Editor’s Note

Andrea Nagel

When Zoë Kravitz nailed the audition to play Catwoman in the new Batman film, The Batman, Michelle Pfeiffer

— a previous unforgettable and incredibly sexy iteration of the role offered this advice: “Make sure, while the team are designing the costume, they consider how you’re going to go to the bathroom — minor detail,” she said. “But an important one.”

As Catwoman, Pfeiffer’s my favourite comic book (anti)hero of all time. She performs the most transfixing transformation of any mortal into super(anti)hero in the movie business. Secretary Selina Kyle is pushed to her death but miraculously survives, overrun by cats who gnaw at her hands and lick her until her eyes pop open and she’s reborn — changed from the mousy (yes, mousy) doormat of the person she was into a creature of such strength, attitude and ruthlessness that you wish the women in Netfix’s Tinder Swindler had taken a sip out of her milk bowl when exacting revenge on the narcissistic scumbag who turned their lives upside down.

When Pfeiffer comes back as Catwoman she embodies the schism that recovery from abuse seems to entail for many women — she becomes a hard-assed bitch who shirks society’s rules to satisfy her own cravings — no longer the demure, selfsacrificing woman at the mercy of men that she used to be.

All great comic villains operate as reflections of the main hero — and Catwoman is a potent antihero for The Bat. He seeks justice and redemption to overcome his trauma; she wants revenge. One of my favourite Pfeiffer-Catwoman lines is: “It’s the so-called normal guys who always let you down. Sickos never scare me — at least they’re committed.”

Zoë, you have big shoes to fill. Let’s see what you do with them.

For comment, criticism or praise, write to nagela@sundaytimes.co.za