The 9 Lives of Catwoman: Possible Storylines for Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises

Just in case anyone wasn't positive that Anne Hathaway's role as Selena Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises would lead to the inclusion of Catwoman, the actress has gone ahead and confirmed it. So really, what is Christopher Nolan going to do with a super-strong genius and a borderline S&M villain/love interest in the same movie? For clues, I've researched Catwoman's oft-revised and ever-changing origin stories and arcs over the years in comic books. Read on for nine different Catwoman stories that Nolan could potentially pull from, and then guess whether Hathaway will play a burglar, a prostitute, an amnesiac flight attendant or some combination of the above.

1. A Cat Burglar

Heh, get it? In the early issues of Batman comics, Catwoman appeared only a mysterious jewel thief. She didn't don the leather suit here, but this storyline still played up the iconic femme fatale element that will surely add another layer of psychological distress to poor Batman.

2. A Cat Burglar/Amnesiac Flight Attendant

62 issues into the series it is revealed that Catwoman was a flight attendant who turned to a life of crime after suffering a amnesia-inducing blow to the head in a plane crash. Memento-redux, anyone?

3. Wife of Batman, Mother to His Only Child

In the 1970's, one storyline has Kyle marries Batman and gives birth to his child, Helena, who goes onto become another superhero known as The Huntress. Also, she never had amnesia and instead is a woman who decided to leave her abusive jewel thief husband. It should perhaps be noted that these storylines all took place on a parallel planet called "Earth 2."

4. A Prostitute

In 1986, Frank Miller re-introduced Kyle as a tough, independently minded prostitute, who turns to burglary as she tries to protect a young street girl named Holly Robinson.

5. A Fake Prostitute

Apparently a lot of writers weren't too thrilled with the prostitute thing, so they later revised the story so that Kyle was only pretending to be a prostitute in order to rob desperate guys.

6. An International Thief

In the 90's Catwoman got her own series where she was recast as an international thief and bounty hunter living by her own moral code. She definitely aids Bane in at least one storyline here...but she also works as a reluctant government operative and adopts an orphan named Arizona. Your guess is as good as mine.

7. A Mafia Daughter

One storyline in Batman: Dark Victory drops hints that Kyle may be an illegitimate child of Gotham mafia boss Carmine Falcone. Nolan definitely likes to play up the organized crime element in the series, so maybe?

8. Potential Mayor of New York City

Later in the Catwoman series, Kyle becomes CEO of some shady Mafia-controlled company and trying to leverage this position into a bid for Mayor of New York City. Sounds topical!

9. The Female Batman, Gotham's New Defender of Justice

Ah yes, in the DC spinoff series Elseworlds, Kyle sees her millionaire parents murdered walking home after a screening of Cat People (Yes please!), then becomes a crime fighting vigilante as a result. Her major enemy is a criminal psychopath named...Batman.