The highly anticipated film The Batman is finally in theaters where it is thrilling audiences and critics alike in its telling of a unique story of the iconic DC Comics hero’s early years operating in Gotham. But while the Matt Reeves-helmed film is very much Batman’s story, the film’s supporting characters have significant stories as well. A few spinoffs have been planned and there’s already been talk of a sequel, all of which will presumably get deeper into some of those stories, but there’s one character for whom The Batman delivers a major twist. The Batman has a surprising reveal about Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) and it’s a twist that has its roots in DC Comics.
Warning: Spoilers for The Batman below!
In The Batman, Selina becomes a reluctant ally of Batman (Robert Pattinson) after her friend Annika (Hana Hrzic) disappears in connection with Batman’s investigation into The Riddler’s (Paul Dano) murder of Mayor Mitchell (Rupert Penry-Jones). While reluctantly working at Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge’s club-within-the-club 44 Below to help Batman gather information, Selina has an encounter with Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) that reveals some sort of connection between Selina and the crime lord. Eventually, Selina reveals to Batman exactly what that connection is. It turns out that Selina’s mother, Maria Kyle, used to work at 44 Below and had a relationship with Falcone. Falcone is Selina’s biological father and while he knows this, he never took any responsibility for her, even after Selina’s mother was murdered when she was a child. It’s also through investigating the disappearance of Annika that Selina discovers that not only did Falcone murder her friend, but her mother as well.
Selina being the daughter of Carmine Falcone is something that has its roots in comics. While Catwoman has had several shifting origins over her decades of existence thanks to various reboots and restarts, Reeves’ take comes as part of the larger story around Batman: The Long Halloween, specifically the follow up stories Batman: Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome. In Dark Victory, Catwoman comes to believe that Carmine Falcone is her biological father, though she’s never able to prove it. In Catwoman: When in Rome, Catwoman goes to Italy for more information after discovering that Falcone’s wife Louisa gave birth to two daughters, but one was given up for adoption in America because Falcone feared it would weaken him in the eyes of rival crime families to have two daughters. In Rome, Selina has it confirmed that Louisa Falcone did in fact have two daughters and that one was given up for adoption as an infant, but never gets the conclusive proof that she is that child.
While Reeves’ The Batman doesn’t directly adapt that story and goes a bit further by directly confirming that Selina is Falcone’s daughter, it’s just another example of how The Long Halloween and the stories around it influenced The Batman. It also leaves Selina in an interesting position for possible sequels to the film. In The Batman, Selina wants justice for Falcone’s crimes and how they directly impacted her life, but with Falcone dead at the end of the film, Selina leaves Gotham. It puts the character in a position to find a new purpose and a new direction as her own story — and time as Catwoman —continues to develop.
The Batman is now playing in theaters.
