- "I am Catwoman. Hear me roar."
- ―Catwoman[src]
Catwoman was portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1992 movie Batman Returns. As recreated by Daniel Waters and Tim Burton, Selina Kyle is depicted as a lonely, frustrated woman pushed over the edge into obsession and crime after her boss, tycoon Max Shreck, tries to kill her to keep her from revealing his plot to build a power plant that would steal Gotham's electricity.
Mysteriously revived by alley cats after Shreck pushes her out a window, Selina Kyle's repressed rage allows her to transform into the clever supervillainess Catwoman. Shortly following her transformation, she joins forces with The Penguin. As a masked figure operating under the guise of a theatrical public identity, Catwoman finds a reflection of herself in Batman. In the ballroom scene, to Siouxsie & the Banshees' "Face to Face," the two masked crimefighters, Batman and Catwoman, dressed as their alter-egos, Bruce and Selina, discover their dual personalities, thus exposing one of Burton's main themes — duality — in the film. In the film's climax, she electrocutes Shreck by kissing him with a Taser in her mouth; Batman never finds her body. She is seen one last time at the end of the film, looking at the Batsignal in the sky.
When Tim Burton was set to direct Batman Forever, his intention was to use The Riddler as the main villian and possibly have Catwoman return. As Burton was replaced, this never came to pass.