Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, is a DC Comics series published under the Elseworlds imprint based on the premise of what Gotham would be like if Selina Kyle, not Bruce Wayne, had become its masked vigilante protector.
Examples:
- Action Girl: Catwoman, as always, except she’s a hero through and through unlike her Anti-Heroic main counterpart.
- Adaptational Name Change: As a result of Catwoman being in Batman's place, her parents are Thomas and Martha Kyle instead of Brian and Maria.
- Adaptational Villainy: In a world where Catwoman and Batman have switched places, with the former becoming a vigilante superhero after her wealthy parents were killed, you'd think Batman would just be some handsome Gentleman Thief who often flirts with the female protagonist... instead he's more of a deranged Serial Killer who murders the Joker in his first scene before offing the rest of Catwoman's Rogues Gallery to prevent them from stealing his spotlight. He's also revealed to be the one to have killed Selina Kyle's parents For the Evulz. The whole Dating Catwoman angle is invoked when Bruce seduces and marries Selina, then murders her best friend before trying to kill her as well.
- Babies Ever After: The story ends with Selina visiting her parents' grave, telling them they're going to be grandparents.Selina: (in tears) It's a girl.
- Bat Signal: Of course, Catwoman's superhero signal features a snarling cat.
- Combat Stilettos: The heels on Catwoman's thigh-high boots are very pointy.
- The Commissioner Gordon: Commissioner James Gordon, obviously. Only here he's an ally of Catwoman.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Not crazy, but Selina does have a bunch of cats in the Catcave. Then again, going around dressed up like a sexy cat lady beating up criminals isn't exactly sane.
- Crimefighting with Cash: Selina lives in a huge villa with all the crime-fighting gadgets money could buy, much like the regular Bruce Wayne. The dozens of cats she hoards are new, though.
- Darker and Edgier: Most of the Bat rogues here are much more psychotic and murderous than their mainstream counterparts.
- Dating Catwoman: Inverted. Selina dates and marries Bruce thinking that he's a handsome, good-hearted man, and feels nothing but utter revulsion towards the psychotic Batman. Too bad they happen to be the same person.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Batman is portrayed as criminally insane and doubtless would have ended up in Arkham had he survived the story.
- Dressed Like a Dominatrix:
- This Catwoman's suit is even more dominatrix-like than her mainstream counterpart's at the time, with belts and chains on top of her latex catsuit.
- The comic's version of Two-Face is dressed like this on half of her body, with the other half consisting of a short-skirted suit.
- Faux Action Girl: Catwoman spends a lot more time posing sexily than actually fighting. When she does fight, she displays remarkably little skill for the person who's supposedly a hero with years of experience. She's badly outmatched by Batman when they actually do fight.
- French Maid: Where Batman has Alfred, a loyal Battle Butler who acts as Mission Control and patches his wounds, Catwoman had Brooks, a maid whose main purpose seems to be sexing up the story by wearing a skimpy French Maid Outfit, vaguely dusting the mansion while in suggestive poses, and encouraging Selina to get laid.
- Gender Flip:
- While most of Catwoman's Rogues Gallery is the same as Batman's, this version of Two-Face is a woman named Darcy Dent, a former supermodel-turned-supervillain who went on a murder spree after half of her face was mutilated by corrosive makeup. She also carries the same "split clothes" look as Harvey Dent, one half a business suit, the other half a leather dominatrix outfit.
- Brooks is a mild example for Alfred Pennyworth, who largely serves in the role as Selina's personal confidant and housekeeper, but instead of a stuffy butler, she's a playful and very scantily-dressed maid. Unlike Alfred, she doesn't seem to have any longstanding loyalty to Selina's family in the way Alfred had with the Waynes — she knows that Selina is Catwoman, but she doesn't appear to know why.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Selina and Brooks.
- Hotter and Sexier: Quite a few of the gender-flipped characters are also sexed-up quite a bit. Two-Face, for example, maintains the facial disfigurement of her mainstream counterpart, but her outfit is half of a (rather skimpy) suit and half extremely Stripperiffic bondage gear. One can't help but wonder how the outfit even stays in place.
- Make Way for the New Villains: Catwoman is chasing the Joker when she finds that he's already been murdered by the real Big Bad: Batman himself.
- Male Gaze: Catwoman spends much of her time imitating stripper poses.Linkara: Okay, if you want to draw porn, why don't you just draw porn?note
- Marrying the Mark: Batman himself is a depraved supervillain who discovers that Catwoman's Secret Identity is Selina Kyle. He woos her in his public persona as Bruce Wayne and even marries her, just so he could gloat about how she never suspected a thing when he decides to finally drop the act and kill her.
- Monster Clown: The Joker appears in one scene, just as laughably crazy and murderous as ever, and additionally accompanied by a gang of clown-themed thugs (bonus points to the one with cream pies with spikes in them).Goon: Slapstick heaven, boys! Grab a stick and start slappin'!
- Mythology Gag: Selina and Bruce got married, and she's giving birth to his daughter, just like their Earth-Two counterparts.
- Present Company Excluded: While Catwoman and Commissioner Gordon discuss about Batman.Gordon: Sounds like some new self-appointed vigilante, maybe out to steal your thunder.
Catwoman: Vigilante, Commisioner Gordon? His victims were hardly choirboys, but he's still a ruthless killer.
Gordon: I didn't say a vigilante was a good thing, Catwoman... present company excepted, of course. - Red Eyes, Take Warning: The eyes on the evil Batman's suit are always blood red.
- Role Called: Catwoman, Guardian of Gotham
- Shout-Out: In place of a Zorro movie that's usually the place of origin for the death of Bruce Wayne's parents, Selina Kyle and her family were off to see the movie Cat People.
- Stocking Filler: Brooks wears fishnet stockings as part of her French Maid Outfit.
- Swapped Roles: Subverted. Selina is given Bruce Wayne's background and character development from an orphaned heir to a business empire into a costumed vigilante crime fighter, but Bruce himself is rather unlike the canon Selina, instead being an Ax-Crazy lunatic who murdered Selina's parents and later starts a killing spree to get her attention.
- Tears of Joy: Brooks, happy for the wedded Selina.
