I mean, I have better things to do, but I’m low on the energy right now. Plus, I feel the need to provide a palate cleanser after posting that Leann Rimes picture.

Foredoomed it was that when the Dark Knight Rises decided to make the obvious move from the Joker to Catwoman and Bane, that controversy would result from the casting. Bane is one of the newer Bat Villains, so anyone would do for him. But Catwoman may be as important to the Bat Universe as the Joker. Alone among his foes, the Cat brings out something good in the Bat, and reminds him that he’s a man, rather than merely a shadow with extensive MMA training.

So the chatter I’ve picked up is that Hathaway won’t be half as good as Michelle Ppppfeiffer was in Batman Returns, on account of being too “nice” and “girl next door” and whatever. This may end up being true; I don’t know. But I have a couple of objections to it:

1. Batman Returns was Just as Bad, and Possibly Worse, than the movies that followed it. The second movie in the original franchise carries a bizarre amount of cachet for a film so incoherent and essentially plotless. Yes, it was “dark” in that cartoony way that all Burton’s films are. But there was too much going on, and no real villain for the darkness to focus on. Danny DeVito’s Penguin was a pathetic creature that may have ruined the character permanently, if recent depictions of him in the comic books are any guide. And despite having both Penguin and Catwoman, the film gives us a laughably miscast Christopher Walken as the real antagonist, Max Schreck, who’s… a business man of some kind. At least Batman Forever had an arc. As a consequence to this:
2. Michelle Ppppppfeiffer’s Catwoman was not that interesting. This was 1992, which meant that Catwoman had to be an emotionally damaged S&M-clad victim of Teh Patriarchy. Pfeiffer staggers through these scenes with all the charisma of a drunk longshoreman loading a crate of marital aids. And the chemistry between her and Keaton was as forced as anything from the Star Wars Prequels. I might be biased, as I’ve never been that big a fan of hers, but I saw absolutely nothing that I wanted to see again. Catwoman is a feminist icon only in the broadest possible sense. She’s not a rebel; she’s a jewel thief. Which brings us to:
3. Catwoman is One of the Lighter Characters in Gotham. Yeah, Selina Kyle is tough. She does what she wants, when she wants, and doesn’t take any crap from anyone. But she’s also a cool character, in the old sense of that term: emotionally calm and un-ruffled. She’s more than a little playful, and her relationship with Batman has more than a little lightness to it, even as it is also fraught with mistrust (most of it on Batman’s part — no one ever said he was emotionally healthy). She may tease the Bat, and she’s got claws that he has to watch out for, but she’s not out to seduce and destroy him. She’s not Poison Ivy. Beyond their physical attraction, the Cat and the Bat seem to genuinely like each other as people, a status that few other opposing pairs in the DC Universe share.

As a result, I don’t have any problem with Hathaway or doubt in her ability to manifest enough of the character’s facets to satisfy me. She earned her action cred in Get Smart, and while I’m not expecting a genius turn, I think she’ll be able to suit Nolan’s plans for the character in this part of the trilogy. That is, aside from wearing a black catsuit and riding a motorcycle, which is naturally essential: