The Batman: How Bruce Wayne & Catwoman Meet Revealed

The details of how Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne finally meets Zoë Kravitz's Catwoman in DC's upcoming standalone film The Batman have been revealed. Unrelated to the ongoing DC Extended Universe franchise, this latest reboot sees the Caped Crusader during his second year of defending the citizens of Gotham City and facing off against a new enemy, the intellectual terrorist known simply as the Riddler, who is targeting Gotham's elite population. Directed and co-written by Matt Reeves, the film is set to be the first in a new Batman trilogy and ignite another cinematic shared universe for DC, with plans already being drawn up for sequels and a number of spinoff series.

Along with Pattinson and Kravitz, The Batman boasts an impressive line-up of stars appearing as friends and foes of the cowl-wearing vigilante. With Paul Dano as the Riddler, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, it looks like the Dark Knight will have his hands full in dealing with the scum of Gotham City. However, he evidently won't be at it alone, with Andy Serkis stepping in as the Waynes' ever-faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth and Jeffrey Wright featuring as Batman's GCPD ally Lieutenant James Gordon. But it's Batman's relationship with the ethically ambiguous Catwoman that has been the primary focus for much of the film's marketing campaign, suggesting that the pair will combine forces during the film despite their disparate moral codes.

In EW's latest insider piece on The Batman, Pattinson, Kravitz and Reeves elaborate on how the relationship between the two crime-fighters develops throughout the film as well as the connection the stars themselves formed behind the camera. However, the article also provides some revealing details regarding exactly how the pair first meet in the film. It appears that in his search to locate and unmask the Riddler, Batman finds himself at the Penguin's criminal nightclub known as the Iceberg Lounge. It's here where he first crosses paths with Selina Kyle, who is trying to make ends meet by working as a waitress for the mobster (as well as undertaking the odd bit of drug-dealing). But it's not until Selina's roommate disappears that the pair begin to suspect that they may have to work together in order achieve their individual goals.

This reveal of the pair's first meeting is certainly reminiscent of other first encounters between the Bat and the Cat in previous Batman movies. Bruce Wayne encountering Selina Kyle working as a waitress was also Christopher Nolan's choice for their initial introduction in The Dark Knight Rises, although it was swiftly revealed that Selina had merely adopted the guise of a Wayne Manor servant in order to purloin Bruce's fingerprints as well as his mother's pearl necklace. And Bruce meeting Selina before she becomes Catwoman while he's on duty as Batman is not dissimilar to their first meeting in Batman Returns, in which the Dark Knight saves her life from a clown armed with a taser.

Given these similarities, it may well be that Reeves is paying a subtle homage to the Batman films that have gone before him by having his titular vigilante and Catwoman first meet in this way. It certainly reveals even more detail regarding Selina Kyle's backstory and paves the way for further speculation as to how she will head down the path into becoming the feline-obsessed anti-heroine, as well as how her relationship with Batman will develop throughout out the film. But with The Batman releasing on March 4, fans won't have long to wait to witness that crucial first encounter.

Source: EW