Western Animation / Catwoman: Hunted

An original 2022 animated film by Greg Weisman featuring Catwoman as she ends up targeted by the international crime organization Leviathan after she steals a priceless jewel.

Starring Elizabeth Gillies as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Stephanie Beatriz as Kate Kane/Batwoman.

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Tropes in this film:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: While the film is mostly 2D, there are quite a few 3D effects. This is most noticeable in the car Chase Scene, where the vehicles are in 3D.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Kate is more Comically Serious and more easily flustered by flirting than her counterpart in the comics. In the source material, she has a more regular dry sense of humor and generally acts as The Charmer in flirtatious situations (and holds her own in such exchanges if she's not the one to initiate).
• Adaptational Badass: While in the comics Catwoman is a Badass Normal, she's not a particularly deadly fighter, even in Batman's Rogues Gallery. In this film, she takes on several villains that are considered much stronger or better fighters than she in the comics, and all in the same night, with limited assistance from Batwoman.
• Adaptational Job Change: Julia Pennyworth is an Interpol agent here, while in the comics she was part of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment of the British Army.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: In the comics, Tzin-Tzin was a Master of Illusion. Here, he can create monsters out of nothing using some test tubes.
• Affectionate Nickname: Selina gets annoyed when Kate calls her "Cat", as that's what Bruce does. Despite, you know, having a cat-motif that she constantly lampshades, as Kate points out.
• And the Adventure Continues: The movie ends with Selina traveling back to Gotham...via England to commit more heists to fund the victims of Leviathan's human trafficking.
• Animal-Eared Headband: When Cheetah derides her as just a cat burglar in a Cheap Costume with cute kitten ears, Selina agrees that she finds the ears cute.
• Animesque: The movie has a very distinct anime look courtesy of OLM Incorporated, with both a Japanese director and music composer.
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?:
  • When Selina drops a strong hint on who the real mastermind behind Leviathan is, King Faraday thinks she means...Harley Quinn! Selina just gives up and does a Stealth Hi/Bye.
  • Confronted by armed goons Selina and Kate leap into action...with Selina running away while Kate charges them and starts throwing punches. They both realise they have a slightly different fighting style.
• Arc Words: "Catfight? Catfight."
• Armed Legs: Catwoman's boots are both equipped with blades, which she uses to stab Tobias Whale when he has her trapped in a Bear Hug. It helps she's flexible so her legs can stab in several places such as his shoulders and knees.
• Always Someone Better: When facing Oyabun Noguri, he boasts that he trained under a sensei who studied under Lady Shiva herself. Catwoman boasts that she was actually trained by Lady Shiva. Cue an Oh, Crap! moment right before she whoops his ass without missing a beat.
• Amazonian Beauty: Barbara becomes this in her Cheetah form - she's a towering Lightning Bruiser with the musculature you'd expect of a villain with Super-Strength, but she's no less attractive than any other depiction of her.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Catwoman and Batwoman get into this position right before fighting the Leviathan bosses.
• Badass Normal: Catwoman, Batwoman, Julia Pennyworth, and King Faraday are all normal humans going against super-criminals who have magic, crazy science, or power suits.
• Bad Boss: When Batwoman has one of Black Mask's goons in a chokehold to use him as a Human Shield, Sionis simply shoots him to get him out of the way.
• Bathtub Scene: Catwoman decides to take a bath in the plane just before she and Batwoman infiltrate Leviathan's meeting. Selina also takes advantage of the opportunity to act like The Tease to Kate about it, mostly so she can get close enough to steal Kate's phone and talk to Holly. The ensuing phone conversation does have a Male Gaze shot of Selina in the tub, kicking her legs up, but she's mostly covered by Censor Suds.
• Bat People: Unlike Batwoman, Nosferata is an actual humanoid woman-bat.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Selina and Kate have almost as much sexual tension as Selina and Bruce do.
• Beneath the Mask: A literal version. Batwoman has the curt stoicism of her Spear Counterpart when dealing with Catwoman, but once the police have left Selina starts flirting with her and lifts off Kate's mask and wig to reveal her Luminescent Blush and Deer in the Headlights look.
• Beast Man: Barbara Minerva can turn into her Cheetah form at will. As the name suggests, she's no housecat, but a muscle-bound Lightning Bruiser predator.
• Berserk Button: Batwoman manages to successfully break Selina's aloofness by addressing her as "cat", something reserved only for Batman.
• Body-Count Competition: Selina and Kate engage in a non-fatal competition to determine who can beat the larger number of ninjas at Eiffel Tower. Catwoman claims victory, Batwoman objects that two of Catwoman's count were brought down by her cat Isis.
• Bound and Gagged: Batwoman throws a sticky bomb at La Dama's mouth in order to stop her from giving orders to the demons she summoned.
• Blatant Lies: After Barbara transforms into her Cheetah form, Selina tries to convince her that Isis is an ancient Egyptian goddess who can turn her into a literal catwoman. Isis is busy licking her nether regions at the time, so doesn't quite sell the illusion.
• Broad Strokes: Writer Greg Weisman describes this movie as being canon-adjacent to Young Justice (2010), just like DC Showcase: Green Arrow. Meaning that except where stated otherwise, a similar version of the movie's events did occur in the Young Justice universe.
• The Caper: The first act of the movie has Catwoman stealing Black Mask's diamond (his entry fee to Leviathan) from Minerva's vault.
• Casting Gag: This isn't the first time that Keith David has played an albino criminal with super strength in a project made by Greg Weisman. He previously played Tobias Whale's Alternate Company Equivalent, Lincoln March/Tombstone for a single episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• Cat Fight: Lampshaded whenever Catwoman is confronted by a female supervillain with a feline motif.
  Catwoman: I'm a jewel thief. I came here to steal the jewel.
  Cheshire: And I'm a League of Shadows assassin. I came here to kill the jewel thief.
  Catwoman: You came here to try.
  Cheshire: Cat fight?
  Catwoman: Cat fight! (they fight)
  • Later when Barbara Minerva transforms into her more powerful Cheetah form...
  Catwoman: Cat fight?
  Cheetah: (Slasher Smile) BIG catfight!
• Cats Are Snarkers: Catwoman is a quip machine the entire movie. Cheshire and Cheetah also have their moments of snark.
• Chase Scene: After Catwoman steals Black Mask's diamond, she flees from the party, which leads to a car chase sequence with Tobias Whale and his goons pursuing Selina in vehicles. It ends with Batwoman interfering with her bike and kidnapping Selina for her own plans with Interpol.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: By far the least threatening opponents Catwoman and Batwoman face are an army of 52 League of Shadow ninjas. They're so unthreatening, Selina and Kate get into a petty Body-Count Competition while fighting them. It's lampshaded by Talia and Minerva who are watching the battle from afar.
  Talia al Ghul: They simply do not make ninja like they used to.
• Convenient Decoy Cat: An Invoked Trope when Selina sends out Isis to trip the motion sensors so the guards will turn them off to prevent false alarms, relying on the cameras which Selina just uses Camera Spoofing on.
• Cool Car: Befitting her nature, Selina drives a purple Jaguar E-Type, which she uses for the car chase.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Just like her The New 52 appearance, Amparo Cárdenas has blue hair and blue eyes.
• Cute Kitten: Isis, Selina's pet cat and partner.
• Dating Catwoman: Not only is Selina still holding a torch for Bruce Wayne, she flirts with both Kate Kane and King Faraday, both of whom are noticeably flustered by her teasing.
• Deadpan Snarker: Catwoman keeps snarking through the whole movie, even when she's alone and there's nobody to hear her quips.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Selina deliberately flirts with and teases Kate to lower her guard and take her Batphone so she can make a private call.
• Dodge by Braking: A rare example by a car, as this is Catwoman's response to two of Tobias's vehicles trying to pincer her in. She sends one of them off a cliff in the process.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Barbara Minerva seems to handle all the day-to-day operations of Leviathan and presents herself as the actual leader of Leviathan, with her status as The Dragon to Talia al Ghul being hidden. Interpol and Batwoman wholly believe Barbara is the actual leader of Leviathan and only Catwoman seems aware that Talia is the real Big Bad.
• Dumb Muscle: The demons Abaddon and Morax are huge and strong but not very bright. Batwoman is able to easily trick them into going back where they came from by gagging La Dama and pretending she's giving them orders to do so.
• Dynamic Entry: Batwoman does it to save Selina from Cheshire.
• Elevator Snare: In one scene, Catwoman is being chased by Cheetah. She flees into a construction site's service elevator, only to see Cheetah climbing the outside of the elevator cage as fast as she is ascending.
• Enemy Summoner: Dr. Tzin uses some test tubes to create a couple of monsters our of seemingly nothing, while La Dama uses magic to summon two demons.
• Evil Counterpart: Invoked by Cheshire, who brings along Nosferata for backup against Batwoman's inevitable Big Damn Heroes during her fight with Catwoman.
• Evil Old Folks: Boss Moxie Mannheim is an old man and the ruthless head of Intergang.
• Final Battle-Induced Shirt Loss: For his second and final showdown with Catwoman, Tobias Whale tears off his shirt.
• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: To infiltrate Minerva's party, Selina disguises herself with her Bronze Age Catwoman costume.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Due to Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing, Cheetah's technically naked the entire time she fights Catwoman, but Animals Lack Attributes is in full effect.
• The Ghost: Batman and The Penguin are mentioned but don't appear. Holly Robinson, Selina's partner, also doesn't show up, only being mentioned by Selina while talking on the phone. Superman and Wonder Woman are also only mentioned, with no physical appearance from either one.
• Gory Discretion Shot: We don't see the exact moment when Cheetah falls onto the construction spikes, only the aftermath of her impaled silhouette.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Talia al Ghul is the true head of Leviathan and the one who hired the assassins to go after Catwoman.
• Groin Attack: This is how Selina finally takes down Tobias Whale after he refuses to go down.
• Guile Hero: La Dama summons a pair of gigantic demons during the penultimate battle. Batwoman removes them by gagging La Dama with a sticky bomb. When the demons can no longer understand what their mistress is saying, Batwoman tells them that La Dama has ordered the demons to return to their realm. The demons are dumb enough to believe this and do just that.
• Has a Type: During the party and later in certain interactions, it's made clear that Selina has a thing for anyone who dresses like Batman even in the remotest sense. It doesn't matter if someone's a fat unattractive man in a bad Batman costume, an attractive woman in a vaguely Batman themed dress, or the literal Distaff Counterpart of Batman, she expresses being attracted towards them in some form or another even if it's just to be a tease about it. All of which of course clearly stems from Selina still holding a candle for Bruce.
• Head-Turning Beauty: Selina is very attractive, and she gets a reaction from Black Mask and his goons when they first see her outside Minerva's manor. She takes advantage of this and uses him to escort her in.
• The Heavy: While Cheetah is only The Dragon to Talia al Ghul, she's by all purposes the main antagonist that Catwoman and Batwoman are after for the whole movie, while Talia remains The Unfought.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: In her brief appearances Talia al Ghul always has her right eye covered by her hair.
• Human Traffickers: One of the many criminal businesses Leviathan is involved with, but the one Catwoman finds particularly repugnant.
• Human Weapon: After the Bat and the Cat defeat their ninjas, the League shove Solomon Grundy, bound up in a crate, out of the helicopter like some kind of bomb. He's no less devastating.
• Hurricane of Puns: Catwoman overdoes her cat puns and Animal Motifs to the point that even Batwoman is annoyed, though as the former points out she's hardly in a position to criticize. The presence of two other cat-themed villains doesn't help matters.
• I Have Your Wife: Played for Laughs
  Catwoman: (floating down on a parafoil) Now that I'm out of the plane, what makes you think I'm not going to bail on this whole endeavour?
  Batwoman: Well...I have your cat.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: One of the attendees at the costume party tries shooting at Selina, but is an awful shot. Good thing for everyone else, since they fire wildly with a machine gun, yet seem somehow unable to hit a single living target.
• Implacable Man: Solomon Grundy will stop at nothing to get his target. Even Catwoman knows it, so she takes advantage of Grundy's Resurrective Immortality to put him out of commission.
• Inertial Impalement: Cheetah is defeated when Catwoman drops her into some construction spikes, which impale her in a Gory Discretion Shot. Cheetah's tough enough that she actually survived the ordeal. She's seen being arrested at the end, albeit still unconscious.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Mr. Yakuza and his bodyguards all wield katanas, not that they help them much against Catwoman.
• Laser Hallway: A cube version that Selina reveals by blowing powder on it, and somehow infiltrates by leaping down from the ceiling and falling in just the right way.
• Leg Focus: During her Bathtub Scene, one shot shows Catwoman stretching her legs out of the water while Isis walks around the tub's border.
• Logo Joke: To go with the anime feel of the movie, the logos are in an orange clouds background. The subtitles for Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics are in Japanese.
• Lovely Angels: Catwoman and Batwoman spent most of the movie fighting together.
• The Man Behind the Man: Talia al Ghul is the real leader of Leviathan, and she considers Minerva merely as her 'patsy'.
• Mad Doctor: The first thing Dr. Tzin says to Black Mask is that he would love to "pick his brain". For what reason? He'll come up with one later.
• Master Poisoner: Cheshire uses jellyfish in her weapons and mentions she makes them herself. She used the same trick in the first season of Young Justice (2010). Unfortunately for her, Catwoman expected this and built up an immunity.
• Ms. Fanservice: Catwoman, par the course, who's incredibly curvaceous, has a noticeable bust, and wears a very nice Spy Catsuit to compliment her figure. She's quick to exploit this, first using her attractiveness to get Black Mask into letting her into the masquerade party, then swiping Kate's phone while warming up a bath and dropping her towel in front of a very flustered Kate, who loses focus for the only time in the film and almost joins her in the bath.
• Mook Chivalry: Particularly noticeable in Catwoman and Batwoman's fight against the Leviathan crime bosses and their goons, with every villain or goon seemingly just standing still and waiting their turn to attack.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Catwoman and Batwoman fight 52 ninjas in Paris. 52 is the series where Kate Kane debuted, and 52 in general is an Arc Number for DC Comics. They also count exactly 16 ninjas on-screen, which is a recurring number in Young Justice, set on Earth-16.
  • Black Mask's lieutenant has the codename Number One and ends up being killed by his boss. In The Batman, Black Mask also has a Number One that usually dies and is replaced by a new Number One.
  • Catwoman wears one of her early Golden Age costumes to the masquerade party.
• Named by the Adaptation: In a rare case where a character with (part of) an already revealed real name gets an alias instead of the other way around, Oyabun Noguri, one of the yakuza involved in the origin of Katana, is given the codename of "Mr. Yakuza."
• Never Recycle Your Schemes: Since Catwoman knew Cheshire used jellyfish poison for her weapons, she deliberately built an immunity to it. Cheshire admits she should use different toxins.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Catwoman and Cheshire both reference a time that they fought some time in the past, where Catwoman almost succumbed to the jellyfish toxin Cheshire coats her weapons with.
  • Cheetah mentions she had a run-in with Wonder Woman at least once before, and her cheetah form came as something of a surprise to Diana.
• Not So Above It All: Despite Kate trying to remain aloof, she can't help but blush when Selina flirts with her. And when she drops her bath towel, Kate's very tempted to join her.
• Not What I Signed Up For: Said so by Catwoman when she sees Dr. Tzin summoning two monsters and La Dama does the same with two demons. One of Black Mask's goons says the same.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Mr. Noguri's reaction when Catwoman reveals she was trained in swordsmanship by Lady Shiva herself. She then proceeds to kick his ass.
  • Also La Dama's reaction when Batwoman gags her and sends her demons back to their realm, leaving her defenseless. Kate immediately punches her lights out.
• The One Guy: While not the only male in the movie, King Faraday is the only named male who is on team Interpol, since all others are nameless.
• Pet the Dog: Minerva makes a point not to harm Catwoman's pet cat Isis even after Isis claws her face, possibly because she has an affinity for cats as a Cat Girl herself.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Tobias refuses to shoot Catwoman during the car chase, which he angrily points out to his goons that shooting her could risk sending the car—and thus the Cat's Eye Emerald—off the cliff and into the ocean. Only when they're away from the cliff does he pull out his weapons.
• Primal Stance: Cheetah hunches forward while standing on on two legs. Justified due to her legs having shifted to be much more feline and giving her a digigrade stance as a result.
• Pointy Ears: Barbara Minerva has noticeable pointy ears, the only hint to her nature as Cheetah in her human form.
• Powered Armor: Boss Moxie and his goons all use powered armors.
• The Queenpin: The leader of the international crime syndicate Leviathan is the female Barbara Minerva. Technically Talia is the real leader in the shadows, but it still qualifies as a Queenpin being the Leviathan leader.
• Race Lift: In the comics, Dr. Tzin-Tzin was a white man raised by Chinese bandits who pretended to be Chinese. Here, he's actually Chinese.
• Religion of Evil: Cheetah mentions her cheetah-powers come from one her mother belonged to.
• The Resenter: At the end of the film, Talia al Ghul mentions Catwoman foiling her plans for Leviathan is just another reason for her to hate Selina, implying something else happened in the past between them. Given Talia and Selina's shared history of being Batman's Love Interests, it's likely something concerning him.
• Resolved Noodle Incident: Characters mention many times a Leviathan operation in Sochi that went under, much to Minerva's frustration, but we never hear much about it. Near the end. Catwoman reveals to Minerva she was the one who destroyed Leviathan's operation in Sochi, revealing she had beef with Leviathan even before Interpol got involved. Closer to the end, we discover that “Sochi” refers to the Russian human trafficking operation that we see Catwoman taking apart in the very opening credits of the film.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Catwoman and Batwoman end up facing enemies who aren't part of their usual rogues galleries; Cheetah (Wonder Woman), Tobias Whale (Black Lightning and Batman), Nosferata (Superboy), Cheshire (Teen Titans and Green Arrow), Boss Moxie Mannheim (Superman), Dr. Tzin (Batman and Peacemaker), La Dama (Blue Beetle), and Mr. Yakuza (The Outsiders). Black Mask is the only villain who is well known for facing against Catwoman, and ironically this movie seems to be their first meeting.
• Running on All Fours: Barbara in her Cheetah form runs using all her form limbs, likely to illustrate how animalistic she is now.
• Sequel Hook: Talia Ah Ghul isn't happy with Selina's actions in the movie, and it's implied the two will meet very soon.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Isis has a Running Gag of abandoning Selina when things look bad. Selina points out that only means the cat is smarter than they are.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: When Barbara Minerva shifts into her Cheetah form, the red suit she's wearing gets torn to shreds, due to the Cheetah form being significantly larger.
• Sharp-Dressed Man:
  • Barbara Minerva wears a sharp red suit for most of the movie.
  • Black Mask and his goons are all Villain in a White Suit.
  • Mr. Yakuza and his goons are also wearing sharp suits.
• Shoulders-Up Nudity: After Catwoman drops her Modesty Towel to tease Batwoman, we only see Selina from the shoulders up.
• Shout-Out:
  • The filmmakers cite Lupin III as an influence on the feature, with Selina being an Expy of Femme Fatale Fujiko Mine. The opening titles feature artwork and music styled on the Woman Called Fujiko Mine series.
  • "You ever tried catching a cat on a hot tiled roof?"
• Smug Smiler: Barbara Minerva's most common facial expression is a smug grin or smile. In her Cheetah form, it comes across more as a Slasher Smile.
• Spy Catsuit: The uniform Catwoman uses for most of the film is basically one.
• The Syndicate: Leviathan is an international crime organization led by several super-villains, with Julia Pennyworth claiming they're richer than many countries.
• Team Member in the Adaptation: Talia is the only member from the Leviathan of the comics to appear. The Cheetah, Black Mask, La Dama, Oyabun Noguri (given the codename "Mr. Yakuza" here), Dr. Tzin, and Moxie Mannheim had nothing to do with it in the comics.
• Toplessness from the Back: When Catwoman is entering the tub for her Bathtub Scene, we only see her bare back and Sideboob.
• Villain in a White Suit: As usual for the character, Black Mask wears a fancy white suit, and his goons also wear them.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: Catwoman blacks out shortly after Batwoman captured her. When she next wakes up, she's on board a plane, and under Interpol's custody.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Catwoman had apparently promised someone (presumably Batman) that she wouldn't kill, but that doesn't stop a carload of mooks in the chase scene from demonstrating that Every Car Is a Pinto when they go off a cliff. Though Catwoman implies she's not above doing the Exact Words version, as she interprets it as not directly causing someone's death.

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