Every version of Catwoman ranked worst to best

[TMC]

http://www.looper.com/100554/every-v...ed-worst-best/

Lee Meriwether - Batman: The Movie (1966)

Batman: The Movie is mostly remembered for its relentless and completely self-aware goofiness, and for good reason. This is, after all, the cinematic masterpiece that gave us Batman avoiding death with a can of Shark-Repellent Bat-Spray, a scene about the difficulties of getting rid of a bomb when you're surrounded by kissing couples and baby ducks, and a gang of villains who want to take over the world by turning international ambassadors into powder. With Lee Meriwether's performance, however, the movie takes a stab at weaving in the kind of plot that we almost never see with Batman and Catwoman, and winds up with one of the best scenes those two characters have ever had.

Unlike most Batman stories, this one focuses on an attempt to take out Bruce Wayne. Disguised as a Soviet reporter named Miss Kitka—a "charming acronym" that's short for Kitanya Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff—Catwoman seduces Bruce into such a frothingly thirsty fervor that he starts quoting poetry at her, which is a side of Batman we don't usually get to see. She preys on him so expertly that she winds up being a blind spot for a detective who's usually so good at figuring things out that he knows Catwoman's involved in the plot because he was attacked at sea, and obviously C stands for Catwoman. When he finally does figure out who she is, the quiet heartbreak that plays across Batman's face—and the moment of shame and regret on Catwoman's—makes for one of the franchise's best moments.

It's worth noting that while she never appeared as Catwoman on the show, Meriwether did return to Batman as a character called Lisa Carson. In addition to being kidnapped by King Tut because he thought she was the reincarnated Cleopatra, she's also the one who invited Bruce Wayne into her apartment for an extremely innuendo-laden dessert of "milk and cookies."

Eartha Kitt - Batman (1966)

Of the three women who played Catwoman in the '60s, Eartha Kitt had the least amount of screen time, only appearing in a single half-hour adventure and a team-up with the Joker. She certainly made the most of it, though, turning in one of the most memorable performances in any medium.

Kitt is likely best known for being the singer of the only acceptable version of "Santa Baby," but when Julie Newmar left Batman after the second season, her purring voice and incredible presence made her a natural for the role. In the process, Kitt, a longtime activist whose comments protesting against the Vietnam War led her to be referred to as a "sadistic nymphomaniac" by the CIA, became the only black actor to appear as a Special Guest Villain on the show.

While it might've been an effort by producers to avoid controversy by having Batman linked to a black woman, Kitt's performance as Catwoman bore no trace of the romance that Newmar or Meriwether brought to the role. Instead, her Catwoman was unrepentantly, gloriously evil, and delighted in a plan to have Batgirl cut to pieces with a buzzsaw. It's exactly the kind of thrilling malice that Hollywood is still reluctant to give to women, and holds up better than most. It might even be what the CIA was watching when they came up with that description, because they certainly seemed to be getting their ideas from fiction rather than real life.

Julie Newmar - Batman (1966)

The secret about Catwoman's live-action performances is that there's never actually been a bad actress in the role—even Halle Berry's good, just not in that particular part. Julie Newmar, however, blows them all away, to the point where it's not even close.

Like all the best villains from*Batman '66, Newmar was well aware that the bad guys were the ones who get to have fun, and her performance plays it up better than anyone's. Watch the clip above and check out how she splays on the staircase, flopping a mink stole over her head as a hat, and then effortlessly segues into the kind of alluring sexiness that could tempt even the most dauntless crimefighter into giving it all up. She's not just catlike in mannerisms, she's the kind of evil that has its roots in feline fickleness, shoving a cup off the counter just because it's there.

But through it all, there's a core to her performance that makes her believable, both as a silly villain who's in it for the fun of evil and a person grappling with her love for Batman. The near-confessions of her love—which was strong enough to almost, but not quite, lead her to give up on crime—played wonderfully off of West's straight-man caped crusader. It all comes together in a scene where Batman honestly considers running off with her, before her suggestion that they start fresh by killing Robin puts the brakes on that idea. That simple line is Newmar's Catwoman in a nutshell: as much as she might want to be good, and as much as Batman might want to get her there, she's always going to pick the most convenient and murderous path. And that makes for a great villain.

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[king of comedy]

I loved Michelle Phieffer.

[AMackII]

Best: Lee Meriwether & Julie Newmar
Worst: Eartha Kitt