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Joker is a historic nemesis. He belives his own press too, but his claim to the title of Batman's Arch-enemy is based in his violence, not his brilliance.

If you want to make the argument that Ra's fights an emotional front and not an intellectual one, then you would be right, but it occurs to me that Joker fights on that same front, without really intending to.

See, when Joker goes and blows a hole through somebody important to the bat, he does it to torture him, but not to capitalise on it. Joker shoots Robins and Batgirls, the way a child pulls the wings off a fly. He doesnt intend to make use of the PsychoBat, he does it for the sake of torture, and the fun it gives him.

Ra's on the other hand, does so to his own ends. Mention was made, of that time where Ra's dug up the Wayne family crypt. He did it, to captialise on emotion. Bats immediatly did what Ra's preditced he would do in an emotional state, and left the JLA, so that Ra's could hit it.

In an earlier Cat tail he kidnapped Selina, to secure the Detective's presence, but I'd bet good money that he picked Selina specifically (in part at least) to keep Bats off balance till he got there.

They both fight with painful emotion, it's just the motives and the results that differ.

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Note to readers, If you havent read the Sherlock holmes story: A Scandal in Bohemia, and intend to do so, then i suggest you either do so before continuing, or not go any further. I use some hints about the story. Pretty broad ones, but still, be warned. If you have time, look the story up. www.bakerstreet221b.de/canon/scan.htm
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Another point, which just jumped into my head, is the point of THE Woman.

Selina as Irene Adler?

If I recall correctly, Adler was only in one Sherlock Story (A Scandal in Bohemia).

What makes her fit Selina?
1) She's the only woman ever to outfox the Detective. (I refer to them both.)
2) She's beautiful enough to turn heads. (Again, both of them)
3) She is The Woman to them both.
4) Irene fooled the Detective with some style and smugness. (A Scandal in Bohemia: One night on the street, a disguised Irene Adler walks by Holmes and says good evening to him. “’I’ve heard that voice before,” said Holmes. And he didnt have a clue who it was.)
5) They both have become icons of feminimity, independence, style and resourcefullness. irene in the Victorian literature world, Selina in the comics world.

To reiterate point 3, I quote these tales, for both Detectives:

‘To Sherlock Homes she is always the woman’ Watson wrote, ‘In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.’ (Trick or Treat, quoted from 'A Scandal in Bohemia', The Adventures aof Sherlock Holmes.)

And For Batman:

'“She was there last night.”
Alfred didn’t need to ask who. There was only one ‘She’ in the manor or the cave these days. If you meant Harley Quinn or Wonder Woman or Lois Lane you said so. 'She' was Selina.' (Normal.)

For both of the Great Detectives, SHE, The Woman, was unquestioned, and apparent. There was only one, could be only one, for both the Detectives.

Chris, you drew the parellel long before Trick or Treat.

However, therin lies the contradiction.
The similarity between Selina and Irene is in their respective Detectives opinion of them, not in their character.

In Trick or Treat, you made this comment. From Bruce: “If I’m going to this thing as history’s greatest detective, And you’re going as his adversary that just happened to be the love of his life, I’m sure Alfred can pull off serving tea.”

Now, Sherlock and Adler never actually had a thing. He barely met her in the Bohemia story. Sherlock admired her, in fact asked for her photograph when the case was done, but Love? That's something else. Greatest Adversary? heh, we've already had that debate.

I'm just not quite sure that Adler could be called the love of Sherlock's life. As women go, i could think of worse ones for him to be paired with, but Sherlock wasnt in LOVE with her, he was in AWE.

Here was a woman, somebody he had deduced and outsmarted as he did anybody else, and she had not only given him the slip, but made him FAIL in his aims. Given the 18th century opinion of Women, this was not only suprising, it was unheard of! She won!

Is it love, or disbelieving awe? You tell me.

But anyway, i'm getting off the topic. The topic at hand was: Is Selina a fit for Irene Adler?

As The Woman of Both Detective's lives? Most definately. As a good costume for Selina to go it at the party? Yes. Do their characters match as Batman's does to Holmes? No.

I'm afraid that i would have to say no.

1) Irene never used the fact that she was a woman to throw the Detective off his balance.
2) Irene predicted Sherlock's move. Catwoman never did, she just handled it when he appeared. Irene acted, Selina reacted.
3) Irene was not involved in criminal activity, nor did she get any thrill from doing so. She was involved in a personal matter, that came to involve Holmes, admittedly in his professional capacity.
4) There never was any tension between Irene and Sherlock. For that matter, she and he barely spoke to each other. Their game was strictly intellectual. It was Cat and Mouse. Not Cat and Bat.
5) Selina rarely uses Blackmail as her primary threat. (I say RARELY for that brief moment in Splitzville.) Selina instead is more...direct. ("If she ever says anything like: Do that again and I'll set you on fire? Not an idle threat." Harvey in Satori)

Sherlock was intrigued, amazed, impressed, perhaps infatuated with Irene Adler, but she was not the love of his life. She was instead, the pinaccle of the female Gender, Irene was everything a woman could be to Holmes. (Plato said that for everyhting that exists, there is a perfect form, to Holmes, Irene was that form where women were concerned.) She was the woman to be admired, and left on a pedstal. The only woman that Holmes ever took any personal interest in.

Selina, however, is not just amazing, she is real She is not just The Woman, she is The Batman's Woman.

Bruce, you've overtaken Sherlock Holmes. Good for you.

#Applause.#