In the DC Comics, a leather-clad feline fatale was conceived as a way to attract more female readers as well as offering titillation for the male gaze. With Zoë Kravitz starring as Catwoman in Matt Reeves' version, we look at the live-action interpretations of this character in film and TV, tracing her feminist credentials from the 1960s to now.

The Independent's film critic Clarisse Loughrey notes the importance of who has been responsible for her depiction. 'She is the creation of men and a creature of fantasy; this heightened femme fatale who's all flirtation, and mostly no emotional commitment. She's been objectified to an extreme, frequently passed down from male creator to male creator. But there's always been room within the character for reinterpretation and reclamation, by the women who see themselves in Catwoman's playfulness and independence; and also the actresses who transformed the character through the force of their personality.'

Singer Eartha Kitt was the first Black actor to take on this role, in the third series of the 1960s TV Batman, and has stated that she played the character like a cat ('independent and unpredictable'). Kitt's vivacious performance and pronunciation made her a camp icon, and she was embraced by the audience for her political beliefs and LGBTQ/Civil Rights activism. Missing was the sexual innuendo seen in the preceding crafty versions played by Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether. They humorously toyed with Batman, signalling the comic origins of using sexuality to manipulate adversaries.

It's difficult to claim Catwoman as a purrrfect example of feminism (what is?) but the 1960s interpretations reflect female empowerment of that time, incorporating battle-of-the-sexes plots and showing her as a criminal mastermind in charge of her own empire and multiple male stooges. 'Catwoman has been around so long in so many forms that you can find versions of her that represent a whole range of depictions of womanhood,' observes novelist and critic Kim Newman. 'Though she's been a male and female fantasy figure, she's very rarely been a feminist. A key aspect of feminism she's almost never represented is sisterhood; though when she was represented as a bisexual dominatrix, she did have a girlfriend/sidekick who became Catwoman for a while.'

In Tim Burton's Batman Returns, Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/Catwoman leans into the duality of the character. Her arc recalls the revenge fantasies of office workers in feminist comedy 9 To 5 (minus the sisterhood) as she embarks on a solo mission to wreak vengeance on a homicidal, sexist boss who views women as disposable. It's the most complex film version of Catwoman as a working-class anti-hero, rejecting the patriarchal system and owning her sexuality.

Halle Berry was inspired to take on the role in Pitof's Catwoman as a way to carry on Kitt's radical version, but the film was critically mauled and bombed at the box office. Its intentions to target the cosmetics industry, unobtainable beauty standards and ageism were sorely underserved with an origin story that ignored the comic books and married it with tired romcom tropes.

Christopher Nolan isn't especially known for writing good female characters, and The Dark Knight Returns is no exception. Anne Hathaway's jewel thief is a Robin Hood figure who is shown as an equal to Batman. There are hints of her bisexuality, in a relationship with Juno Temple's character, but that film's conclusion regresses to the comic's 1950s standards, with a happy ending suggesting she has domesticated Batman. So far, Matt Reeves has revealed that his Catwoman will be getting her own origin story beside 'a Batman Kurt Cobain'. Maybe Zoë Kravitz's Catwoman will draw inspiration from Hole's 'Celebrity Skin', offering a deeper examination of Hollywood and the seedy side of LA.

The Batman is in cinemas from Friday 4 March.