Poison Ivy (character)

src: lc-www-live-s.legocdn.com

Poison Ivy is a fictional supervillain, appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff, the character made her first appearance in Batman #181 (June 1966). Poison Ivy is one of Batman's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.

Poison Ivy's real name is Pamela Lillian Isley, a Gotham City botanist obsessed with plants, ecological extinction, and environmentalism. One of the world's most notorious eco-terrorists, she uses plant toxins and mind-controlling pheromones for her criminal activities, which are usually aimed at protecting endangered species and the natural environment. Poison Ivy has been portrayed as a love interest of Batman and has teamed up on occasion with fellow villains Catwoman and Harley Quinn, with Harley being her close friend, romantic interest, and recurring ally. Although Poison Ivy's look has evolved over the years, she typically wears a green one-piece outfit adorned with leaves and has plant vines extending over her limbs. Poison Ivy was originally characterized as a supervillain, but as of the New 52 and DC Rebirth, she has periodically been depicted as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons.

The character was portrayed by Uma Thurman in Batman & Robin and Maggie Geha in Gotham. She has also been voiced by Diane Pershing in Batman: The Animated Series, Piera Coppola on The Batman animated series, Tasia Valenza for the Batman: Arkham video game franchise, and Riki Lindhome in The Lego Batman Movie. IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Poison Ivy as #64. She was ranked 21st in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.

Video Poison Ivy (character)

Publication history

Poison Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff, and the character first appeared in Batman #181 (June 1966). Robert Kanigher originally modeled Poison Ivy after Bettie Page, giving her the same haircut and look.

The character was partly inspired by the short story "Rappaccini's Daughter'," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, about a maiden who tends a garden of poisonous plants; she becomes resistant to the poisons, but in the process she herself becomes poisonous to others. According to Octavio Paz, the sources of Hawthorne's story lie in Ancient India. In the play Mudrarakshasa, one of two political rivals employs the gift of a visha kanya, a beautiful girl who is fed on poison. This theme of a woman transformed into a phial of venom is popular in Indian literature and appears in the Puranas. From India, the story passed to the West and contributed to the Gesta Romanorum, among other texts. In the 17th century, Robert Burton picked up the tale in The Anatomy of Melancholy and gave it a historical character: the Indian king Porus sends Alexander the Great a girl brimming with poison.

Following the character's initial appearance, Poison Ivy continued to appear in the various Batman comic books and had a major role in the Black Orchid mini-series. The character did not have an origin in her first appearances during the 1960s; she was merely a temptress. An origin story was later retconned for her. Poison Ivy is typically depicted with long flowing hair, plant vines extending over her neck or limbs, and a green one-piece suit adorned with leaves.

Maps Poison Ivy (character)

Fictional character biography

Pre-Crisis

Dr. Lillian Rose, PhD is a promising botanist who is persuaded by Marc LeGrande into assisting him with the theft of an Egyptian artifact containing ancient herbs. Fearing she would implicate him in the theft, he attempts to poison her with the herbs, which are deadly and untraceable. She survives this murder attempt and discovers she has acquired an immunity to all natural toxins and diseases.

Post-Crisis

Following the events of the DC maxi-series comic Crisis on Infinite Earths, which massively retconned DC Universe history and continuity, Poison Ivy's origins were revised in Secret Origins #36, 1988, written by Neil Gaiman. Poison Ivy's real name is Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, PhD, a Gotham City botanist. She grows up wealthy with emotionally distant parents and later studies advanced botanical biochemistry at a university with Alec Holland under Dr. Jason Woodrue. Isley, a shy girl, is easily seduced by her professor. Woodrue injects Isley with poisons and toxins as an experiment, causing her transformation. She nearly dies twice as a result of these poisonings, driving her insane. Later, Woodrue flees from the authorities leaving Isley in the hospital for six months. Enraged at the betrayal, she suffers from violent mood swings, being sweet one moment and evil the next. When her boyfriend has a car accident after mysteriously suffering from a massive fungal overgrowth, Isley drops out of school and leaves Seattle, eventually settling in Gotham City.

She begins her criminal career by threatening to release her suffocating spores into the air unless the city meets her demands. Batman, who appears in Gotham that very same year, thwarts her scheme, and she is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. From this point on, she has a kind of obsession with Batman, he being the only person she could not control. Over the years, she develops plant-like superpowers, the most noticeable being a lethal toxin in her lips; she is able to literally kill with a kiss.

In subsequent issues, she states that she only started a life of crime to attain sufficient funds to find a location to be alone with her plants, undisturbed by humanity. A few years later, she attempts to leave Gotham forever, escaping Arkham to settle on a desert island in the Caribbean. She transforms the barren wasteland into a second Eden, and is, for the first time in her life, happy. It is soon firebombed, however, when an American-owned corporation tests their weapons systems out on what they think is an abandoned island. Ivy returns to Gotham with a vengeance, punishing those responsible. After being willingly apprehended by Batman, she resolves that she can never leave Gotham, at least not until the world was safe for plants. From then on, she dedicates herself to the impossible mission of "purifying" Gotham.

At one point, Batman travels to Seattle to ascertain information on Pamela Isley's life before she became Poison Ivy. Here, Batman states that both of Pamela's parents are dead. When and why they died has been left undetermined.

While in Arkham, Poison Ivy receives a message through flowers that someone is to help her escape. That night, two women, Holly and Eva, successfully break Ivy out and bring her back to their employer. She is less than happy to discover that it is the Floronic Man, formerly known as Dr. Jason Woodrue, her former college professor that conducted the experiments on her. The only human portion of him remaining is his head, while the rest of his body is plant-based.

After striking a deal with him in the underground tunnels of Gotham, Ivy receives a trunk full of money in return for samples of her DNA. Woodrue intends to combine their DNA to create a "child", all while flooding the streets of Gotham with high-grade marijuana. The purpose of this is to create a world economy run on hemp and to have their offspring control it. Batman intervenes, but is overcome by Woodrue's henchwomen, Holly and Eva. However, Ivy turns on Floronic Man and lets Batman go to fight the intoxicated maniac. In the end, Batman decapitates the Floronic Man, and Ivy escapes with her money.

At times, Ivy demonstrates positive and maternal traits. When Gotham City is destroyed in an earthquake, rather than fight over territory like most of Batman's enemies, she holds dominion over Robinson Park and turns it into a tropical paradise. Sixteen children who are orphaned during the quake come to live with her as she sympathizes with them having suffered a traumatic childhood herself. She cares for them like sons and daughters, despite her usual misanthropy.

That winter, Clayface (Basil Karlo) pays Ivy a visit, hoping to form a bargain with her. This would entail her growing fruits and vegetables, having the orphans harvest them, and him selling the produce to the highest bidder. She wants nothing to do with the plan, and she attempts to kill him with a kiss. Clayface overpowers her, however, and imprisons Ivy and the orphans for six months in a chamber under the park's lake. He feeds her salt and keeps her from the sun to weaken her. Eventually, Batman comes and discovers the imprisoned orphans and Ivy. The two agree to work together to take Karlo down. Batman battles Clayface and instructs Robin to blow up the lake bed above, allowing the rushing water to break apart the mud, effectively freeing Ivy. She fights Karlo, ensnaring him in the branches of a tree and fatally kissing him. She then proceeds to sink him down into the ground, where he becomes fertilizer for Ivy's plants. Batman, originally intending to take the orphans away from Ivy, recognizes that staying with her is what is best for them, and they remain in her care until the city is restored. Also, as part of a bargain to keep her freedom, Batman arranges it so that Ivy provides fresh produce to the starving hordes of earthquake survivors. Soon after, Ivy finds Harley Quinn, who had almost been murdered by the Joker, among the debris of the earthquake and nurses her back to health. The two have been best friends and partners-in-crime ever since.

After Gotham City is reopened to the public, the city council wants to evict her from the park and send her back to Arkham Asylum, as they are uncomfortable with the thought of a "psychotic eco-terrorist controlling the equivalent of 30-odd square blocks." They also mistakenly believe that the orphans in Ivy's care are hostages. The Gotham City Police Department threaten to spray the park with R.C. Sixty, a powerful herbicide that most certainly would have killed every living plant in the park, including Ivy, and more than likely do harm to the children. Ivy refuses to leave the park to the city and let them destroy the paradise she had created, so she chooses martyrdom. It is only after Rose, one of the orphans, is accidentally poisoned by Ivy that the hardened eco-terrorist surrenders herself to the authorities in order to save the girl's life. Batman says that, as much as she would hate to admit it, Ivy is still more human than plant.

Later on, she and other Gotham characters are manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. Her task is to hypnotize both Superman and Catwoman, using Catwoman to steal ransom money from Killer Croc after the original plan is interrupted by Batman while Superman serves as a 'bodyguard' when she hides in Metropolis. However, she abandons Catwoman to be killed by Killer Croc, and Batman is able to keep Superman busy in a fight (aided by the Kryptonite ring he was given long ago) long enough for the Man of Steel to break out of the spell. Soon afterwards, the Riddler, who is being chased and attacked by Hush, approaches Ivy and seeks her protection. Ivy, who is angered by the manipulation, battles the Riddler physically and psychologically. She comes to physically dominate her opponent, humiliating Riddler and temporarily breaking his spirit.

Poison Ivy comes to believe that her powers are killing the children she had looked after, so she seeks Bruce Wayne's help to reverse her powers and make her a normal human being once more. Soon after, she is convinced by Hush to take another serum to restore her powers and apparently dies in the process. However, in Batman: Gotham Knights, when her grave is visited shortly thereafter, it is covered with ivy, creating the impression her death would be short-lived.

Shortly after, Poison Ivy appears briefly in Robinson Park, killing two corrupt cops who killed one of her orphans (although whether this takes place before or after the aforementioned storyline is unknown).

"One Year Later", Ivy is alive and active. Her control over flora has increased, referred to as being on a par with Swamp Thing or Floronic Man. She also appears to have resumed her crusade against the corporate enemies of the environment with a new fanaticism, regarding Batman no longer as a main opponent, but as a "hindrance". After arriving back from a year-long absence, Batman discovers that Ivy has been feeding people including "tiresome lovers", "incompetent henchmen", and those who "returned her smile" to a giant plant which would digest the victims slowly and painfully. She refers to these murders as a "guilty pleasure". In an unprecedented event, her victims' souls merge with the plant, creating a botanical monster called Harvest, who seeks revenge upon Poison Ivy. With the intervention of Batman however, she is saved. Poison Ivy is left in critical condition, and the whereabouts of Harvest are unknown.

Other storylines

In Countdown #37, the Piper and the Trickster are hiding out in a greenhouse, picking fruits and vegetables from the plants. They run into Ivy, who is talking to her plants (presumably being told that Piper and Trickster hurt them), to which she reacts by tying them up in vines with the intention of killing them. She is then shown to have joined the Injustice League Unlimited and is one of the villains featured in Salvation Run.

In the "Battle for the Cowl" storyline, she is coerced by a new Black Mask into joining his group of villains that aims to take over Gotham. She and Killer Croc unsuccessfully attempt to murder Damian Wayne.

Shortly after, she escapes from Black Mask's control and forms an alliance with Catwoman and Harley Quinn, leading into the ongoing series Gotham City Sirens.

During Hush's ploy to hurt Batman through hurting his loved ones, Hush kidnaps Catwoman and surgically removes her heart. After being saved by Batman, she is operated on by some of the most gifted surgeons in the world, including Doctor Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific. Zatanna also gives her a magic antidote to help heal her wounds. In order to get even with Hush, Selina enlists the help of Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Oracle, Holly Robinson, and Slam Bradley to track down all of Hush's accounts, pilfer them, and leave him penniless. Selina pays Holly, Harley, and Ivy over $30 million each, hoping that they would use the funds to leave Gotham to start fresh somewhere else. However, Harley uses her money to go on a shopping spree, while Ivy gives her money away to organizations in Madagascar and Costa Rica for reforestation.

After rescuing Catwoman from Boneblaster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, Poison Ivy takes Catwoman back to Edward Nigma's townhouse. When there, Catwoman sees that Ivy has been keeping the Riddler under mind control so that she and Harley could use his townhouse as a hideout. Here, Catwoman decides that with Gotham City more dangerous than ever with all the gang wars and a new Batman, a partnership with the other two women would be advantageous. However, Ivy fears that Catwoman has lost her edge and prowess, and consults with Zatanna on the nature of Catwoman's injuries. Zatanna responds that Catwoman has psychological wounds that would need healing. Ivy resolves that she and Harley would provide Catwoman with "positive female reinforcement". The three then agree to become a team. However, Harley and Ivy have one condition that Catwoman is to reveal to them the true identity of Batman.

Eventually, Ivy and the other Sirens ambush the Riddler at his office (with Ivy using her plants to trust and gag his secretary), telling him that they've been framed for the murder of a young nurse. He agrees to help clear their names, and during the discussion Ivy reveals that she has recently taken up a job at the Gotham division of S.T.A.R. Labs under an assumed name (Dr. Paula Irving). She is eventually kidnapped and placed in a specialized containment unit by a researcher named Alisa Adams, but escapes and turns the table on her captor by binding her with vines. Ivy initially informs Adams that she plans to kill her, but instead decides to let her live after seeing a photograph of Alisa's young daughter. Ivy then threatens Alisa into keeping her mouth shut about her true identity, telling her that she will change her mind and kill her if she reveals her secret to anyone.

When Harley Quinn betrays her friends and breaks into Arkham Asylum with the goal of killing the Joker, she ultimately chooses instead to release Joker from his cell, and together the two orchestrate a violent takeover of the facility. Poison Ivy arrives and tries to convince Harley Quinn that the Joker is evil, but Harley Quinn refuses to believe her and knocks Poison Ivy unconscious. After they are defeated by Catwoman and Batman, Catwoman then tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, after Ivy had drugged Catwoman in an attempt to discover Batman's identity. Poison Ivy is taken in Arkham Asylum. Ivy soon escapes and ambushes Harley in her cell, binding and gagging her former friend before she can defend herself. Ivy struggles with the decision to execute Harley for her betrayal, but ultimately releases her after realizing that she is still her friend. Together, the two set off to find Catwoman and make her pay for leaving them behind. The two of them find Catwoman and fight her on the streets. While fighting, Catwoman confesses that she saw good in the both of them and only wanted to help them. When she tells them that she only kept tabs on them because Batman wanted to keep them under control, Ivy lashes out onto the city by using giant vines to destroy buildings, cursing at Batman for manipulating her. Batman is about to arrest them, but Catwoman helps the two of them escape.

The New 52: Birds of Prey, Detective Comics and Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death (2011--2016)

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Poison Ivy is recruited into the covert-ops group known as the Birds of Prey. Though she is specifically hand-picked by the team's leader Black Canary, the other members of the group protest Ivy's inclusion, citing her violent past and connections to various murders. These suspicions are proven correct when Ivy poisons the team and forces them to attack corrupt companies she wants to destroy until Katana apparently kills her.

Ivy survives the injuries and returns to Gotham, breaking out Clayface/Basil Karlo in order to manipulate him into becoming her husband. Batman intervenes to help her, mainly because the locations she attacked were the Penguin's properties. Poison Ivy ends up captured by Penguin's men. She is buried alive by them, but survives long enough to be rescued by Penguin's right-hand man Emperor Penguin who has taken his boss' businesses after the Joker's return. He proposes an alliance with her. However, Karlo, who Batman had set free from Ivy's control, tracks down and attacks Poison Ivy.

The character's origin, in this new DC universe, was presented in a special issue of Detective Comics (#23.1), during the "Villains Month" event in September 2013.

In this timeline of The New 52, Pamela Isley was born with a skin condition that prevented her from leaving her home. The garden was the place where she spent most of her limited time outside. Her father constantly beat her mother until he finally murdered her and buried her in the garden. While in college, Pamela sold pheromone pills to other students to study its effects until she was caught by police. She used a powerful version of the pills to mind-control the dean so he would drop the charges and let her graduate from college with honors. While visiting her father in prison, she kissed him with a poison that was secreted from her lips that killed him.

Later she landed an internship in Wayne Enterprises in its Bio-Chemistry division developing pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. She was fired after proposing Bruce Wayne to develop chemicals that could brainwash people by triggering social or behavioral responses from them. As she was escorted out by security, she accidentally spilled the chemicals she was working with on herself, giving her powers to control plant life and immunity to all poisons and viruses.

Cycle of Life and Death

In January 2016, DC Comics debuted Ivy's first six issue mini-series, Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death. As Dr. Pamela Isley, PhD, she joins the prestigious plant sciences department at Gotham Botanical Gardens, but things quickly get complicated when Luisa Cruz, Ivy's friend and mentor, is murdered via poisoning. Ivy investigates whilst working on her latest project, successfully giving life to two children who are plant-human hybrids like herself, as well as her biological daughters. Ivy names them Rose and Hazel.

With the help of Selina Kyle and fellow researcher, Darshan, she finds that the Gotham Botanical Gardens were performing experiments which resulted in creating another plant-human hybrid named Thorn. Ivy destroys the laboratory and rescues the child. Ivy raises Rose, Hazel and Thorn who grow to adult size at an exponential rate, becoming young women within 35 weeks. When the girls sneak out to see Gotham City at night for the first time, they cause an incident at a strip club that gets the police involved and Ivy has to help them escape.

Returning to the apartment, Ivy locks Rose, Hazel and Thorn away so they will not leave again. Ivy finds Doctor Eric Grimley - Chair of the Gotham Botanical Gardens Research Department - waiting on her balcony and he attacks her. Grimley had transformed himself into a large plant-like monster to escape dying from cancer. Grimley murdered Luisa because she was suspicious of the experiments he was performing and now, with his cancer returning, intends to harvest Rose, Thorn, and Hazel for spores to help escape death again.

Darshan arrives and releases the girls, who help Ivy fight Grimley along with Swamp Thing - who seeks to punish Grimley for wanting to defy nature by escaping the cycle of life and death. Together they defeat Grimley, with Thorn hacking him up with a machete for the experiments she was put through.

Darshan later helps Rose, Thorn, and Hazel leave Ivy, reasoning that they were getting so restless they'd go eventually with or without his help, and they set off away from Gotham to places unknown, claiming they planned to live out their lives regardless of how short they may be.

DC Rebirth (2016--present)

Poison Ivy appears in the first story arc of Trinity vol. 2 (issues 1-6) as part of the "DC Rebirth," trying to create a portal between a dream world inhabited by an entity of the Green called White Mercy which is related to the Black Mercy plant. She builds the portal at an old shed at Clark Kent's farmhouse but doesn't realise that Diana, Clark and Bruce Wayne are actually the Trinity. It is later revealed that this is a plan orchestrated by Mongul trying to conquer Earth using Superman as a vessel. With the help of Poison Ivy and the White Mercy entity, Mongul is stopped but Poison Ivy loses her memories of this incident.

She later appears in Batgirl #6 where she teams up with Batgirl to save an airplane and it's passengers from a plant that's growing uncontrollably in the cargo bay. It is hinted that she knows Batgirl's true identity but decides to keep it a secret. Poison Ivy is also a recurrent character in the Harley Quinn series and Harley's main love interest though the two are not exclusive.

In All Star Batman #7 Batman is asking for Poison Ivy's help as a scientist so he can stop a deadly virus that's threatening to destroy the planet. After helping him and manufacturing the cure, Batman promises to clear her name.

The character appears in the third volume of Batman, with a cameo in issue #26 and a meeting with the Riddler in issue #27.

In Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #13, together with Catwoman, Poison Ivy returns to the team, and it is revealed that she knows the identities of her teammates.

src: i.ytimg.com

Activism

Ivy calls herself an "eco-terrorist of global importance" and has demonstrated philanthropic contributions to conservation efforts. A Gotham Girls episode "Pave Paradise" has her going out of her way to get Gotham's mayor to prevent bulldozing of a park because he swore he wouldn't in his election campaign.

src: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

Powers and abilities

The dangerous experiments that transformed Pamela into Poison Ivy placed a deliberate overdose of plant and animal-based toxins into her blood stream that make her touch deadly while also allowing her to boost her immunity to virtually all pathogens. This immunity also includes Joker venom. Some comics have even gone so far as to depict her as more plant than human, breathing carbon dioxide and requiring sunlight to survive.

The character's body produces pheromones that make people susceptible to mind control around her, especially men, although strong-minded people like Batman are usually capable of resisting. She specializes in hybrids and can create the most potent floral toxins in Gotham City. Often these toxins are secreted from her lips and administered in her preferred way, a poisonous kiss, usually after professing false love or affection for her victim. They come in a number of varieties, from mind-controlling drugs to instantly fatal toxins.

She has the ability to encourage and direct the growth of plant life on a molecular level. This plant growth can occur in an instant, allowing her to use plants in the environment to her advantage during combat. In volume three of Batman, she causes giant plant roots to become uprooted at a moment's notice, and directs the roots to entangle her enemies. While in Arkham Asylum, she manipulates and animates plants, using roots to form supports for a tunnel she and another inmate named Magpie dig to escape, and also spawning glowing fungi to entertain Magpie. Plant vines are also commonly seen extending over her limbs and neck, creating part of her overall appearance.

Poison Ivy is identified by the Swamp Thing as a being with an elemental mystical component, whom he calls the "May Queen". Writers have not referred to her in this way in quite some time. She has shown an ability to use the Green, a force connected to plant life. Ivy is able to communicate over great distances with this talent, as she manifests in a vase of roses in Zatanna's dressing room to talk to the magician.

The character carries a certain number of live vines: coupled with her natural ability to commune with plant life, they act as weaponry, or defensive/grabbing appendages. Their supply is, however, limited.

Romantic relationships

Batman

Although Poison Ivy has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, she and Batman have worked together in achieving common goals and Ivy has been a romantic interest for him in comic-book storylines. While not at the same level as his relationship with Catwoman, Batman could return her affection in some way. There has always been a sexual tension between the two, most notably in their canonical earlier encounters. In her first appearance, Poison Ivy tries to convince Batman to join her side and creates love potions that ensnare him. Ivy says numerous times that she is in love with Batman and even expresses a sexual attraction for his "perfect physique". Her attraction is confirmed in Widening Gyre. There are, however, also indications that it is more than just lust she feels for him. In other examples, Ivy has several chances to kill Batman. However, she still loved him too much and held back. At first, Ivy's infatuation with Batman was one-sided; later stories presented the attraction as more mutual, but hindered by reluctance on Batman's part. In one such issue, she mistook his saving her from death as proof he loves her, though he responds that she doesn't know the meaning of love. She later kisses Bruce during a robbery, poisoning him. But when she subsequently kisses a dying Batman, she unknowingly cures her intended victim and establishes a budding romantic tension between them. During the "No Man's Land" arc, Batman comes to her rescue while she is held captive by Clayface, with Ivy remarking that she knew he would. In the 2004 story Batman/Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows, Batman teams up with Ivy to stop a killer, and must later accept a kiss from her as a cure for poison. The story revolves around a killer carrying out a series of Ivy-like murders (i.e. poisonous flower bouquets delivered to the victims). However, after it's determined that Ivy cannot possibly be the culprit, Batman and Ivy work together to take the killer down. At the end of the story, Batman has been poisoned by the flowers, and he must kiss Poison Ivy for the cure. Batman at first decides to punch her, hesitates, then willingly shares a romantic kiss with her instead, curing him. At first assuming Batman dead, a distraught Poison Ivy tries to kill herself, further revealing her feelings for him and once more insinuating that it is more than just lust she feels for him. Later, Batman filled Ivy's cell at Arkham with flowers as a gift, to make sure her time there wasn't as daunting as it might have been. A touched Ivy thanks Batman and lets go of any resentment she has for him. The relationship even briefly deviated from the Batman/Ivy relationship into a Bruce/Pamela one when, in the comic series Batman: Gotham Knights, he helps her return to normal.

Harley Quinn

Ivy has teamed up on occasion with fellow villain, Harley Quinn with Harley being her close friend and recurring ally. They are sometimes shown as romantically involved.

• Unlike most villain team-ups, their partnership seems to be based on genuine friendship. Ivy sincerely wants to save Harley from her unhealthy abusive relationship with the Joker. Accordingly, Poison Ivy despises the Joker, and the two exchange vicious banter at every opportunity. In the final storyline of the Gotham City Sirens series, Harley suggests that Ivy may be in love with her, an accusation that stuns her. The following issue has Poison Ivy acknowledge that she may indeed love Harley, but the details of her love are never specified.
• In June 2015, Poison Ivy was revealed to be bisexual by Harley Quinn series writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, stating that she is in a romantic relationship with Harley "without the jealousy of monogamy".
• The partnership between Harley and Ivy has also at times included Catwoman, such as in episodes and issues of the Gotham Girls webtoon and comic book series. In the mainstream DC Universe, the three formed an alliance in the pages of Gotham City Sirens.
• In Harley Quinn #8, Harley went on a vacation with Ivy to a nudist colony in which she tried to convince Ivy to move in with her, but while Ivy admitted that she loves Harley more than any other person on Earth and would love to spend as much time with her as possible, she is currently more dedicated to saving the environment. Harley was disappointed and very sad, but accepted it and the two parted with promises to meet again.

Teams

Former

• Poison Ivy was invited to join the Birds of Prey by Black Canary in The New 52 continuity reboot. Katana and Starling reject the idea and even attack Ivy, but after a brief scuffle, the women begin working together as a team. She remained with the team for a time, but eventually betrayed them, shortly before the team split-up. When the Birds were reformed under the leadership of Batgirl, Poison Ivy was not invited back.
• Poison Ivy joins Two-Face's gang for a short period of time during Batman: Dark Victory, when she murders crime boss Lucia Viti on Two-Face's orders. She is notably the only member of the gang to be upset by Two-Face's casual murder of fellow gang member Solomon Grundy, a plant-based entity. The gang is broken up after Two-Face's apparent death at the hands of the Joker.
• Poison Ivy is a member of the original Injustice Gang of the World, which fights the Justice League on several occasions.
• She joins the Secret Society of Super Villains for a mission against the Justice League. She later joins Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s incarnation of the Society.
• She is coerced into being a member of the Suicide Squad. During this time, she uses her abilities to enslave Count Vertigo.

Other versions

JLA: Created Equal

In JLA: Created Equal, Ivy and Swamp Thing team up to mentally travel through the Green, to try and discover what exactly caused the event which wiped out almost every male on the planet. But the trip is too much for her and it shatters her mind.

Batman: Crimson Mist

In Batman: Crimson Mist, Ivy is one of the many villains whom the now vampiric Batman kills for blood, the vampire Batman's presence causing her plants to wither around him as he gives Ivy the kiss she always wanted, commenting that he could only want her while in the darkness and decay of corruption. Her head is apparently left at GCPD headquarters after her demise.

Elseworlds

• In Batman & Demon: A Tragedy, Ivy is characterized as an elfen healer. She gives Bruce Wayne a cure for his night terrors, only to be slaughtered by Etrigan the Demon.
• In Justice League International Annual #5, published under the Elseworlds banner, Ivy is one of 10 superhumans who has made herself known to the public. In this story, Ivy has the power to seduce and control men, as well as the ability to secrete poison from her touch, willingly.

JLA/Avengers

In JLA/Avengers #3, Poison Ivy appears as a servant of Krona and attacks Aquaman and the Vision as a part of a group of villains. Poison Ivy strangles Aquaman in vines but is blasted by Iron Man and defeated.

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Poison Ivy is subsequently killed by Batman.

Batman '66

In Batman '66 (which is based on the 1960s TV series), Poison Ivy appears. In this continuity, Pamela Isley had botanist parents who started their own nursery called Isley Nursery and worked at a university. After her father Dr. Isley died from a toxic tropical plant, Pamela blamed the university that her father worked for as they did not bother to find an antidote for him. Upon moving back to the south with her mother, Pamela improved in her botany and became immune to the toxic that killed her father. With her new powers, she became Poison Ivy and committed crimes with her plants. Batman and Robin came across her while investigating Louie the Lilac's apparent demise.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Ivy appears as one of the mutated Arkham inmates in the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover. She was mutated into a praying mantis humanoid.

Injustice: Gods Among Us

In the tie-in comic to Injustice: Gods Among Us, Poison Ivy first appears in "Chapter 21" of Year Three, where Dick Grayson, now the new Deadman, possesses Ivy and has her drive the Batplane to the House of Mystery and House of Secrets, where Batman's Insurgency and Superman's Regime are doing battle. Before she can figure out where she is, she gets attacked by Swamp Thing as the 2 of them battle, before they stop and use their powers to save the forest from Trigon's hellfire. As Trigon and Mister Mxyzptlk's battle continues to tear reality apart, the 2 teams retreat into the respective houses, before Doctor Fate and Shazam stops them. Ivy then reappears in Year Four, where her best friend, Harley Quinn tries to convince her to commit a crime with her because she's bored, but Ivy refuses and suggests that Harley turn to someone else. Ivy then reappears in Ground Zero, where Harley calls her to recruit her for her gang, the Joker Clan, but Ivy refuses until Harley can stand up to Joker and since the Regime's peace, plant life is now prospering. Ivy then reappears at the end, where she shows up at Gary's funeral, much to Harley's surprise. Ivy then tries to convince Harley that they can run away together and be free, but Harley refuses to leave her gang behind until the war between the Regime and Insurgency is over, which Ivy accepts. The two of them then share a kiss before Ivy leaves, wishing Harley good luck.

Injustice 2

In the tie-in comic to Injustice 2, after the Regime's fall, Poison Ivy joins Ra's al Ghul and his team for the purpose of creating a better world for The Green.

In other media

Television

Live-action

• Poison Ivy appears in the live-action TV series Gotham, portrayed by Clare Foley (initially), Maggie Geha in season 3-4, and then by Peyton List in later parts of season 4. This version is named Ivy Pepper and is depicted as the young daughter of Mario Pepper, a petty criminal who is framed for the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. In the pilot episode, Detective Harvey Bullock kills her father during a shootout. After running away from her foster home, she befriends Selina Kyle, and becomes a skilled chemist, using plants and herbs to create mind-altering chemicals. In Season 3, Ivy has a brief encounter with Subject 514A and gets caught by Fish Mooney's minion Nancy when she tries to warn Selina. When Mooney unleashes the minion Marv on Ivy, she tries to get away. Marv's brief touch on Ivy accelerates her aging process until she transforms into a beautiful woman in her 20s after she fell into a sewer drain. After her transformation, she uses her beauty - and a pheromonal perfume - to seduce and rob wealthy men. Ivy eventually teams up with Oswald Cobblepot and helps form "an army of freaks", which include Mr. Freeze and Firefly. At the end of the season, Penguin has Ivy and Freeze cryogenically freeze Edward Nygma, where she then helps Penguin build his new club, the Iceberg Lounge. In season 4, Ivy becomes tired of not being taken seriously and breaks into an apothecary shop and steals and drinks some mystical chemicals from the owner's safe, enhancing her abilities further while also altering her appearance.

Animation

• Poison Ivy appears in the animated TV series The Batman, voiced by Piera Coppola. This incarnation is complete with a new origin and rose-like hairstyle and dress as well as stronger ties to Barbara Gordon. Pamela Isley is a high school student and environmental activist. Despite Jim Gordon's protests, as she was sentenced to a youth detention center repeatedly for delinquent acts during her protests, she is Barbara's best friend. She convinces Barbara to help her with "protests" which were actually scouting missions on polluting companies for her hired mercenary, the corporate saboteur Temblor (voiced by Jim Cummings). She uses a voice scrambler in order to recruit Temblor to carry out her missions of ecoterrorism. During one such mission, the plant mutagen "chlorogene" falls on her during a battle between Temblor and the Batman. She awakes in an ambulance afterward and manifests powers similar to her other incarnations, most notably psionic plant control, and an ability to exhale mind-controlling spores when she blows a kiss at her desired target. She swiftly turns her powers to furthering her ecoterrorist career, and takes the 'Poison Ivy' name before being stopped by Batman and Batgirl. In the fifth-season premiere, she is forced into helping Lex Luthor take control of Superman by using her mind-controlling spores and lacing them with Kryptonite dust.

• Poison Ivy appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jennifer Hale (in "Chill of the Night!") and by Vanessa Marshall (in "The Mask of Matches Malone!"). Prior to her appearances in this show, she was mentioned in "Rise of the Blue Beetle!" in a conversation between Jaime Reyes and Paco. In "Chill of the Night!", Poison Ivy appears among other villains in an auction for a supersonic weapon held by arms dealer Joe Chill. When Chill asks the villains for protection against Batman and admits a role in creating the Dark Knight, Poison Ivy and the others try to kill Chill, but Batman stops them. Poison Ivy later appears in the teaser of "The Mask of Matches Malone!". She and her army of 'Flower Children' henchwomen kidnap Batman and she tries to seduce the Dark Knight into becoming her king. After Batman refuses, she orders her guards to feed Batman to a giant Venus Flytrap. Before the creature can consume Batman, Black Orchid (disguised as a henchwoman) comes to his rescue. Black Orchid frees Batman and the two both work together to defeat Poison Ivy. She also has a key role in the opening of "Crisis: 22,300 Miles Above the Earth", in which she is present at Batman's roast. Poison Ivy later makes cameos in "Knights of Tomorrow", "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous" and "Mitefall".
• Poison Ivy appears in the Young Justice animated series, voiced by Alyssa Milano. This version is a member of the Injustice League. In the episode "Revelations", Poison Ivy works with her teammates to create a massive plant creature that attacks various cities across the globe, with the intention of extorting a hefty ransom from the United Nations. Robin and Miss Martian successfully destroy the creature, and the Injustice League members are soon apprehended by the Justice League.
• Poison Ivy appears in Super Best Friends Forever. She is seen in the second animated short "Time Waits for No Girl".
• Poison Ivy is portrayed as a member of the Legion of Doom in Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise, in which she was voiced by Clare Grant.
• Poison Ivy appears in the web series DC Super Hero Girls voiced by Tara Strong. She is a student at Super Hero High.
• Poison Ivy appears in the Teen Titans Go! animated series. She is seen in the episode "The Titans Show".
• Poison Ivy appears in Justice League Action voiced by Natasha Leggero. In the episode "Garden of Evil", she takes Swamp Thing on a blind date to control into helping her overrun Gotham City with her monstrous plants that were affected by the serum that Harley Quinn throws on them. As Batman worked on an antidote, Superman and Firestorm work to fight Swamp Thing while Vixen fights Harley Quinn. During the fight at the location where Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing's wedding is, Superman and Firestorm fight both Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing until Batman arrives to dose Poison Ivy with a chemical that negates her abilities. After the monstrous plants are returned to normal, Batman prepares to take Poison Ivy back to Arkham Asylum.

DC Animated Universe

Poison Ivy appears in several series for the DC animated universe, voiced by Diane Pershing:

• In Batman: The Animated Series, Poison Ivy first appears in "Pretty Poison", in which she makes an assassination attempt on Harvey Dent as retribution for construction over the last habitat of a rare flower. In the earlier days, her metahuman characteristics (such as her immunity to toxins) were stated on many occasions, portraying her as a human with an extreme affinity for plants. She mentions in "House and Garden" where she ostensibly reforms that her hyper-immune system has left her unable to bear children.
• In The New Batman Adventures, Poison Ivy was aesthetically revamped to look more plant-like and her skin turning pale greenish-white. She also became more humorous and seductive in personality, coinciding with her genuinely friendly relationship with Harley Quinn. Her fanatical mindset regarding the despoiling of plants and the ecosphere was also greatly reduced. She supposedly dies in a shipwreck in the episode "Chemistry".
• Although Poison Ivy doesn't appear in Batman Beyond, an stage actress playing her in the musical theater play The Legend of Batman is seen in the episode "Out of the Past". Albeit the character doesn't physically appeared, when asked about Poison Ivy's fate, show's creator Paul Dini stated that Ivy moved to South America and took over the rain forest, being now part of the forest itself.
• Poison Ivy returns in Static Shock. In the episode "Hard As Nails", she and Harley Quinn open a 'support and cure' website that would lure female metahumans to Gotham claiming that it's a clinic to cure metahumans. When Static pursues a classmate that calls herself Nails to Gotham, Static ended up running into Batman and ended up ambushed by Harley and Ivy. When it came to a heist upon a ship carrying gold, she and Harley double-cross Nails only for Static and Batman to save her. During the conflict, Static's powers couldn't work on Ivy's plants but weren't immune to Nails' claws. Ivy and Harley were defeated in the end.
• Poison Ivy had a co-starring role in the Gotham Girls webtoon, in which she joins forces with Harley Quinn and Catwoman.
• Poison Ivy is also seen in the Justice League animated series. In the episode "A Better World", an alternate universe version appears only once in a lobotomized form. She is a prisoner at Arkham Asylum and she is also allowed to work as the prison's gardener. Show's creator Bruce Timm stated that he had turned down pitches for Poison Ivy episodes on Justice League so they could focus on new characters and storylines, only bringing back a minimal number of villains from previous shows.

Film

• Uma Thurman played Poison Ivy in the 1997 film Batman & Robin. Dr. Pamela Isley is a botanist, working for Wayne Enterprises' arboreal preservation project in South America. She is experimenting with Venom to create animal-plant cross-breedings capable of fighting back and protecting the world's plants from "the thoughtless ravages of man". However, her senior colleague, Dr. Jason Woodrue, steals some of her Venom samples in order to transform a prisoner into Bane. Isely is outraged that her research has been corrupted, and when she rejects Woodrue's advances, he tries to murder her by sending her crashing into shelves lined with beakers containing Venom and other animal-plant toxins and chemicals. She is transformed into a poisonous hybrid of human and plant. Replacing her blood with aloe, her skin with chlorophyll and filled her lips with venom, making her kiss poisonous. She kills Woodrue by kissing him with her poisonous lips, and vows to establish botanical supremacy over the world. She allies herself with Bane and Mr. Freeze, and plans to freeze the Earth with a giant freezing cannon, which will destroy the human race and enable Poison Ivy's mutant plants to "overrun the globe". She ensures Freeze's cooperation by pulling the plug on his cryogenically frozen wife, and convincing him that Batman had done it. Ivy then lures an infatuated Robin to her garden hideout and tries to kill him with a venomous kiss; the attempt fails, however, as Robin had coated his lips with rubber. A furious Ivy throws Robin into her lily pond and entangles Batman in her vines, but they are able to free themselves when Batgirl unexpectedly arrives and traps the villainess in her own floral throne. After Batman, Robin and Batgirl foil the villains' plan, Ivy is imprisoned in Arkham Asylum with a vengeful Freeze as her cellmate.
• Poison Ivy is one of the many villains broken out of Arkham by the Joker and Lex Luthor in Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite. She, along with the rest of the rogues gallery, battles with Batman and Robin but is recaptured before escaping the grounds.
• The Batman: Arkham franchise version of Poison Ivy makes a cameo appearance in Batman: Assault on Arkham. When the Joker releases all the inmates at the Asylum, Ivy goes to the greenhouse. Two guards are there and she approaches them and users her vines on them. Later, she kisses guards and inmates with her mind control-lipstick, to possess other inmates to do her bidding and escape from Arkham.
• Poison Ivy appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout with Vanessa Marshall reprising her role from Batman: The Brave and the Bold. She is among the villains unintentionally broken out of Arkham by Superman. She uses her pheromones to paralyze Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg. She is last seen towards the end of the movie robbing a florist shop until Wonder Woman sends her back to Arkham.
• Poison Ivy appears in The Lego Batman Movie, voiced by Riki Lindhome. She is a member of The Rogues, a team of Gotham's primary supervillains formed by the Joker. During the battle at the Gotham Energy facility, she tries to kiss Batman, only for Batman to block it with several of the Penguin's hench-penguins, whom she continues to kiss and poison. She is sent to Arkham Asylum with the rest of the Rogues after Joker forces everyone to turn themselves in. She is later broken out to assist Batman in defeating the Joker, Harley Quinn and the army of Uber villains. They manage to succeed and, in celebration, she kisses a man, which accidentally poisons him. She and the Rogues reconcile with Joker and leave, with Batman giving them a thirty-minute head start.
• Poison Ivy appears in Batman and Harley Quinn, voiced by Paget Brewster. She teams up with the Floronic Man to unleash a virus that will turn everyone on earth into human-plant hybrids like Swamp Thing. Batman recruits Ivy's best friend Harley Quinn to help track her down and stop her from making a dangerous mistake.
• Poison Ivy will appear in the upcoming film Gotham City Sirens.
• A Victorian era version of Poison Ivy will appear in the animated adaptation of Gotham by Gaslight.
• A Feudal Japan version of Poison Ivy will appear in the anime film Batman Ninja.

Video games

Poison Ivy has appeared in most of the Batman video games over the years. In most of these games, she does not fight Batman directly and usually watches in the background while Batman fights one of her plant monsters. She appeared as a boss in:

• Batman: The Animated Series for the Game Boy
• The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Super NES.
• The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Sega CD.
• Batman: Chaos in Gotham
• Batman and Robin, the video game adaptation of the movie.
• Batman Vengeance
• Batman: Dark Tomorrow She appears as a boss in the Arkham Asylum level, if Batman is caught in the vines of her plant monster, she will kill him with her poisoned kiss.
• Poison Ivy has two cameo appearances in Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, first as a hallucination induced by the Scarecrow, and later as an imprisoned inmate of Arkham Asylum.
• In Batman: Gotham City Racer, Poison Ivy's vehicle was playable.

She is able to jump higher than any other character (an ability given to all female villains), increase the growth rate of particular plants, blow long-range poison kisses, and give up-close poison kisses to foes which, in turn, fall apart.

• Poison Ivy appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Cyndi Williams. Sketches of her are viewable on the official website.
• Poison Ivy is a playable character in the multiplayer online battle arena game Infinite Crisis, with Tasia Valenza reprising her role from the Batman: Arkham series.

Lego Batman series

• Poison Ivy is a playable character in Lego Batman: The Videogame with her sound effects done by Vanessa Marshall.
• Poison Ivy appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, voiced by Laura Bailey.
• Poison Ivy appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Tara Strong.
• Poison Ivy appears in Lego Dimensions. She is featured in The Lego Batman Movie adventure pack as the second boss.

Batman: Arkham

Poison Ivy appears in the Batman: Arkham series voiced primarily by Tasia Valenza.

• Poison Ivy makes her first appearance in Batman: Arkham Asylum. This iteration's appearance is revamped to a naked-goddess persona, wearing only an orange prison-issued shirt and foliage panties, and her appearance is also more plant-like having green skin, with vine-like growths and leaves on her body. She acts as the penultimate boss. She first appears in the Penitentiary, begging to be released from her cell so she can help her "babies"; she can apparently feel the pain Doctor Young inflicted on the island's plants while creating a Venom-plant hybrid in order to create the Titan drug. She is later released by Harley Quinn, after which she makes a beeline for the Botanical Gardens. Batman later tracks her down. After some convincing (by way of crushing one of her vines when it tries to attack), she tells Batman that the molds growing in Killer Croc's lair can be used to create a Titan antidote. After Batman leaves, the Joker arrives and gives Poison Ivy a double-dose of Titan, causing her plants to sprout up randomly and grow to massive proportions, wreaking havoc across the island and destroying the makeshift Batcave in the sewer systems. When Batman returns to stop her, Poison Ivy attacks with spore projectiles, hypnotized guards, and an enormous mutated plant-monster. Batman eventually defeats her, and she can later be seen being returned to her cell.
• Poison Ivy makes her next appearance in Batman: Arkham City. Her design remains the same except for a crimson colored shirt. She has taken up residence in an abandoned hotel within Arkham City's districts, isolating herself from humanity and relying on thugs seduced with plant toxins for protection. Late in the game's storyline, Poison Ivy forges a shaky alliance with Catwoman in return for an unusual favor following a brief fight. She promises support from mutated plants if Catwoman will break into Hugo Strange's heavily guarded TYGER vault and recover a rare flower which was seized from her upon incarceration. After the player has successfully completed this stage however, Catwoman spitefully reneges on their agreement by destroying the plant rather than attempt escape with it. Poison Ivy is misled into blaming Strange for this calamity and subsequently swears revenge on Gotham City. Her plant shop she owned in her former life can also be located in Arkham City, serving an actual purpose during one of Catwoman's gameplay missions. Poison Ivy also appears in Batman: Arkham City Lockdown voiced by Amy Carle.
• Pamela Isley is alluded in Batman: Arkham Origins. She is hinted at when the player locates a plant shop owned by her. It is assumed she has yet to undergo her Poison Ivy transformation during this game's time period. The DLC "Cold Cold Heart" also alluded to her via her ID at GothCorp's check-in area.
• Poison Ivy next appears in Batman: Arkham Knight. Her design has been altered: her long hair has been cut short and tied above her head, her pigmentation is now a light tint of the color, giving her a more human appearance. Originally, as seen in Harley Quinn's story mission, she was first imprisoned at the Blüdhaven police station, but was soon rescued when Harley fought the entire police department, as well as Nightwing. Poison Ivy attended Scarecrow's meeting with the other villains, but refused to join in. As a result, Scarecrow had her knocked out and placed in gas chamber to have the new Fear Toxin used on her. However, Batman knocks out the guards and Poison Ivy proves immune to the toxin, allowing Batman to take her to the Isolation Cell at the GCPD. Batman is forced to work together with her in order to stop Scarecrow's citywide fear toxin by helping her awaken two ancient trees that had long since gone dormant. She helps save the city, but sacrifices her life in the process. She dies and disintegrates in Batman's arms after her final act of redemption. Later in the game, a flower is in place on the spot of her death.

Injustice series

• Poison Ivy is alluded in Injustice: Gods Among Us. One of her poisonous plants is an interactable item in the Arkham Asylum stage. Poison Ivy is seen as an unplayable support card in the game's iOS version depicted with her New 52 look, and is mentioned on different S.T.A.R. Labs missions.
• Poison Ivy appears as a playable character in Injustice 2, once again voiced by Tasia Valenza. In the game's story mode, she allies herself with the Society to take over the planet, disappointed that Batman's reform from the Regime wasn't environmentally friendly. She battles her fellow Gotham City Sirens, Harley Quinn and Catwoman (or Cyborg depending on who the player chooses). In her single player ending, Poison Ivy makes Brainiac collect every city on Earth, then kisses Brainiac, killing the Coluan with her poison. She then uses the Earth's plant life to rule the planet.

Miscellaneous

• Poison Ivy appears in "The Flower Girl", a story in Batman Adventures vol. 2, #16. In the story, Poison Ivy is dying from the effects of her own toxins, and makes her way to Dr. Holland, who is practicing science in a remote rural cottage. She pleads with Holland to save her life, but he explains to her that there is nothing he can do. Shortly after, she dies in his arms, and collapses into a pile of dead plants. Moments later, another Pamela Isley, whose character design matches her appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, appears. She states that the Ivy who died is a vegetable creature that she had created as a distraction for Batman, in order to start a new life.
• The character also co-starred in the three-issue comic book miniseries Harley and Ivy, and was given her swan song in The Batman Adventures comic book series, which contains stories about Batman's adventures in Gotham City after a break from the Justice League.
• Poison Ivy is portrayed by Jaime Lyn Beatty in StarKid Productions' web-musical, Holy Musical B@man!.

See also

• List of Batman Family adversaries

References

Further reading

• Daniels, Les. Batman: The Complete History. Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8118-4232-0
• Beatty, Scott, et al., The Batman Handbook: The Ultimate Training Manual. Quirk Books, 2005. ISBN 1-59474-023-2

External links

• Poison Ivy on DC Database, an external wiki, a DC Comics wiki
• Poison Ivy on the DC Animated Universe Wiki, an external wiki
• The Origin of Poison Ivy - www.dccomics.com
• Poison Ivy on the official Superman/Batman Adventures homepage
• UGO's World of Batman - Gotham Girls: Poison Ivy

Source of article : Wikipedia