Catwoman

The Black Cat is also a feline-themed thief, although she eventually reformed (but still commits the occasional theft) and became Spider-Man's partner and lover for a time. The following fictional characters appear to have been, at least in part, patterned after Hughes:. Marvel Comics' Black Cat, as initially seen in The Amazing Spider-Man, was originally intended to be a homage to Catwoman, although she eventually developed in a much different direction. Although Moore never produced proof of a marriage (and married five more times, while Hughes married Jean Peters), her book, The Beauty and the Billionaire, became a best-seller. One of the recurring villains in the cartoon Xiaolin Showdown was called "Kat-nappe," and was similar to Catwoman in appearance. In 1984, Hughes' estate paid an undisclosed amount to Terry Moore, who claimed to have been secretly married to Hughes on a yacht in international waters off Mexico in 1949 and never divorced. Another blond Catwoman, her costume and history appeared to be based on the Batman Returns version of the character. Suits brought by the states of California and Texas claiming they were owed inheritance tax were both rejected by the court.

Catwoman was portrayed by Maggie Baird. Supreme Court ruled that Hughes Aircraft was owned by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who sold it to General Motors in 1985 for $5 billion. Selina Kyle appeared briefly (and was killed off) in the first episode of the short-lived 2002 television series Birds of Prey, which featured Catwoman's daughter by Batman, the Huntress. The U.S. In the TV movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, Julia Rose appeared as Catwoman and the young Julie Newmar. Although it now appears that the "Mormon Will" may very well have been authentic, it is too late to change the verdict in the original trial since the statute of limitations has long since expired. Halle Berry won the 2005 Razzie award for worst actress in a film for her role as Catwoman, and collected it in person; only the second Razzie 'winner' to have done so. The location where Dummar claimed to have picked up Hughes is 6 miles south of the Cottontail Ranch.

The movie became a box-office failure, and was panned by critics & fans alike. Howard Harrell stated that he convinced his wife not to come forward during the trial since it might bring unwanted publicity. In addition, the original "Catwoman" outfit that Patience wears when she robs a jewelry store is patterned after the "Catwoman" outfit worn by Eartha Kitt in the 1960s "Batman" tv series. Beverly Harrell had wanted to come forward during the "Mormon Will" trial, and testify that Howard Hughes had been in the same general area and same time that Dummar claimed to have picked him up in the desert. Ophelia Powers then throws photos of previous catwomen down to her, and one can clearly see a picture of Michelle Pfeiffer's "Batman Returns" version of the character, which hints that either there is some link between Patience Phillips and Selina Kyle, or that it was done as a means of paying homage to the original character. Howard Harrell stated that his wife had told him of Hughes' visits to the Cottontail Ranch. In the scene where Patience is told of the history of the Catwomen, she is pushed off the balcony and lands in the living room floor. The third witness is Howard Harrell, the widower of Madam Beverly Harrell, who ran the Cottontail Ranch in 1967.

The film was heavily criticized by both film critics and fans of the comic book character and was a failure in the box office, losing the producers far more money than it earned. Unable to locate Hughes, Deiro eventually flew back to Las Vegas alone, and learned later that Hughes somehow had made it back to the Desert Inn. Though Phillips has the same skills as the villain version of Catwoman, the film's story has nothing to do with Batman (who isn't mentioned during the film). While waiting for Hughes, Deiro fell asleep and later awoke only to learn that Hughes had left the Cottontail Ranch a few hours earlier. The movie alludes to other women in the past who have been granted such cat- like abilities. Guido Roberto Deiro, a former pilot for Hughes Tool Company, stated that between Christmas and New Years during 1967 he flew Hughes in a Cessna 206 to a brothel called the Cottontail Ranch located in the same general area where Dummar claims to have picked up Hughes. Patience had gained the powers from the goddess Bastet, through a gathering of cats lead by an Egyptian Mau. John Meier, a former Hughes employee entrusted with the purchase of various mining properties, stated that Hughes left the Desert Inn Hotel on different occasions to visit mine sites in the same general area where Dummar claims to have picked up Hughes.

This film's Catwoman bore nearly no resemblance to the comic version, besides sharing the name "Catwoman." In the film, Berry played Patience Phillips, a woman who eventually became Catwoman, a hero with supernatural cat-like powers, after a near death experience. Agent Gary Magnesen, supports Dummar's claims and brings to light three new witnesses. In 2004, Catwoman, a movie, starring Halle Berry as Catwoman. A 2005 book titled "The Investigation", written by retired F.B.I. While many viewers and critics enjoyed the richness and complexity of the character, not to mention the way Pfeiffer looked and acted in the heavy makeup and the shiny black costume, fans of the original comic books disliked the notorious alterations and considered not only the character but the entire film to be more Tim Burton than Batman. Melvin and Howard starring Jason Robards and Paul Le Mat is based on Dummar's tale. you've kind of a dark side, don't you?", to which she answers, "Not darker than yours, Bruce"), and this relationship seems to be Selina's only grip on sanity as her mental state seems to deteriorate (along with her costume, which is actually a metaphor of her) throughout the movie - now unrepressed thanks to her nightly alter-ego, the rage and resentment of her dark side are actually starting to destroy her. The estate was eventually split between 22 cousins in 1983.

behind the Cat"), just as Bruce Wayne finds a reflection of himself in Selina ("You.. The Mormon Will was one of 40 "wills" filed by 400 people claiming to be Hughes's heirs. the woman.. He claimed a "mysterious man" gave him a document with instructions to deposit it at the LDS office. Accordingly with the film's interest in the schizophrenic aspects of its characters, Catwoman finds a reflection of herself in Batman ("Who are you?", she asks him, "Who's the man behind the Bat? Maybe you can help me find.. After saying he knew nothing about the Mormon Will, mounting evidence forced Dummar to admit that he lied. She is at the same time a feminist version of Batman, defending meek damsels in distress - exactly what she was at the beginning of the film, and probably during most of her life - but insulting them for being so, and a terrorist of sorts, blowing up an entire floor of Shreck's department store and ultimately seeking to kill him. The court also declared Hughes died intestate.

Mysteriously given new life by alley cats (in a memorable Burton-esque scene) after her corrupt boss apparently kills her, her repressed rage and sexuality - and, as one could argue, some sort of mystic feline influence as well - create Catwoman, an extreme version of everything she was never allowed - by both society and herself - to be: a loveable rogue, a sexual predator and a powerful woman. The Mormon Will was rejected by a Nevada court in June 1978 as a forgery. Behind this cartoonish and rather stereotypical character, however, lies a shattered soul filled with frustration and self-loathing who only needs - and quite literally gets - a little push to break into insanity. Dropping him off at the Sands Hotel, Dummar said the man told him he was Hughes. As recreated by Daniel Waters and Tim Burton, Selina Kyle is a beautiful but shy and clumsy young woman who always says the wrong thing, thinks aloud, frequently insults herself and works as the harassed secretary of evil tycoon Max Shreck. The man asked for a ride to Las Vegas. Catwoman was played by Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1992 movie Batman Returns. Highway 95, 150 miles (250 kilometers) north of Las Vegas.

Catwoman was voiced by a different actress, Gina Gershon, in the 2000s series The Batman. Dummar, who had appeared on Let's Make a Deal, among other game shows, claimed to reporters that late one evening in December 1967, he found a disheveled and dirty man lying along U.S. Whether her hair was dyed or her natural color was never made clear. The "Mormon Will" gave a gas-station owner named Melvin Dummar a 1/16th share of Hughes's $2 billion estate. In the second series, however, she appears to have shorter black hair. A holographic will was soon found on the desk of an official of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. In the first animated series Selina/Catwoman had blonde hair, coinciding with the release of Batman Returns, in which she was played by blonde actress Michelle Pfeiffer. Speculation became rampant that he may have written a holographic will.

Barbeau also voiced Catwoman in the 2000s online animated series Gotham Girls. After Hughes' death, an intensive search began for his will, but one could not be found. She was voiced by Adrienne Barbeau in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series, and its revamp in The New Batman Adventures. The last car Howard Huges ever owned, a 1953 Buick Roadmaster Sedan, customized with a dust and air filter in the trunk, sold on Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction for $1,500,000. She appeared on the Batman cartoon of the 1970s ("The New Adventures of Batman") wearing an all-new outfit that has never been seen outside that series. Howard Hughes is interred in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. She appeared in the Batman cartoon of the 1960s (on the "Superman/Aquaman Hour") wearing the green costume she wore during that time. Hughes was in extremely poor physical condition at the time of his death; X-rays revealed broken-off hypodermic needles still embedded in his arms.

Catwoman has been a major character in almost all of Batman's animated series. A subsequent autopsy determined kidney failure as the cause of death. Cassandra," the next to last episode of the series. Years of severe self-neglect had made him practically unrecognizable, and the FBI had to resort to fingerprint identification to identify the body. An uncredited fourth woman played Catwoman as part of a villain team-up in "The Entrancing Dr. Hughes died on April 5, 1976, at the age of 70 while en route on an airplane from his penthouse in Mexico to Methodist Hospital in Houston. Lee Meriwether portrayed her in the 1966 "Batman" motion picture, based on the television series, when Newmar was unavailable. Irving later spent fourteen months in jail.

Catwoman was at various times played by Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt in the live-action Batman television series of the 1960s, her first other-media portrayal. Prior to the book's publication, however, Hughes (in a rare telephone conference) finally denounced Irving, and the entire project was eventually exposed as a hoax. She does not make an appearence in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Hughes was such a reclusive figure that he hesitated in coming out to publicly refute Irving's statement, leading many people to place faith in the truth of Irving's claim. Note that The Dark Knight Returns does not hold continuty with most of the newer Batman or Justice League comics as it was written in the 80's and that Catwoman's profesion in it was most likely based on her profession in Frank Miller's earlier work Batman: Year One. In 1972, author Clifford Irving created a media sensation when he claimed to have co-written an authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes. She finally appears at Batman's funeral where she yells at Clark Kent that she knows who killed Batman. was ordered by President Nixon's aides with the intention of recovering potentially damaging papers documenting payments from Hughes to Nixon and establishing an apparent connection between Hughes and the Democratic Party (Larry O'Brien, the Democratic National Committee chairman whose office was broken into, had been a paid lobbyist for Hughes since 1968).

She warns him that the Joker is worse than ever, he kisses her and then leaves to follow the clue the Joker left. According to some Watergate historians, the infamous 1972 burglary of Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. He then apparently beats her, dresses her up in a Wonder Woman-esque outfit, ties her up, gags her and leaves her where Batman finds her later. She would state only that she had not seen Hughes for several years before their divorce. I'm lonely," second later on as an apparent prostitute whom the Joker uses to (after subjecting her to a mind control drug) gain acess to the governor through one of her girls. Peters refused to discuss her life with Hughes, and declined several lucrative offers from big-name publishers and biographers. Catwoman appeared briefly in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, first early on as a phone message "Bruce, Selina. The usually untrusting Hughes surprised his aides when he did not insist on a confidentiality agreement from Peters as a condition of the divorce; aides reported that Peters was one of the few people Hughes never spoke ill of.

[3]. She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and waived all claims to Hughes' estate. The writer then revealed that the reason for Selina's retirement is that she's pregnant. In 1971, he divorced Jean Peters; they had been living apart for several years. Selina is so smooth and polished; it's fun to write about someone who's a little rougher, a little sloppier." [2]. Many of the hotels in which he stayed were forced to undergo major renovations to repair the damage Hughes had caused to the premises. She's also going to handle her duties of protecting the East End in a completely different way than Selina, which so far has been very interesting to write. As he deteriorated, Hughes moved around to the Bahamas, Vancouver, London, and several other locations, always taking up residence in the top floor penthouse of his hotel and insisting on having the windows blacked out.

She's had training, and she's been on the mean streets, but she's going to make some mistakes. His aides never offered the bribes, reporting to Hughes that Johnson had declined the offer, and that they had been unable to contact Nixon. Writer Will Pfeifer has stated on the new Catwoman, "Without revealing any identities, the new Catwoman is someone with less experience than Selina Kyle -- though she's not completely inexperienced, and she's been part of that shadowy world Catwoman inhabits for years. Johnson and Richard Nixon if they would shut down the open-air nuclear weapons testing program in Nevada (Hughes was afraid of the risk posed by the residual nuclear radiation). In the new year, Selina Kyle has been forced to leave the East End and is no longer Catwoman, and someone new has replaced her. He even once ordered his aides to offer $1 million each to presidents Lyndon B. After Infinite Crisis #7, the DC Universe will jump forward one year in time. Having bought up many of Las Vegas's major businesses, Hughes wielded enormous political and economic power in Nevada and was often able to influence the outcome of elections and ballot votes.

Afterwards, she was seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. A few days after the order arrived, Hughes announced he had grown tired of banana-nut and only wanted vanilla ice cream, with the consequence that his aides were distributing free banana-nut ice cream to their friends and family for years after the fact. Catwoman's response to this revelation was unequivocal: she pitched Zatanna out a window. They put in a request for 350 gallons, the smallest amount the company could provide for a special order, and had it shipped from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Light and Batman. Hughes once took a liking to Baskin Robbins' banana-nut ice cream, and his aides sought to secure a bulk shipment for him only to discover that Baskin-Robbins had discontinued the flavor. Zatanna gave no reason for her actions, but in flashback it was shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. In addition to supervising day-to-day business operations, they also went to great pains to satisfy Hughes's every bizarre whim.

Zatanna proceeded to explain to Catwoman that she had magically tampered with Catwoman's mind, forcibly turning her from villain to hero. Hughes' considerable business holdings were overseen by a small panel unofficially dubbed "The Mormon Mafia" on account of the many Latter-day Saints on the committee. After she was done, Zatanna appeared at her side, informing her that she had some "bad news", hinting at an important revelation about her past. A chronic insomniac, Hughes bought several local television stations (including KLAS-TV) so that there would always be something for him to watch in the early hours of the morning. Capitalizing upon the advantage which her "resurrection" provided her (the villains believing she had somehow managed to cheat death), Catwoman dismantled the new East End cadre of criminals, one villain at time. He also purchased several other hotels/casinos (Castaways, New Frontier, The Landmark Hotel and Casino, Sands and Silver Slipper) from the Mafia, transactions which ultimately ended mob control of the city 's hotels and casinos. The man impersonated her, and allowed several villains to shoot and dismember him, giving the impression to the underworld that Catwoman was really dead (like Clayface, the man was able to survive what would otherwise be fatal wounds). The elderly Howard Hughes moved with his entourage from hotel to hotel and from Beverly Hills to Boston to Las Vegas, where he eventually bought the Desert Inn after the proprietors threatened to evict him.

Selina made a deal with a former criminal who had powers similar to Clayface's, who had promised to help her in exchange for his freedom. In reality, it was an overreaction by Hughes to the syphilis diagnosis; fearful of the germs which might be lingering on his clothing, he torched his entire wardrobe as well as every piece of linen in his house.). While her initial intentions were unclear, Selina shared her plans to infiltrate and destroy the cadre of East End villains with Batman. (In the film The Aviator (2004), this incident is depicted as his response to his breakup with Katharine Hepburn. At the start of the recent storyline ("The One You Love"), an influx of supervillains seized control of the East End, leaving Selina with no choice but to join the new incarnation of the Secret Society. His syphilis was also indirectly responsible for a bizarre episode in which Hughes burned all his clothes. Selina had no inkling that any villains had been mindwiped until Batman informed her of the events of Identity Crisis, and he now worries that her reformation may be due to mental manipulation. After receiving medical treatment for his symptoms, Hughes was warned by his doctor not to shake hands for some time, and he avoided doing so for the rest of his life.

However, it is now unclear if her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. The condition first manifested itself in the form of tiny blisters that erupted on his hands. Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman true (although brash and unpredictable). Hughes had contracted syphilis as a young man, and much of the strange behavior at the end of his life — his well-documented aversion to handshaking, for example — has been attributed by modern biographers to the tertiary stage of that disease. In response to Batman's inquiry about her wounds, Selina departed the Batcave after curtly informing Batman that he had already "done enough.". He insisted on using paper towels to pick up objects, that he could insulate himself from germs. However, this was something of a hollow victory, since all recognized that Despero was able to pit the JLA members against one another by drawing upon pre-existing animosities and distrust. Many biographies and fictionalized works have reported that he stored his urine in jars and wore Kleenex boxes as shoes, although it has been reported that he only did the latter once, as "protection" when a toilet flooded.

After a fierce struggle, Despero was subdued. Hughes by this time had become severely addicted to codeine, valium, and a number of other painkillers and was becoming increasingly frail. When Despero and a faction of brainwashed League members infiltrated the cave and succeeded in brainwashing Batman, Catwoman was able to send a distress call out to the unaffected League members. Toward the end of his life, his inner circle was largely composed of Mormons because he considered them trustworthy — even though he was not a member of the Latter Day Saint movement.[2]. Wounded, she was taken to the Batcave to recover. Several doctors were kept in the house on a substantial salary, though Hughes rarely saw them and usually refused to follow their advice. Recently in the JLA story arc Crisis of Conscience, Catwoman further proved herself an ally when she fought alongside Batman and the League against the old Secret Society, of which she had once briefly been a member. Though he always kept a barber on call, Hughes only had his hair cut and nails trimmed about once a year.

At the end, Catwoman broke off their relationship when Batman believed that it had been influenced by the villain Hush. Hughes eventually became a complete recluse, locking himself away in darkened rooms in a drug-induced daze. During the Hush storyline in Batman #608-#619, Batman and Catwoman briefly worked together and had a short affair, during the course of which Batman revealed his true identity to her. He was reportedly so concerned by the matter as to write a detailed memorandum to the film crew on how to fix the problem. This series met with critical and fan acclaim, especially for its first 25 issues. While producing The Outlaw, Hughes became absorbed by a minor flaw in one of Jane Russell's blouses, claiming that the fabric bunched up along a seam and gave the appearance of two nipples on each of Russell's breasts. In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), became protector of the residents of Gotham’s East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. Hughes had displayed symptoms consistent with OCD his entire life: In the 1930s, close friends reported he was obsessed with the size of peas — one of his favorite foods — and used a special fork to sort them by size before he ate.

This storyline led in to the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). He was reported at different times to be terminally ill, mentally unstable, or possibly dead. In a backup storyline Trail of the Catwoman, by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, the reader followed private detective Slam Bradley's attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. Once one of the most visible men in America, he ultimately vanished from public view altogether, although the tabloids continued to follow rumors regarding his behavior and whereabouts. Catwoman then appeared in a series of backup stories in Detective Comics #759 to #762. By the late 1950s, if not earlier, Hughes developed debilitating symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Soon afterwards she disappeared and was thought killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at #94. The operation, known as Project Jennifer, became public in February 1975 because burglars had obtained secret documents from Hughes' headquarters in June 1974.

Although later cleared, she displayed increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story. Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners who were subsequently given formal burial at sea in a filmed ceremony. When later that year during the Officer Down storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman was initially the chief suspect. This section is believed to have held many of the most sought after items, including its code book and nuclear missiles. Harleen Quinzel (the supervillain Harley Quinn), became mentally unbalanced. But during the recovery a mechanical failure in the ship's grapple caused half of the submarine to break off and fall to the ocean floor. While in prison, she escaped, and under the influence of Dr. In the summer of 1974 Glomar Explorer attempted to raise the Soviet vessel.

However immediately following that, she was arrested by Commissioner Gordon and put on trial, followed by being sentenced to imprisonment. Hughes' involvement provided the CIA with a plausible cover story, having to do with civilian marine research at extreme depths, and the mining of undersea manganese nodules. As Catwoman, Kyle assisted Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. Thus the Glomar Explorer, a special-purpose salvage vessel, was born. Selina then returned to Gotham, which at this time was in the midst of the No Man's Land storyline. He agreed. However, her plans were ruined when the supervillain the Trickster inadvertently connected Kyle to her Catwoman alter ego. In 1972, Hughes was approached by the CIA to help secretly recover a Soviet submarine which had sunk near Hawaii four years before.

She intended to use this position to run for mayor. During the 1970s, Hughes went back into the airline business, buying airline Air West and renaming it Hughes Airwest. As the series neared its end, Selina moved to New York and through blackmail, became first corporate vice president, then CEO of Randolf Industries, a mafia-influenced company. In the same year, TWA's management sued its chairman Hughes because of differences in running the company; he was forced to sell his stock in TWA in 1966 for more than $500 million. The series also fleshed out more of her origin, revealing her beginnings as an underage thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and the training she received from superhero Ted (Wildcat) Grant. Hughes Space and Communications was founded in 1961. Storylines included her adoption of a teenage runaway named Arizona, whom she briefly took on as a sidekick; aiding the criminal Bane, followed by helping Azrael to defeat him; and Selina Kyle as a reluctant government operative. Shortly before the 1960 Presidential election, Richard Nixon was harmed by revelations of a $205,000 loan from Hughes to Nixon's brother that was never repaid.

This series, written by an assortment of writers but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief with an ambiguous moral code. On January 12, 1957, Hughes married actress Jean Peters; they divorced in 1971. In 1993, following the success of Batman Returns and Selina Kyle’s prominent role in that film, Catwoman was given her first ongoing series. It is America's second largest private foundation and the largest devoted to biological and medical research with a 2004 endowment of $12.4 billion. However, characters introduced in these stories (such as Selina’s young friend Holly from Batman: Year One and her sister Maggie from the 1989 miniseries) continue to appear regularly in the Catwoman series, and aspects of those plots are occasionally referenced, including recent issues that show Hollie remembering her days as a prostitute with Catwoman. After his death in 1976, many thought that the balance of Hughes' estate would go to the institute, although it ultimately was divided among his cousins and other heirs, given the lack of a will to the contrary. It is currently unclear how much of these stories remain canonical to Catwoman’s current origin, as various stories and editors' statements over the years since then have stated that Selina was never a prostitute and that other events depicted in those stories never happened. The deal was the topic of a protracted legal battle between Hughes and the Internal Revenue Service which Hughes ultimately won.

Though more circumstantial evidence was added to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, no definitive proof was provided. In 1953, Hughes launched the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Delaware, formed with the express goal of basic biomedical research including trying to understand, in Hughes' words, the "genesis of life itself." It was viewed by many as a tax haven for his wealth: Hughes gave all his stock of the Hughes Aircraft Company to the institute, thereby turning the defense contractor into a tax-exempt charity. Selina's connection to the Falcone family was further explored in the recent miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome (2004-5). The remainder of Hughes Aircraft was sold to Raytheon in 1998. Further, Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to The Long Halloween, implied that Catwoman suspected she was the long-lost illegitimate daughter of Carmine Falcone, although she found no definitive proof of this. Portions of the company wound up with McDonnell Douglas, and eventually Boeing when those two companies merged. This led Selina to kill Stan, leaving Selina in an unbalanced mental state. After the war, Hughes fashioned his company Hughes Aircraft into a major defense contractor.

This series showed how Catwoman’s early career was tinged with tragedy as her former pimp Stan abducted Selina's sister Maggie and violently abused her. RKO was sold in 1955. Birch. He interfered with production and even shut down shooting for weeks or months. This origin was expanded on in the 1989 Catwoman limited series (collected in trade paperback form as Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper) by writer Mindy Newell and artist J.J. Hughes acquired RKO in 1948, a struggling major Hollywood studio. In the course of the story, the origin of Catwoman was also re-envisioned, as a 5'7" Selina Kyle was reintroduced as a cat-loving prostitute/dominatrix who was inspired to become a costumed cat burglar when she saw Batman in action. The plane was on display alongside RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for many years before being moved to McMinnville, Oregon, where it is now part of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

A revision in Catwoman's origin, and the introduction of the modern version of her, came in 1986 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli produced Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman’s origin. government denied him the use of aircraft aluminum, which had been rationed, Hughes built the plane largely from birch in his Westchester, California facility to fulfill his contract. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One or Earth-Two versions of her would ever do; this version of Catwoman was assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that couldn't be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Because the U.S. Catwoman's first Silver Age appearance was in Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #70 (November 1966); afterwards, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee to explain why the plane had not been delivered to the United States Army Air Forces during the war, but the committee disbanded without releasing a final report. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selena Kyle eventually died in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by a criminal into going into action again as Catwoman (as shown in DC Super-Stars #17). government for use in World War II, but was not completed until after the war.

Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that would repeatedly lead to her encountering the Batman. The plane was originally commissioned by the U.S. However, her husband had kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve the jewelry. The Hercules flew only once (with Hughes at the controls) on November 2, 1947. It was revealed that Selina Kyle had been the wife of an abusive man, and eventually decided to leave her husband. One of his greatest endeavors was the H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" (although its frame was built predominantly of birch), a massive flying boat completed just after the end of World War II. In Brave and the Bold #197, the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62 was elaborated on, after Selina revealed that she never actually had amnesia. The trademark mustache he wore after the accident was meant to cover a scar on his upper lip resulting from the accident.

In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) revealed that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (presumably after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterwards, the couple gave birth to their only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). Many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of morphine as a painkiller during his convalescence. Selina appeared again as a criminal in Batman #84 and Detective Comics #211, her final appearance for many years (until 1966). The injuries he sustained in the crash — including a crushed collar bone, six broken ribs and numerous third-degree burns — affected him for the rest of his life. She wound up reforming and stayed on the straight and narrow for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 and #69, until Selina decided to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203. Durkin who happened to be in the area. In Batman #62, it was revealed that Catwoman (after a blow to the head jogged her memory) was an amnesiac flight attendant who had turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived (although in the final issue of The Brave and the Bold, she later admitted that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of the past life of crime). Hughes lay wounded beside the burning airplane until he was rescued by Marine master sergeant William L.

There have been many versions of Catwoman's origins and backstory seen in the comic books over the decades. When the plane finally skidded to a halt after mowing down three houses, the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the plane and a nearby home. . Hughes tried to save the craft by landing it on the Los Angeles Country Club golf course, but seconds before he reached his attempted destination the plane started dropping dramatically and crashed in the Beverly Hills neighborhood surrounding the country club. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. An oil leak caused one of the counter-rotating propellers to reverse its thrust, making the plane yaw sharply. Ed Brubaker, the master-mind behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic catsuit [1]. Army spy plane XF-11 over Los Angeles.

In recent years, she has usually alternated between these two costumes. Hughes was involved in a near-fatal aircraft accident on July 7, 1946, while piloting the experimental U.S. In the 1990s, she usually wore a skintight purple bodysuit, before switching to a black leather outfit that recalls Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman costume in Batman Returns. The airline would grow significantly under his leadership. In the 1960s, Catwoman's bodysuit was green in color, which was typical of villains of that era. In particular, Hughes helped specify the design of the Lockheed Constellation, with its pressurized cabin and distinctive tail, buying several planes for TWA in order to be able to fly high altitude (20,000 ft/6600 m) long distance routes above the turbulence of low altitude weather. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a bodysuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. Throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, T&WA (which became Trans World Airlines) continued to bet on the most advanced planes available, largely due to Hughes' own interest in aircraft development.

Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all, and it was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. By doing so, Hughes became the principal stockholder of T&WA in April 1939. She represents a gray area in Batman's otherwise black and white life where the line between good and evil blurs, and his attraction to her stems from this perception that, in her way, she's kind of a female version of himself: another dark, beautiful creature that prowls the night. He convinced Hughes, also enamored of avant-garde aircraft technology, to finance this purchase. Although originally introduced as an opponent for Batman, Catwoman's status as hero or villain is ambiguous; she has her own moral code (she abhors killing, though has resorted to it at times) and has occasionally teamed up with Batman and other heroes against greater threats, even saving the lives of the entire Justice League on one occasion. In 1938, William John Frye, a former Hollywood stunt flier and the first director of operations of Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA), put in an order for the new 33-passenger Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial plane with a pressurized passenger cabin. Her real name "Selina" derives from the ancient lunar deity Selene. Truman.

Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, she first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring, 1940), where she was initially known as "The Cat". According to his obituary in the New York Times, he never bothered to come to Washington to pick up the medal, and it was eventually mailed to him by President Harry S. Catwoman (real name Selina Kyle) is a DC Comics character, associated with the Batman franchise. Hughes received many awards as an aviator, including the Harmon Trophy in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy in 1939, the Octave Chanute Award in 1940, and a special Congressional medal for his round-the-world flight. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named "Howard Hughes Airport," but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person. In 1938, the William P.

For this flight he did not fly a plane of his own design but a Lockheed Super Electra (a twin engine plane with a four man crew). On July 10, 1938 Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours), beating the previous record by more than four days. The H-1 Racer influenced the design of a number of World War II fighter airplanes such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf FW190, and the F6F Hellcat.(see Wright Tools web site.) The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations: It had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the plane, to reduce drag.

[1]. His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (515 km/h). A year and a half later (January 19, 1937), flying a somewhat re-designed H-1 Racer, Hughes set a new trans-continental speed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes). (The previous record was 314 mph (502 km/h).

On September 13, 1935, Hughes, flying the H-1, set the world speed record of 352 mph (588 km/h) over his test course near Santa Ana, California. The most important aircraft he designed was the Hughes H-1 Racer. He set many world records, and designed and built several aircraft himself while heading Hughes Aircraft. Hughes was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast, pilot, and self-taught aircraft engineer.

Less-significant affairs are rumored to have occurred between Hughes and a long list of celebrities. Jean Harlow accompanied him to the premiere of Hell's Angels, although it's uncertain if they were an item. Bessie Love was a mistress during his first marriage. Hughes was a notorious ladies' man, and allegedly had affairs with many famous women including Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Gene Tierney, and Ava Gardner.

Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress and Bacon's widow, claimed later that Bacon wanted to get out of his contract with Hughes and had been prepared to reveal intimate details about their relationship in order to secure a release from the studio. Bacon's murder the following year sparked an investigation which brought to light allegations of a supposed sexual affair between Bacon and Hughes which may have indirectly led to Bacon's death. He signed an unknown actor David Bacon in 1932 to play Billy The Kid. Scarface and The Outlaw received attention from industry censors; Scarface for its violence, The Outlaw for Russell's physical charms.

Hughes's best-known film may be The Outlaw starring Jane Russell, for whom Hughes designed a special brassière. He spent a then-unheard-of $4 million of his own money to make Hell's Angels, which he wrote and directed and which became a smash hit, along with his 1932 film Scarface (which he produced). The Racket in 1928 and The Front Page in 1931 were nominated for Academy Awards. However, his first two films released in 1927, Everybody's Acting and Two Arabian Knights were financial successes, the latter winning an Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture.

He was at first dismissed by Hollywood insiders as a rich man's son. Hughes used his fortune to become a movie producer. He then enrolled at the Rice Institute (later known as Rice University). His father subsequently arranged for him to audit math and engineering classes at the California Institute of Technology.

He attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, Massachusetts (near Boston), and the Thacher School in Ojai, California. Despite attending many good schools, he never earned a diploma. As a teenager, Hughes declared that his goals in life were to become the world's best golfer, the world's best pilot, and the world's best movie producer. He founded Hughes Tool Company to commercialize this invention.

Hughes Sr., who invented the dual cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for oil in previously inaccessible places. His parents were Allene Gano Hughes and Howard R. Hughes was born in Houston, Texas, USA, on December 24, 1905. .

. He is famous for building the Hercules airplane, commonly known as the Spruce Goose, and for his debilitating eccentric behavior later in life. Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was at times an aviator, an engineer, an industrialist, a movie producer, a playboy, an eccentric and one of the wealthiest people in the world. The cello trio Rasputina wrote a song "Howard Hughes" which was included in their CD Thanks For The Ether; lead singer Melora Creager has an ongoing preoccupation with Hughes (see [4]).

The British punk rock band The Tights wrote a song "Howard Hughes" which was the title track of their "Howard Hughes" single. "Aint No Fun (Waiting Round To Be A Millionare)" by AC/DC contains lyrics at the end "Hey Howard, get your fuckin' jumbo jet off my airport!". "My shoes, they once were worn by Howard Hughes" from My Place a song by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics on his album Sly-Fi. Gary Numan said the suited visage he used for the "Dance" and "I,Assassin" albums were patterned in part after Howard Hughes, whom he identified as one of his heroes.

An alternative recording was made for the John Peel show and released in 1995 on their "John Peel Sessions" album. Industrial outfit 70 Gwen Party released a 1994 single called "Howard Hughes" on Snape records (cat no SR011). Stan Ridgway's 1991 song "I Wanna Be a Boss" contains a reference to Howard Hughes as a role model for those who aspire to be eccentric, reclusive billionaires. Jim claims he is an undiscovered Howard Hughes.

Jim Croce's song "Workin' at the Carwash Blues" contains a Howard Hughes reference. 1970s Christian rocker Larry Norman's song "Without Love" contains a reference to Howard Hughes. Sole, a notoriously anti-capitalist rapper, had a song titled "MC Howard Hughes" on his album Bottle of Humans. 10cc namecheck Hughes in the hit song "Wall Street Shuffle", with the line "Oh, Howard Hughes, did your money make you better?".

John Hartford's 1972 album Morning Bugle includes the song "Howard Hughes Blues" which describes his solitary life of "poor old Howard Hughes and all of his blues". The final verse mentioned, "Often heard, seldom seen, Bargain Basement Howard Hughes, Hermit phase, a woodshed rage, these days headlines are few." Cantrell also made another Hughes/Staley reference on the Degradation Trip song "Pig Charmer" particuarly with the line: "Come on in, get high / Don't mind piss-filled bottles.". However, the song is actually about his former Alice in Chains bandmate Layne Staley. Jerry Cantrell, on the album Degradation Trip, wrote a song titled "Bargain Basement Howard Hughes".

The song "Reward" by British band The Teardrop Explodes includes the line "Live in solitude like Howard Hughes". The British shoegazer band Ride mentioned Howard Hughes in their song "Castle on the Hill"[3] In addition, they have a song titled "Howard Hughes" on their 1992 CD single Twisterella. The British progressive rock band Genesis mentioned "Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes" in their song "Broadway Melody of 1974", part of the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It was originally on their album Point of Know Return.

The band Kansas did a song about Howard Hughes, which they named "Closet Chronicles". The Boomtown Rats released the song "Me And Howard Hughes" on their record Tonic For The Troops in 1978. Leadbelly composed a folksong, "Howard Hughes", which accompanies the final credits of the film The Aviator. Portrayed by Terry O'Quinn in Disney's "The Rocketeer" (1991).

The fictional Derwent was a millionaire aviator and producer during the 1930's and 40's, and even takes credit for the design of a strapless bra worn in one of his movies. The character of Horace Derwent in Stephen King's The Shining is partially based on Hughes. One character (Andrea) likens Hughes to 'a proto-Virek'. In William Gibson's seminal science fiction novel Count Zero the key villain, industrialist Josef Virek, is identified with Hughes with respect to his wealth and reclusive nature.

Incidentally, a 1982 production of this play in London landed actor Ian McDiarmid the role of Palpatine in the Star Wars films, as it showed that the then 37-year old actor could convincingly play much older characters. The Sam Shepard play Seduced features a character named Harry Hackamore, modeled after Hughes. Melvin and Howard was spoofed on the sketch comedy series SCTV.. The film introduces Hughes as a potential investor of Tucker's automobile line, although such claims are unsubstantiated.

Dean Stockwell plays Hughes in the Francis Ford Coppola's biopic of automaker Preston Tucker, Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Steven Carter's novel I was Howard Hughes is a "picture of a Hughes who might have been.". Hughes appears in James Ellroy's political crime novel American Tabloid, and sequel The Cold Six Thousand. Saturday Night Live presented a comedy sketch portraying Hughes and his eccentric activities.

Hughes appears in an episode of the TV Series Dark Skies. Hughes makes an appearance in The Rocketeer, substituting for the "mystery inventor" (Doc Savage) in the original comic book version. "Howard Lockwood" in the Lupin III film Mystery of Mamo. "Jonas Cord" in Harold Robbins' novel The Carpetbaggers.

Hadden" of the Carl Sagan novel Contact, and the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film of the same name. "S.R. In The Disney Afternoon's TaleSpin, the characters join a group of businessmen for a dinner on the main deck of the moosehead-shaped seaplane, the "Spruce Moose", built by a reclusive hippopotamus with Hughes's characteristic mannerisms. The Simpsons episode "$pringfield" in which Montgomery Burns exhibits Hughes's OCD, including wearing tissue boxes on his feet, moving into a hotel penthouse, allowing his hair and nails to grow untrimmed, and creating an aircraft called the "Spruce Moose.".

Tony Stark, a wealthy inventor and industrialist who becomes Marvel Comics's Iron Man. "Willard Whyte" of the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. This character was based on a composite of Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst. "Charles Foster Kane" of the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.

The film focuses primarily on Hughes's achievements in aviation and in the movies and on the increasing handicap his obsessive-compulsive behavior represented in his 30s and onwards. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winning five, the film takes the usual bio-pic liberties (Ella Rice is not seen or mentioned although Hughes was married to her during the making of "Hell's Angels"). The Aviator (2004), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes. Graham and starring Tommy Lee Jones as Howard Hughes.

The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977), directed by William A. Ron Kistler - "I caught flies for Howard Hughes", Playboy Press (1976), ISBN 0872234479. Jack Real - "The Asylum of Howard Hughes", Xlibris Corporation (2003), ISBN 1413408753. Random House (1976).

James Phelan - "Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years". General Publishing Group (1996). Terry Moore and Jerry Rivers - The Passions of Howard Hughes. Terry Moore - The Beauty and the Billionaire, New York (1984).

Steele - Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes (1979) ISBN 0393075133 Republished in 2003 as Howard Hughes: His life and madness. Barlett and James B. Donald L. Michael Drosnin - Citizen Hughes: In his own words, how Howard Hughes tried to buy America, Broadway Books.

Robert Maheu and Richard Hack - Next to Hughes: Behind the power and tragic downfall of Howard Hughes by his closest adviser, HarperCollins (1992). Peter Harry Brown and Pat H Broeske - Howard Hughes: The untold story, Time Warner Paperbacks. Richard Hack - Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters : The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire (2002) ISBN 1893224643. Marrett - Howard Hughes: Aviator (2004) ISBN 1591145104, Naval Institute Press.

George J.