Catwoman is a complicated character that oftentimes gets pigeonholed as a side character when she should be able to thrive in her own solo series. While there is more to her then people realize, there's also a lot of things about her that make very little sense. This is the curse of comic book characters in general, sadly.
When you have as many different writers taking a stab at your character, you're bound to have inconsistencies all over the place. It's why continuity is always a mess, and DC seems to relaunch its brand every decade now. That's for another topic, however, the goal of this article is to focus on everything that makes you go, "Huh?" about Catwoman.
10 Leaving Batman At The Altar
This is a recent one that makes sense and doesn't at the very same time. Selina's reasoning behind leaving him makes sense, Bruce can't be Batman if he's happy. He needs that pent up anger and frustration to do what he does every night. When you are running around punching criminals in the face, it's hard to argue with her rationale.
What doesn't make sense is how she did it, writing it via letter instead of explaining herself face to face. That's just cold-blooded for someone you supposedly love. Adding to that, she lacked much in way of emotion for doing it. That's confusing behavior for someone crushing the heart of someone they care about.
9 The Cat
Everything about The Cat, the precursor to Catwoman, is incredibly dumb. Most notable is the costume someone would put together when they are trying to rob a bank. Seriously, who would try to rob anyone in heels? This isn't Jurassic World, you can't outrun anyone in those.
More than just the costume, The Cat's casual disregard for life didn't make any sense, even before she became the Catwoman we all know today. A burglar is in it for the money, not the death of innocent people. A character like Catwoman should never be made out to be a psychopath like the rest of Batman's rogue gallery.
8 Purple: The Ultimate Stealth
This suit flat out makes zero sense outside of perhaps the context of Batman: Year One. There she was out to get men and be a savior of the block rather than a thief. In that case, it makes sense to wear bright colors so she can get noticed. She wanted people to fear her, after all.
In terms of being a jewel thief though? Yeah, no, there's no way you're going to sneak around wearing something like that. That's not too mention how long her hair is. It's all far too attention-grabbing, half the job of a thief is being able to blend into your surroundings.
7 The Existence Of Her Solo Movie
It's insane how different these two iterations of the characters were. Michelle Pfeiffer was certainly different, but in a way that made her interesting. She's honestly the best part of a movie that doesn't age particularly well. Then you have Halle Berry who was saddled with a movie so awful, that it even being made is confusing.
First off, they changed Catwoman's name to Patience Philips for no apparent reason. They then tried to more or less copy the story Pfieffer had in her film, only stretching it into a feature-length film. That would have been fine, but they tried adding ancient cat gods and all sorts of ideas that make no sense for the character. By the end, all they'd succeeded in doing was submarining Berry's career.
6 Her Fling With Nightwing
During Chuck Dixon's seminal run on Nightwing, Catwoman had used the former boy wonder to get back at Batman, seducing and eventually bedding him. The act itself isn't all that strange considering her character. If you can't have Batman, why not have the next best thing? The issue is more with the why. Getting back at Batman is one thing, but willingly fracturing the relationship Nightwing and Batman have because she's jealous? That doesn't seem all that in character for her, making her out to be one of those crazy ex flings rather than a world-renown crook.
5 Pretending To Murder 237 Men
This is another one of those situations where you can understand why Selina did it, but don't understand how she handled the act itself. Protecting those close to her is a trait she's always had, going as far back as Frank Miller's Year One. The issue has never been her having a heart, it's been growing close to her.
Her choosing to protect her closest friend, Holly Robinson, by hiding the crime is completely understandable. Where it goes off the rails is how she's willing to go to prison and get killed for them. That doesn't end up happening of course, but it's still a play Selina made that made no sense.
4 She's A Trained Ninja
No, Batman Ninja isn't the only time Catwoman's been mixed up in the shadow arts. During one particularly boring museum heist, Catwoman is assaulted by a man named Kai. He's affronted that she'd try to steal a totem that he holds dear, completely brutalizing her in the ensuing fight.
Never one to back down, Selina follows Kai back to his dojo, an act that impresses the master there. At this point, it's just a silly comic, of which there are plenty. Where it gets silly is in a matter of weeks, she masters the fighting form and outclasses Kai in their next clash. It makes zero sense how she learned to fight that fast.
3 She Had A Sidekick
Every hero has to have a sidekick, it seems like a rule of the profession. For Catwoman, that girl was Kitrina Falcone, the youngest member of the Falcone crime family. She trains the girl to become Catgirl, with two pulling off heists together and even battling a few foes, like Reaper. Already this is colossally confusing who's ever read a Catwoman comic. She's never been one to keep many close confidants around her. Why then would she choose to have a sidekick? Thankfully, the writers have the character herself remember this, helping shuffle Catgirl right into the garbage bin she belongs in.
2 Multiple Origins
This feels like something that could be said about any comic character as, for whatever reason, every character has at least three different origins to them. For someone like the Joker, it makes sense since he doesn't even know his own origin, giving writers plenty to work with. With characters like Catwoman though, there shouldn't be multiple choices. It's one of the big reasons continuity is always a mess.
She arrived as The Cat, as mentioned earlier in the piece, and we won't rehash how dumb that was here. She went from amnesiac stewardess to a woman trapped in an abusive relationship in the following years. Frank Miller's the one that tossed the prostitute angle at her, one that more than a few people don't agree with. It wasn't until Michelle Pheiffer in Batman Returns came that we got an origin that has more or less stuck going forward.
1 She Was Oracle
Most people associate Barbara Gordon as Oracle. It gave paraplegic people a hero to call their own, one that wasn't useless and a vital part of the bat family, as well as the Birds Of Prey. During Flashpoint, that role was given to Selina Kyle rather than Barbara. The way she got there was pretty much the same as well, people behind the masks of Joker and Batman being all that changed. Most of this is chalked up to writers trying new things thanks to the time paradox, but there should only ever be one Oracle.