 1954 to November 1966 she took an extended hiatus due to the newly developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code.
A classic femme-fatale, Catwoman has both antagonized and aided Batman on many occasions.
