To Catch a Thief

After 70 years of shape-shifting, a Catwoman for the 99%

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Ron Phillips/(c) 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in Dark Knight Rises.

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So it's possible that the forbidden fantasy Hathaway's Selina Kyle embodies isn't just sexual but economic. She's a formidable fighter and a smoldering beauty, but more important, she has figured out how to infiltrate the upper class. There's probably nothing she could wear in 2012 that would have the same effect on her audience that Newmar's and Pfeiffer's fetishy Catwoman outfits did on theirs, but by contemporary standards, her outfit in The Dark Knight Rises is sexy because it's utilitarian. This Selina's stylishness arises from her hypercompetence and flexibility, rather than from her love of luxury. Rising up from poverty by taking advantage of the foolish superrich--that's pretty hot.

FOR 10 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT BATMAN, GO TO time.com/batman

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