Batman Movie Villains: 7 Perfect Performances & 7 That Sucked

3. Michelle Pfeiffer - Catwoman (Batman Returns)

Like Batman Returns' Penguin, Catwoman is another oddity perfectly suited to Tim Burton's take on the material. She's slightly supernatural, bursts out of a cocoon of one of Gotham's forgotten "freaks" and she wears her oddity as boldly as she does her S&M-infused costume.

But no matter how great her look or how well Burton packages her origin, without Michelle Pfeiffer's simmering take on the character, it wouldn't work nearly as well. She's part Eartha Kitt, part Basic Instinct, part Elvira - a heady concoction of teased, empowered sexuality and vicious undercurrents of malice. You know, just like a real cat.

She's never cartoonish, shows the power of restraint where there's potential for over-performance and is easily Tim Burton's finest creation in this universe.