Selina Kyle (Gotham character)

This article is about the character on Gotham. For the episode of the series named after her, see Selina Kyle (Gotham episode).

Selina Kyle
Gotham character
Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, in television series Gotham.
First Episode Appearance	"Pilot" September 22, 2014
Final Episode Appearance	"The Beginning..." April 25, 2019
Created by	Bruno Heller (Gotham) Bob Kane (Catwoman) Bill Finger (Catwoman)
Character played by	Camren Bicondova Lili Simmons ("The Beginning...")
In-universe information
Full name	Selina Kyle
Gender	Female
Occupation	Thief Vigilante Nightclub owner (temporarily)
Family	Maria Kyle (mother)
Significant other	Bruce Wayne
Nationality	American

Selina Kyle, nicknamed "Cat", is a fictional character on the Fox TV series Gotham. Based on the DC Comics character of the same name who goes on to become Catwoman, Selina is a morally ambiguous street thief who becomes an ally and later love interest to Bruce Wayne, the orphaned son of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Camren Bicondova portrays Selina Kyle for the majority of Gotham's run, but is replaced by Lili Simmons as an adult in the series finale.

Character development

Gotham depicts the origins of Batman, with the series starting with the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, as well as that of notable allies and foes such as James Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox, Leslie Thompkins, Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy and arguably Joker. Catwoman has been considered a morally ambiguous character, initially being counted as one of Batman's foes but becoming an occasional ally in later comic storylines, developing an iconic love-hate relationship, as she is also Batman's most enduring love interest.

Actress and dancer Camren Bicondova was cast to portray the teenaged Selina, assuming she was auditioning for a random role named "Lucy" and not finding out what the real role was until after she was selected. While she takes inspiration from previous Catwoman actresses Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Hathaway and others, Bicondova wanted to portray a side of Selina Kyle not seen before, focusing on her past. As the series finale jumps ten years into the future from the rest of the series, Bicondova did not feel comfortable portraying her character as an adult, and at her request, an older actress was chosen to portray the adult Selina Kyle. Warner Bros. Television cast Lili Simmons in the role, with Simmons and Bicondova collaborating closely on the adult Selina's characterization.

"The main word that I can think of to characterize Selina is that she's just surviving. She's very mischievous and very challenging to play at times, because she feels emotions but she hides them. I realized that she isn't just a street thief and a survivor; she's actually a normal girl."

—Camren Bicondova

Fictional character biography

Season 1

Selina Kyle is introduced as a thirteen-year-old street orphan and skilled thief. In the pilot episode of the series, she personally witnesses the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne while memorizing what the murderer looked like without the mask. She forms a tenuous alliance with GCPD Detective Jim Gordon after he saves her from kidnappers working for the Dollmaker. She promises to help him solve the Wayne murders if he helps her get out of trouble with the law. Gordon has her temporarily housed at Wayne Manor, which leads to her befriending the Waynes' son, Bruce. She saves him from a gang of hired killers and gives him his first kiss. She also helps Bruce find Reggie Payne, the man who stabbed Bruce's butler Alfred Pennyworth, pushing Payne out of a window to his death to prevent him from telling the people who hired him that she and Bruce are onto them. Cat also has connections with Ivy Pepper and later befriends Barbara Kean, Gordon's ex-fiance. During the gang war between Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni, Selina is among the street children recruited into Fish Mooney's gang. When it comes to Oswald Cobblepot's fight with Mooney for the control of Gotham's underworld following the collapse of Falcone and Maroni's gangs, Selina slips away during the conflict.

Season 2

Selina later re-emerges working for Cobblepot's gang and tries to protect Bruce from corrupt billionaire Theo Galavan and his niece, Silver St. Cloud, who competes with Selina for Bruce's affections. She teams up with Gordon and Cobblepot to save Bruce when he is kidnapped by the Sacred Order of Saint Dumas. She allows Bruce to live on the streets with her for a while until Gordon ended up on the lam and played a part in Edward Nygma's arrest. When Bruce decided to go back home upon hearing of breakthroughs in Lucius Fox's research, Selina storms out in anger. Selina later volunteers to infiltrate Arkham Asylum to find Hugo Strange's experiments and a newly reformed Bridgit Pike, calling herself Firefly, after being told about her survival by Bruce. Selina later asks to be Firefly's servant and is released later from Arkham after freeing Gordon, Bruce, and Lucius.

Season 3

Selina is later shown to have re-aligned with Fish Mooney following her revival. When one of Fish Mooney's minions catches Ivy, Selina tries to intervene which led to her witnessing Fish Mooney's minion Marv touching Ivy prior to her falling into the river. After being unable to get Bruce's help to find Ivy, Selina is approached by James Gordon if she knows any info about Alice Tetch, the sister of . She did tell him that she was a one-time member of Fish Mooney's latest gang before she parted ways with her. Later on, she encounters Subject 514A, a teenage boy who was an experiment by Hugo Strange, who was posing as Bruce Wayne. While suspicious about Bruce Wayne's look-a-like, Selina decides to go out to dinner with him. Eventually, after 514A saves Selina after she fails to rob a bar, she sees 514A's scars and realizes he isn't Bruce. 514A explains the situation, and Selina tells him he's more normal than Bruce. With that, 514A kisses Selina and the two part ways. Later, while Selina is stealing wallets at the Penguin's party, she encounters an older Ivy, though she doesn't recognize her. After Bruce confesses his feelings for her, Selina kisses him. Once Ivy reveals herself, Selina is shocked and unclear of whether she and Bruce are in a relationship or not. After trying to help Bruce and Alfred break into a Court building, they are assisted by Selina's long-lost mother. Although Selina's mother seems to want to reconnect with her daughter, Selina later discovers that her mother only returned to extort money from Bruce Wayne. Selina then tearfully tells her mother to never return to Gotham. Selina gets mad at Bruce once she finds out he kept it from her, breaking up with him.

514A, after posing as Bruce for several days and dying from the flaws in his experimentation, attempts to get Selina to leave Gotham but she boldly points out that he will never be the man Bruce is and that she doesn't care about him. She attempts to warn Alfred but 514A pushes her out a window, leaving her seemingly killed. However, a group of cats swarm around her, and she is taken to the hospital, where Ivy helps heal her. She comes back to Wayne Manor to kill 514A but is stopped by Alfred, who later discover the truth about the clone. The butler wants her to help him find Bruce but Selina doesn't see what good it will do to her. Alfred calls her a disgrace and forbids her to come back. She then hangs out with Ivy and Penguin but is captured by Tabitha, Barbara and The Riddler. She negotiates her way out by betraying Penguin, protecting Ivy, and gets money to leave Gotham. After her relationship with Bruce is further strained during the chaos caused by Alice Tetch Virus and Alfred getting stabbed, Selina meets up with Tabitha Galavan where she tests her talents on Tabitha's whip upon telling Tabitha that she is "done just surviving".

Season 4

Eventually, Selina and Tabitha work for a revived Barbara Kean after she made amends with them even when Barbara aligns herself with Sofia Falcone. Victor Zsasz offers Selina and Tabitha the opportunity to enter Penguin's licensed crime system. After Tabitha refuses, Selina goes in alone. At Penguin's club, the relationship between Bruce and Selina rekindles, as Bruce apologizes for his previous behavior while Selina is walking on the rooftop of the Iceberg Lounge. They later encounter each other anonymously, both dressed as their vigilante personas. Selina is working for Barbara and Tabitha; she has to steal a knife from Penguin's cargo that Bruce was watching from afar. When Bruce is spotted by Penguin's goons, they open fire and he has to fight his way out while Selina goes back to the Siren's club empty-handed. Bruce later buys the knife at auction and Selina asks him to hand it over to him but he refuses and tells her to leave. When Barbara wants to shut the Sirens down, Selina proves her worth to them by going on her own to steal from the bikers' gang and the Sirens later oppose Penguin after being tasked to capture the Riddler for him. The Sirens then capture Sofia Falcone as an asset against Penguin, then end up working for her to bring the Penguin down, sending him to Arkham and taking over his empire.

Bruce and Selina meet again later in the season at the Siren's Club, where Bruce is in the middle of his hard-partying phase to cope with his murder of Ra's Al Ghul, but Selina is able to see through his act and worries about him. After snapping out of his phase, courtesy of Ivy's powers, Bruce asks Selina for help but she is on her way to stop Ivy from murdering innocents and tells him to atone for his actions, especially regarding his behavior towards Alfred. During the second half of the season, Selina is torn between her loyalty to the Sirens, her core values and her affection for Bruce, which causes friction between the three parties. Eventually, the two lovers come together again and Selina helps Bruce fighting other villains like Jerome Valeska, a resurrected Ra's Al Ghul, and Scarecrow. Bruce gets sprayed by Scarecrow's toxin but Selina is able to reach him. They share a kiss back at Wayne Manor seconds before she is shot by Jerome's brother Jeremiah, leaving her with a severed spine. When Gotham City becomes a no man's land, Bruce convinces Alfred to go with Selina to oversee her recovery.

Season 5

Many days later, Selina has undergone an operation to keep her spine from collapsing. After her suicide attempt is thwarted by the doctors, Bruce takes the advice of a nurse to seek out "the witch" as he asks where to find her. The witch turns out to be Ivy, who gives Bruce a strange boil to cure Selina. She gets healed and later assists Bruce and Gordon in their fight against Jeremiah Valeska and Delta Force, though the medicine also awakens the darker corners of her nature. Suffering from PTSD episodes, Selina decides to get revenge on Jeremiah Valeska by stabbing him in the chest. Later, Penguin comes to her to catch the thief Magpie and the two of them plan to leave Gotham by sea. However, Selina is working with him to get revenge for him murdering Tabitha. She eventually gives up her revenge to save Bruce from Jeremiah Valeska.

Bruce and Selina share a surprise date where he expresses his intention to leave Gotham, which saddens her. Ivy walks in, hypnotizing Bruce and leaves Selina in the middle of a fight. Selina gets out and finds Bruce and they both violently fight each other. She manages to snap him out, hitting him, crying she doesn't want him to leave. Bruce kisses her later during Jim Gordon's wedding. Though Gotham is restored to normal, Alfred is severely injured, resulting in Bruce carrying out his plan to leave the city and train himself to fight crime.

10 years later, Selina has become a jewel thief and is being shadowed by the Dark Knight, a mysterious masked vigilante. Selina attended the opening of the new Wayne Tower and drags Barbara in subduing Riddler who had been manipulated by Jeremiah to bomb it. When confronted by the Dark Knight, revealed to be Bruce, Selina is told that he left Gotham City in order to get stronger to protect both her and Gotham City. She responds that it was never his protection she needed, only him. The two lament on the past and reconcile, but before leaving, Bruce advises Selina to return a diamond she had stolen, to which she mutters "like hell".

See also

• List of Gotham characters
• Catwoman in other media

References

Gotham
Episodes	Season 1	"Pilot" • "Selina Kyle" • "The Balloonman" • "Arkham" • "Viper" • "Spirit of the Goat" • "Penguin's Umbrella" • "The Mask" • "Harvey Dent" • "Lovecraft" • "Rogues' Gallery" • "What the Little Bird Told Him" • "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon" • "The Fearsome Dr. Crane" • "The Scarecrow" • "The Blind Fortune Teller" • "Red Hood" • "Everyone Has a Cobblepot" • "Beasts of Prey" • "Under the Knife" • "The Anvil or the Hammer" • "All Happy Families Are Alike"
	Season 2	"Rise of the Villains" ("Damned If You Do..." • "Knock, Knock" • "The Last Laugh" • "Strike Force" • "Scarification" • "By Fire" • "Mommy's Little Monster" • "Tonight's the Night" • "A Bitter Pill to Swallow" • "The Son of Gotham" • "Worse Than a Crime") • "Wrath of the Villains" ("Mr. Freeze" • "A Dead Man Feels No Cold" • "This Ball of Mud and Meanness" • "Mad Grey Dawn" • "Prisoners" • "Into the Woods" • "Pinewood" • "Azrael" • "Unleashed" • "A Legion of Horribles" • "Transference"
	Season 3	"Mad City" ("Better to Reign in Hell..." • "Burn the Witch" • "Look into My Eyes" • "New Day Rising" • "Anything for You" • "Follow the White Rabbit" • "Red Queen" • "Blood Rush" • "The Executioner" • "Time Bomb" • "Beware the Green-Eyed Monster" • "Ghosts" • "Smile Like You Mean It" • "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies") • "Heroes Rise" ("How the Riddler Got His Name" • "These Delicate and Dark Obsessions" • "The Primal Riddle" • "Light the Wick" • "All Will Be Judged" • "Pretty Hate Machine" • "Destiny Calling" • "Heavydirtysoul")
	Season 4	"A Dark Knight" ("Pax Penguina" • "The Fear Reaper" • "They Who Hide Behind Masks" • "The Demon's Head" • "The Blade's Path" • "Hog Day Afternoon" • "A Day in the Narrows" • "Stop Hitting Yourself" • "Let Them Eat Pie" • "Things That Go Boom" • "Queen Takes Knight")
	Characters	James Gordon • Bruce Wayne • Fish Mooney • Oswald Cobblepot