With Superman Vs. Batman coming out in March, with a cameo from Wonder Woman hopefully hinting at Justice League movies in the near future, I wanted to highlight a woman who made me the DC comic stan you see today. Her name is Eartha Kitt, and if you don’t know who she is, here are five fun facts to bring you up to speed.
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Her mother was half black and half Cherokee while her father was Dutch and German
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She spoke four languages fluently, but she sang in seven
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She was an international entertainer, working with Katherine Dunham’s dance troupe
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She was nominated for 3 Tonys, 2 Emmys and 2 Grammys
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She played Catwoman in the 1960s Batman
Growing up, my dad was a huge Batman fan. I saw all the movies, all of the tv shows (live-action and animated) and all of the animated spin-offs (Justice League, Teen Titans, Batman Beyond etc.). I fell in love with the Batman franchise and began to read the comics on my own during high school. Comics helped me to branch off into other superheros in both the DC and Marvel universes and began to admire other heroes as well. My love of comics became frustrating later because I wanted to dress like my favorite characters. There were very few characters who were my color, my height and my shape. It made me self conscious to dress like my heroes on Halloween or to special events like Comic Con. I just wanted a superhero that looked like me.
Then one day, I walked into the living room and saw my dad watching the old Batman tv show. I usually avoided the 1960s Batman simply because the sound effects and visual effects were quite lacking. I couldn’t take it seriously. But in this episode, I saw a black woman and I froze. Immediately I asked my dad what character she was and when he said Catwoman, I couldn’t believe my ears. To me, Catwoman was the ultimate villain/hero crossover. She danced on the side of right and wrong, that kicked butt in sexy costumes. Her undeniable wit and charm made her both a potential love interest and evenly matched foe for the Batman.
To see Catwoman, such an iconic character in the Batman universe, played by a 5’4 black woman was inspiring to me. Eartha Kitt wasn’t playing a character, she was Catwoman.
Her personality, her features, her swagger all made her acting all the more believable. I didn’t follow Eartha Kitt’s music or other movies, but her role as Catwoman changed the way I saw myself. I could be smart, mysterious, sexy and kick-butt all at the same time.
As comic books continue to include more diversity, I hope to see that upcoming movies and television series reflect these changes as well. I look forward to the next generation of Eartha Kitt’s who don’t just play characters of color, they embody them.
Happy Black History Month!