If a cat has nine lives, a Catwoman might have many, many more.

If you’ve paid any attention to the trailers of the new “Catwoman” movie, you may have noticed she’s not exactly the Catwoman we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. The leather-wearing, midriff-baring Halle Berry character has the attitude, whip and at least some of the costume, but her predecessors did not have her superhuman catlike powers.

For decades, Catwoman has lived as a villainous foe, occasional ally and recurring love interest for Batman in the pages of DC Comics, on television and, as recently as 1992, in film, when Michelle Pfeiffer slid into black latex for “Batman Returns.”

More mischievous than evil, these Catwomen usually let greed get the best of them.

Warner Brothers hopes its new female action anti-hero has as much staying power.

The Cat (1940): The original villainess appeared in Batman No. 1 along with another character you might know – the Joker. Batman creator Bob Kane hadn’t given his jewel thief a costume yet, but she’d already softened the Batman’s heart. He let her go.

“Golden Age” Catwoman (1940-54): After several guises since her debut, a costume complete with a round-eared cowl, a tail and a cat-o’-nine-tails as a weapon emerges as the definitive Catwoman. We also learn her real name, Selina Kyle. She continues her villainous ways until she’s struck on the head in 1950, and we learn she’s an amnesia victim. She wakes up remembering only that she is a stewardess who had been in a plane crash. She’s horrified to learn she’s been a criminal for years. She reforms and opens a pet shop. Batman’s writers abandon the character for 12 years.

“Silver Age” Catwoman (1966): Catwoman returns in two issues of Lois Lane’s comic book with a purple catsuit and cape. This catsuit remains the inspiration for her costume in comics to this day. Her return brings with it a varied set of Cat-weapons, including – the Catarang! FYI: The 1940s were the “Golden Age” of comic books. The 1960s are considered the “Silver Age” Yes, there is a “Bronze Age,” too.

Julie Newmar (“Batman” TV show, 1966-67): Considered by many fans to be the quintessential Catwoman. After appearing in only one two-part episode of the cult hit’s first season, Newmar carried five two-part episodes in season 2, with each gradually increasing the flirtations between cat and bat.

Lee Meriwether (“Batman” movie, 1966): Meriwether stood in for Newmar in the movie that came out after the series’ first season. Catwoman posed as the good-hearted “Miss Kitka” and seduced Bruce Wayne before being revealed as a co-conspirator in the fiendish plot of the Joker, Penguin and Riddler.

Eartha Kitt (“Batman” TV show, 1967-68): Kitt purrs her way through the recasting of Catwoman for three episodes in the series’ final season. Though the campy Batman was often considered risque for its time, its writers had no appetite for creating any hint of an interracial romance in the 1960s.

“Earth II” Catwoman (detailed in 1983): In a parallel “Golden Age” universe, the 1940s-era Batman and Catwoman fell in love and married. They had a daughter who eventually became a vigilante herself: the Huntress. A version of the Huntress character later emerges in comics and as part of a short-lived female superhero TV show on The WB in 2002, Birds of Prey.

Frank Miller’s Catwoman (1987): In the late 1980s, comic-book writer Frank Miller redefined Batman’s universe and created the dark, brooding character that inspired huge comic book sales and the “Batman” movie phenomenon. His Catwoman had been an orphan and a prostitute before taking up costumed thievery.

Michelle Pfeiffer (“Batman Returns,” 1992): Pfeiffer portrays Selina Kyle as a mousy secretary who is transformed into Catwoman after an attempt on her life. The experience doesn’t give her superpowers, but she becomes a confident, dangerous and disturbingly kinky foe for Batman.

Today’s comic book Catwoman (1993-present): Fifty-three years after her first appearance, Catwoman gets her own comic book series and yet another origin. Her mother committed suicide, and her alcoholic father died when she was 12. She lived on the streets by theft for a while, but was inspired by Batman. She becomes Catwoman and begins her own vigilante career by stealing from other criminals. It makes her wealthy, and Selina Kyle soon becomes a socialite. She briefly dates Bruce Wayne. This storyline continues in today’s DC Comics.

Halle Berry (“Catwoman,” 2004): Superhero movie scripts often stray from their comic book inspirations. This Cat strays quite a bit. Here, Berry plays Patience Philips, a timid graphic artist who stumbles upon her employer’s dark secret. Left for dead, she is transformed. Gaining the strength, speed, agility and keen senses of a cat, she becomes Catwoman.

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(c) 2004, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).

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