Who was the best Catwoman? Every actress who played the feline fatale through the years

A celebration of the cattiest villain in superhero cinema.

Twenty years ago, Halle Berry was bestowed feline-based powers from an Egyptian cat and transformed into Catwoman.

As Patience Phillips, Berry confidently donned a leather suit, wielded a black whip, and swung into vigilante mode in the standalone DC superhero flick Catwoman (2004). Despite the film's notoriously ridiculous plot and shoddy early 2000s filmmaking, it's an entertaining watch. Double feature it with this year's Madame Web and you'll have a ball.

Though Berry wasn't the first Black actress to wear the catsuit (that spot belongs to the iconic Eartha Kitt, who provided a signature purr-trayal in the Adam West-led 1966 Batman series' final season), she was the first Black woman to lead a major comic-book superhero adaptation on the silver screen.

Related: Catwoman oral history: Halle Berry reflects on critics trying (and failing) to break her, 20 years later (exclusive)

Across every Batman feature, each actress who stepped into Catwoman's high-heeled shoes has brought her own iconic flair as the feline fatale. Whether she's fighting for justice, flirting with the Dark Knight, or stealing jewels, Catwoman is a meow-ster class act who stands out in adventures involving the Caped Crusader.

In celebration (yeah, we said it) of the anniversary of Berry's Razzie Award-winning movie, here's all six Catwoman performances, ranked. We're only counting the Catwomans who have appeared in a theatrically-released movie, which unfortunately means no Kitt or Julie Newmar here. But their respective contributions to the character during the Adam West-run series shaped the character's identity in Batman-related media for many iterations to come.

6. Zoë Kravitz — The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

You might be looking at this entry and either questioning "Zoë Kravitz in last place?" or "Zoë Kravitz was in The LEGO Batman Movie?" In all fairness, The LEGO Batman Movie was a theatrical release, and thus this placement counts.

In 2017, the LEGO Batman Movie team put their manifestation magic to work through this inspired casting, many moons before Kravitz received the call to become Selina Kyle in live-action form. As this blocky iteration of Catwoman, Kravitz plays up the film's overall childlike nature by evoking a childlike wonder in her line reads. Though superbly minor in her role, Kravitz has a sold recurring gag where every line is either proceeded with or followed by “meow meow” or features a cat pun. While the purple-suited Catwoman probably has like four lines at most, it is so satisfying to say that The Batman wasn't Kravitz's first Catwoman rodeo.

5. Halle Berry — Catwoman (2004)

Whatever catnip the writers were on when developing the ridiculous script for Catwoman's stand-alone movie were improved by Halle Berry's cat-rismatic performance. Negative reception be darned, Berry's portrayal as Patience Phillips, a timid graphic designer turned self-assured anti-hero with literal superhuman cat-like abilities, is peak early 2000s camp.

In a movie where her literal power is to land on her feet from great heights and quick agility like something a child would whip up, Berry took the project in stride as she embraces all of Catwoman's flaws and elevates them with commitment. Not only did she overdeliver on an already muddled assignment, but she was game enough to be in on the joke, most notably when Berry accepted the Razzie for Worst Actress in 2005 in one hand while yielding her Monster's Ball Oscar in another. In her bold acceptance speech, Berry exclaimed, ”I have so many people to thank, because you don’t win a Razzie without a lot of help from others,” including ”Warner Bros., for putting me in a godawful piece of s--- movie.”

In recent years, Berry's take on the character has been embraced with love, with rappers such as Saweetie dressing up in Phillip's vigilante costume for Halloween in 2021, which received a paw of approval of Berry herself.

4. Lee Meriwether — Batman: The Movie (1966)

Holy Meriwether, Batman! It's Lee Meriwether, the first ever Catwoman in cinema. As the second iteration of the fantastically frivolous feline within the Adam West/Burt Ward Batman franchise — replacing Julie Newmar who portrayed Catwoman in the series' first season — Meriwether heightened her cat-like campiness in her line deliveries. Meriwether also walked the fine line of silly and sincere, which encapsulated the entire vibe of the West-era Batman series.

In the Batman (1966) flick, Catwoman teamed up with the rest of the Caped Crusader's rogue's gallery of foes, including the Penguin, the Joker, and the Riddler. Together, they dehydrate the world's leaders into dust and hold every country at ransom, demanding a billion dollars from each one.

The film adaptation saw Meriwether have the first go at the Bruce Wayne morality vs. romance conflict. Catwoman led an alter ego as journalist Miss Kitka, who seduces Bruce Wayne/Batman until he learns they were one and the same all along.

3. Anne Hathaway — The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Anne Hathaway's take on Selina Kyle is a textbook example of contemporizing a timely character, which was emblematic of what Christopher Nolan did with the Dark Knight trilogy.

In this entry, Kyle's alias is simply "The Cat," and Hathaway translates Kyle's signature perfidious persona to the Batman finale with cool cat-titude. When she's shown doubling as a timid housemaid to a shifty burglar in a snap, our feels for this iteration of Selina Kyle went Hatha-up-and-away.

Though her screen time in The Dark Knight Rises is overshadowed by the hammyTom Hardy Bane performance and the initial love triangle between Wayne and Talia al Ghul, Hathaway and Bale's brief moments of romance were captivating enough to make us root for the Bat and the Cat's romance to be the endgame, and the fitting ending to the trilogy.

2. Zoë Kravitz — The Batman (2022)

Going from the Lego-verse to live-action, Kravitz portrays a Selina Kyle that is most authentic to the character’s comic-book roots. With The Batman’s Neo-noir flair, Kravitz naturally fits into Kyle’s feline femme fatale role that fit the film’s emo-induced style and tone.

She’s fierce and full of moralistic ambiguity with a dash of angst, perfectly correlating to Robert Pattinson’s broody Bruce Wayne. Tripling as a nightclub waitress, stealthy cat burglar with a killer set of kicks, and a cat mom who “has a thing for strays,” Kravitz carries Selina Kyle with sheer fierceness, even her cheesy cat-related jokes land a punch.

Through Kravitz’s siren eyes and seductive line-deliveries, you can never tell the game she’s playing, whilst noticing how heavy she’s getting under R. Battinson’s Hot Topic-styled skin. Peak Selina Kyle behavior.

1. Michelle Pfeiffer — Batman Returns

She. Is. Catwoman. Hear. Her. ROAR!

Tim Burton's Batman Returns synergizes a gritty atmosphere and campy tone-setting, and Michelle Pfeiffer's iconic performance doesn't just understand the assignment but created the whole rubric.

As Selina Kyle, Pfeiffer operates on a whole, singular level of irresistible flashiness and anguish, as if she was the poster child to the saying, "hell hath no fury than a woman scorned." Donning a menacing yet memorable DIY catsuit and whip, Selina Kyle flips and claws her way through every person standing in her way and into Batman's (Michael Keaton) cold, cold heart.

Her transformation scene alone from a timid assistant turned self-assured, feisty super villain with literally nine lives is one of the film's most standout moments, as Pfeiffer's descent from shock to madness delivers instant chills. Every scene that follows has her spouting out hilarious one-liners, innuendos, or killer roasts while Pfeiffer's manic expressions evokes a discomfort you can't look away from.

She's perfect for Tim Burton's unique Batman world and embodies what Catwoman is all about. Michelle Pfeiffer is the definitive Catwoman.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.