In the comics, Selina Kyle/Catwoman is often shown as bisexual, however the character’s LGBTQ sexuality has never been explored in adaptations of the character starring Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, and Anne Hathaway. Zoe Kravitz, who plays Catwoman opposite Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne in “The Batman,” is the latest performer to take on the role. Kravitz recently told Australia’s Pedestrian that her Catwoman in the film was bisexual.

There are scenes in the film when Selina (Kravitz) refers to her friend and roommate Anika as “baby,” as the actress explained in a recent interview. As Kravitz noted, this opened the door to their relationship as being more intimate than simply housemates.

Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman and Robert Pattinson as Batman in The Batman (2021).
Courtesy of IMDb

“That’s definitely the way I interpreted that, that they had some kind of romantic relationship. I agree,” Kravitz said when asked whether the sequence was an homage to Catwoman being bisexual.

Catwoman, who was initially bisexual in the comics, has often been represented as straight in the movies.

“[The film is] very true to the character of Selina Kyle,” director Matt Reeves said of Kravitz’s portrayal, according to the publication. “She’s not yet Catwoman, but all the elements of how she’s going to become Catwoman are there. And in terms of her relationship with Anika, I spoke to Zoë very early on and one of the things she said which I loved was that: ‘She’s drawn to strays because she was a stray and so she really wants to care for these strays because she doesn’t want to be that way anymore, and Anika is like a stray and she loves her. She actually represents this connection that she has to her mother who she lost, who was a stray anymore’.”

“So I don’t think we meant to go directly in that way, but you can interpret it that way for sure,” Reeves said, “She has an intimacy with that character and it’s a tremendous and deep caring for that character, more so than a sexual thing, but there was meant to be quite an intimate relationship between them.”

Kravitz has said that she researched wild cats to enhance the physicality of her act. “We watched cats and lions fight and talked about what is actually possible when you’re my size and Batman is so much stronger than me,” the Big Little Lies actor told Empire. “What is my skill? It’s being fast and tricky. So we did some really interesting floor work that incorporated different kinds of martial arts and capoeira and a kind of feline, dance-like movement.”

“This is an origin story for Selina,” she said. “So it’s the beginning of her figuring out who she is, beyond just someone trying to survive. I think there’s a lot of space to grow and I think we are watching her become what I’m sure will be the femme fatale.”

“The Batman” will be released in cinemas in the United States on March 4, but Warner Bros. just postponed its distribution in Russia owing to the continuing invasion of Ukraine. The cast features Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, and John Turturro, and is fronted by Robert Pattinson in the titular character.