In Batman Returns, Catwoman repeatedly references her nine lives, leaving the audience to wonder if she has supernatural abilities that allow her to skirt death or if she is just mentally unstable, believing herself to be a cat. Regardless, most people would likely succumb to their injuries or, at the very least, be confined to a hospital bed if they endured all those nasty falls, bruises, cuts and gunshot wounds. Even so, Catwoman always found a way to survive, so which is it? Does Catwoman really have nine lives, or is her mental illness making her believe she does?

The supernatural theories in Batman Returns begin when Max Shreck thrusts Selina Kyle out of the sixth-floor window of a building, sending her crashing through four awnings, each one slowing her down and helping to break her fall. Realistically, a six-story drop equates to around a 54 to 84-foot plunge through the air. With the suspension of disbelief aside, the awnings can, for the sake of argument, explain how she could live through Max’s attempted murder. Nonetheless, the events that immediately follow are where the confusion about her abilities emerges.

RELATED: Jack Nicholson vs. Cesar Romero: Which Actor Played the Better Joker?

After Selina hits the floor, countless alley cats descend on her body, some licking her wounds. Miraculously, after this feline intervention, she shoots her eyes open and Catwoman is born. Later in the film, Max takes aim and shoots, hitting Selina in the arm and leg. Somehow, she’s still standing and has enough energy to reply “Four, five. Still alive,” as she withstands yet another shot to the leg and a separate one to her hand. Remarkably, every bullet fired misses Selina's torso and vital organs by chance. Since nothing hit her in a fatal area, many fans believed something unseen and supernatural was at work. Still, in all likelihood, Catwoman catches back-to-back breaks by chance that prevent her from dying.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns

Though she takes on the appearance of a black cat, Catwoman is anything but unlucky. Then again, Selina Kyle doesn't need luck when she can already kick it with the best of them. Catwoman is an agile, highly-skilled, quick-witted woman with fast reflexes in the comics. She doesn’t have supernatural powers, nor does she have nine lives. Catwoman survives through her abilities alone, owing her death-defying stunts solely to her training and fighting experience.

RELATED: The Best Live-Action Joker Is a Divisive Topic, But Critics Have a Clear Favorite

Nevertheless, her portrayal in the movie tells a different story, but fortunately, Tim Burton clarifies her supernatural status in the Batman Returns audio commentary. He explains:

"The ambiguous nature of the Catwoman. You start out when you see the creation with the cats coming around and it's not supernatural, but we feed into the mythology of cats and nine lives and all of that sort of thing, so in the same way with Batman, wanting to keep him sort of mysterious, we sort of treated the same idea with Catwoman a little bit and not come right out with it. It's not supernatural."

So with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of innate talent, Catwoman lived through eight attempts on her life in Batman Returns through sheer good fortune and prowess. 

KEEP READING: The Batman's Penguin HBO Max Spinoff With Colin Farrell Is Officially Happening