Zoë Kravitz to Purr as the DCEU’s Catwoman

Batman has found his frenemy. Zoë Kravitz has been cast in the role of Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman, in Matt Reeves’ up-coming Warner Bros. film, The Batman. This will be the second time Kravitz has played the minxy cat burglar, whom she voiced in the 2017 The Lego Batman Movie.

Kravitz has an impressive resumé, including Mad Max Fury Road, the Fantastic Beasts and Divergent franchises, and X-Men: First Class. On the small screen, she’s appeared in Hulu’s High Fidelity, Showtime’s Californication, and is currently on Big Little Lies. Originally, there had been some concerns about Kravitz’ scheduling issues with the Fantastic Beasts franchise. However, she beat out other actresses, like Zazie Beetz of Atlanta and Joker, Eiza Gonzalez of Baby Driver, and Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.

This is the first time the studio has officially revealed the character would be in Reeves’ film, although there have been rumors circulating for a number of weeks. Reeves took over the director role when Ben Affleck stepped away from the franchise, and is co-writing the film with Mattson Tomlin. The director has described the film as a “defining” and “very personal” story about the caped crusader rather than the typical origin story we’ve seen from Frank Miller’s Year One. Dylan Clark, who collaborated with Reeves on Planet of the Apes, will produce.

Kravitz will be joining Robert Pattinson, who is taking Affleck’s place behind the cowl. Jeffery Wright will play Commissioner Gordon, and Jonah Hill is in talks to play a villain, suspected to be the Penguin.

Catwoman is an antihero in DC Comics as well as the occasional love interest for Bruce Wayne. She first appeared in 1940 as “The Cat” in Batman #1. In the 1960’s, the bullwhip loving feline was played by Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt during the run of Batman on television. More recently Cameron Bicondova portrayed her on Fox’s Gotham series. Over on the big screen, Anne Hathaway played Kyle in Christopher Nolan’s 2012 The Dark Knight Rises, Halle Berry in the 2004 standalone Catwoman (although not the Selina Kyle version), and Michelle Pfeiffer turned heads as the feline fatale in Tim Burton’s 1992 Batman Returns.

The Batman begins shooting early 2020 in the United Kingdom with an expected release date of June 25, 2021.