What You Didn't Know About Catwoman's Mother In The Batman
Warning: this article contains spoilers for "The Batman."
In the new movie "The Batman," Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) quickly meets and partners up with Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), also known to DC fans as Catwoman. The two have an intensely intertwined story, with Bruce helping Selina uncover the fate of her roommate and the truth about her father, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). But there's one other important figure in Selina's life who plays a key role in the film's story — and she never even shows up on screen. This is her mother, Maria Kyle.
Selina explains her backstory to Bruce one night, telling him about how her mother worked at the Iceberg Lounge and met Falcone there. Of course, then this romance led to her, and she spends most of her early childhood years just hanging out at the establishment. As she talks about her history, it becomes clear that a lot of what she does is based around this past experience.
While she might claim to want to get away from Gotham, Selina can't seem to leave her connection to Falcone and what happened to her mother behind. It's obvious that Selina loves her mother very dearly, leading her to take her father's abandonment more personally. Then, when her roommate ends up dead in a similar fashion as her mother, Selina's drive for answers grows even stronger.
But casual fans of the DCEU tuning in to watch "The Batman" might not know a lot about Selina's backstory, and there's a lot about her mother, Maria, that the movie doesn't go into.
The Batman presents an altered take on Selina's mother
In "The Batman," viewers only really know anything about Maria based on what Selina describes to Bruce or Falcone. But with all the information the movie provides, it appears that this version of Maria is a loving mother who is just unlucky in life. Maria works at the Iceberg Lounge both before and after giving birth to Selina, but unfortunately, she is murdered when Selina is very young, and for a long time, Selina doesn't know who is responsible. Without a real direction in life, Selina grows up and develops the thieving skills she exhibits in the movie, intending to steal some cash, leave Gotham, and start over.
Aside from her career and relationship with Falcone, "The Batman" doesn't reveal too much else about Selina's mother. But one thing is crystal clear, and that's the fact that Selina clearly loves her mother very much and holds no resentment or bad feelings over how she grows up. Instead, all of her grief, hate, and loneliness is targeted at Falcone, who she knows is her father but who has zero involvement in her life, leaving her to grow up all alone after Maria's death.
In the comics, Maria's story is different but just as dark
In the comics, Selina's relationship with her mother is a little more complicated, and if you can believe it, a little more traumatic too. As revealed in the solo series, "Catwoman," Volume 2, which ran from 1993 to 2001 (via DC Database), when Selina is a child, her mother Maria is in an abusive marriage with Selina's father, Brian Kyle. At one point, Brian says that Maria's family are refugees, possibly from Cuba, and she likely speaks both English and Spanish, something Brian berates her for. Along with that, Maria suffers from mental illness and faces money pressures to support the family, which includes a younger sister Selina doesn't have in the film named Maggie Kyle. Unfortunately, Maria dies by suicide when Selina is very young, and she is the one to discover her.
In the aftermath of her mother's death, Selina's father turns to drinking and she is eventually separated from her sister, leading to her growing up on the street and taking up thievery. Luckily, Selina holds on to one connection to her mother in the form of gymnastics, which her mother enrolls her in before her death. Selina exhibits a natural skill for gymnastics and it clearly helps her later on once she becomes Catwoman. In the comics, there's also a rumor that Carmine Falcone and his wife Louisa Falcone are Selina's real parents, though it's never confirmed, and of course, the film makes it clear that Falcone is at least her father. Relating to that, the comics don't show if or how Maria and Falcone could've crossed paths, although their connection is a major focus of Selina's story in "The Batman."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).