The Purr‑fect Crime / Better Luck Next Time
We’re picking an episode here from later in series one. Episodes 19 and 20 introduce us to the iconic villain Catwoman, played here purr‑fectly by Julie Newmar.
Considering how iconic Catwoman would become as a character, it’s a tad surprising she appears so late in the season. She doesn’t actually have the honour of being the first female villain in the series — that goes to Zelda the Great. That episode was an adaptation of Detective Comics #346, Batman’s Inescapable Death Trap. A gentle reminder that Batman ’66 is truer to its comic roots than people give it credit for.
Much as we saw with the Riddler in the opener, most of what we know as Catwoman is already here. The look Newmar uses would be replicated in the comics, and later paid heavy homage in The Dark Knight Rises. It’s far from the only time we see Batman ’66 leave fingerprints on the more modern Dark Knight incarnation. Even the catsuit itself originated here.
There are a lot more cat puns in these episodes — most of which went over my head as a child. There’s a line from Catwoman to her henchman… I’m not going to spoil it, but take a look at the episode. It’s another one of those two‑level jokes that fly past kids but raise a smile with adults.
This story also breaks with the traditional Batman ’66 narrative. It has a cliffhanger fake‑out — the wall with spikes. It’s not the first episode to do this; another tier‑A villain we’ll look at later uses a similar pattern.
Have I convinced you of this series’ legacy yet? What if I told you that the next story featured was originally written for the ’66 TV series, then adapted in 1992 as part of the Batman movie often voted the best of the entire franchise.