How Are They Going To Handle Catwoman

So Gotham has been in my feed a lot lately.

Okay for those who don't know Gotham is the upcoming Arrow-style Tv show for well Gotham, aka Batman's home turf with the gimmick that this show takes place in the immediate aftermath of the Wayne murders.

 
I've always been of the opinion that this was a stupid stupid premise, but some of the stuff coming out about it seems interesting. So yay?

Batman has some of the most interesting characters in the DC universe. Setting the story when it does means those characters' timelines and by extension the characters themselves have to be ignored, compressed, or re-written and that worries me. ( I know. I know New 52. Blah Blah Blah.)

I'm going to pick on Catwoman here partially because she's really hard to translate from the panel and also because in the show's marketing she's been front and center, almost more so than Bruce and Jim.

I am not a comic guru. Most of what I know about comics come from their adaptations and the most interesting and for that matter compatible adaptation of Catwoman I've seen has been her DC showcase.



It's heavily implied that Selina adopts the persona of Catwoman as a way to deal with her kind of messed up life which includes her childhood.


My point is framing the story when it does means that she wouldn't be too far removed from the death of her parents and depending on which version they decide to go with she may or may not be a prostitute at this time.

If they want to go that route more power to them because I would like to see them deal with that. The Catwoman persona as her power fantasy made flesh, using her sex appeal to rob blind the guys who would have raped, and possibly killed her. Eventually becoming a feminist Robin Hood of the slum. But I doubt they would.

1. I doubt they have the balls to deal with her prostitution or even her life in the gutter on network TV
2. If they did they would have to moralize her and that's dangerous. The entire point of her character post-catsuit is that she does EXACTLY what she wants because for a long time she couldn't.  Hell this is her central conflict with Batman who just can't get that. 
3. Most people aren't interested in seeing the character at her lowest point. And based on the photos I've seen so far it looks like that's not the direction they're going anyway. 
4. They're overtly shipping her and Bruce at least in the visuals and the reason why that relationship is so interesting is because he's lawful good and she's chaotic... - whatever phase of life she's in at the moment. With Bruce as just a kid before the bat, and her without her justifiable distrust of authority there isn't really any place for it go other than meet cute and I can get that just about anywhere else.