Poison Ivy (DC)
Poison Ivy is a female comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Pamela Isley
According to one account, she was born as Lilian Rose who studied botany where she became enamoured with her French professor Marc Legrand. He specialised in botany where the two eventually embarked on a secret affair with her being completely committed to him. Legrand convinced her to break into the Egyptian exhibit at the museum as a recent find had brought in relics that contained preserved plants within them. He claimed that he could use this to become rich and the two could get married with that money. Thus, Lilian did as she was asked and returned with the artefacts where Legrand used some of them to poison Rose in an effort to kill her so that no one could identify his theft. However, the poisons came to be absorbed by Lilian's body and she gained an immunity to them along with the power to control plants along with control men thus leading to her adopting the name of Poison Ivy. In this guise, she came to take her revenge against Legrand where she turned his body into a wood-based plant entity who had forgotten his past and served her as her henchman. (World's Finest v1 #252)
Turning to crime, Pamela adopted the alias of Poison Ivy and appeared in public for the first time in Gotham City in order to challenge the most renowned female criminals for the title of Public Enemy No. 1. She managed to outmatch them, but she was confronted by Batman and Robin. Using her charms, she almost escaped from them, but Batman recovered just in time to capture her and placed her in prison. (Batman v1 #181) Later, Ivy attempted to escape prison using Batman as her enforcer, but her plan backfired and she was captured once again. (Batman v1 #183)
Some time later, Ivy joined forces with Catwoman and Madame Zodiac in order to confront Batwoman, Batgirl and Huntress. Although successful at first, Ivy and Catwoman were captured and defeated while Zodiac betrayed them and escaped, leaving them behind. (Batman Family v1 #17)
Eventually, she escaped from prison and joined the Injustice Gang, but they were all defeated by the Justice League. (Justice League of America v1 #111)
She returned to Gotham City with a grand scheme to steal the assets of Wayne Enterprises from Bruce Wayne. (Batman v1 #339) Ivy's plan was almost successful, but despite his hypnotic suggestion, Bruce Wayne resisted Ivy's commands and challenged her as Batman. Ivy's plan came crumbling down when Batman and Robin worked together against her and her trusted assistant revealed the truth to the authorities. Ivy was subsequently arrested and Wayne recovered the assets of his company. (Batman v1 #344)
However, Ivy was soon released due to lack of evidence and good behavior and she started working on her next scheme. She allied with a scientist and together, they created plant monsters that could potentially destroy Gotham. Ivy then used some executives from Wayne Enterprises to give the creatures their energy. (Batman v1 #367) Her recklessness caused Ivy to be confronted once again by Batman, who foiled her plans with help from the new Robin. (Detective Comics v1 #534)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Pamela Lillian Isley
In college, she came to study under a man who knew more about plants than anyone with this being Jason Woodrue. (Secret Origins v2 #36) She came to be involved with her professor during a time he was conducting macabre experiments in hybridization. This involved genetic restructuring of mature animals until he decided to progress to human experiments where he convinced Pamela to take part in his research. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43) Thus, he made her participate in a series of experiments where she later claimed that she had died and been reborn with the power to control plants. (Secret Origins v2 #36) She remained in the hospital until she recovered and by the time she came back to school Professor Woodrue had already left for the east coast. By this point, there was a stark change in Pamela's personality as she would switch between being sweet to destructive. She was later with her boyfriend when he totalled his car during a fight with her later quitting school. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43)
One of her fellow grad students who worked with her during this time was Philip Sylvian where the two did some research together. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43)
After several encounters with Batman, Ivy was locked in prison for a while, until she was released on parole. Joining forces with a criminal known as 'The Grip', Ivy used her pheromones and seduction tactics to steal from wealthy men. Unfortunately, her victims also died and investigations revealed that they had been killed by a disease that was slowly killing Ivy as well, as a result of the weakening of her poison immunity. Batman located Ivy and after a brief confrontation, she understood that her life was in danger and agreed to be hospitalized, where she would be properly treated and eventually recovered. (Detective Comics v1 #589)
After a massive breakout from Arkham orchestrated by Bane, Poison Ivy escaped and created an army of 'deadfellows', after which she attended a Charity Function at the Gotham Civic Center, where she released some plant spores in the air to mind control all the wealthy men of Gotham and she took them to her hideout, the greenhouse Neo Eden. Batman thwarted Ivy's plans and stopped the eco-terrorist. (Batman v1 #495)
A few years after her arrival, she would try to leave Gotham forever, escaping Arkham to settle on a desert island in the Caribbean. She molded the barren wasteland into a tropical paradise and stated that for the first time in her life, she was happy. It was soon firebombed, however, when an American-owned corporation tested their weapons systems out on what they thought was an abandoned island. Ivy then returned to Gotham, punishing those responsible. After being willingly apprehended by Batman, she resolved that she could never leave Gotham, at least not until the world was safe for plants. From then on, she dedicated herself to the mission of purifying Gotham. (Batman: Poison Ivy v1 #1)
Bruce Wayne funded installation artist Chris Colson to create an environmental project out of two Gotham City blocks devastated by the earthquake during no man’s Land. Poison Ivy approached Colson, saying she’d be his muse and gave him the idea of turning the city blocks into a recreation of the Garden of Eden. Ivy created the sprawling garden using a single seed and Colson presented his work to a group of patrons at his art opening. The hallucinogenic effects of the garden’s flowers caused the patrons to give into primal desires and strip naked, but by nightfall they became feral and started attacking each other. The garden started spreading out through the city, and Poison Ivy told Colson, who didn’t know what Ivy was planning, that she no longer needed him and she entwined him in vines and tied him to a tree. Batgirl investigated what was happening and freed Colson, learning his story. Poison Ivy told the patrons that Gotham City and city life was an abomination, and that they’d freed themselves by giving themselves over to mother nature. She boasted that her garden would spread throughout all of Gotham until it was a paradise on Earth. Batgirl foiled her by setting the garden on fire and Batman took Poison Ivy into custody, ignoring Ivy’s pleas that he could join her in paradise. (Batgirl v1 #52)
Poison Ivy wanted to restore the razed Gotham to a state of nature, and created a super-fertilizer for that purpose with the help of a WayneTech employee she had wrapped around her finger. Catwoman was on anti-looter patrol, and spotted her, unsure of getting involved until she witnessed Ivy killing the man with her poison kiss. Ivy dropped seeds into the super-fertilizer that instantly made them giant strangler vines, and Catwoman had to flee, but caught up with Poison Ivy at the GCPD station, where she was continuing her work. Catwoman helped Harvey Bullock pull up the roots of a tree that was destroying the station, and then confronted Ivy at the Gotham reservoir. She caught the vial of seeds Ivy was going to drop in it with her whip, and shattered the vial on Ivy's face. Ivy had previously ingested some of the fertilizer, and some of the seeds grew inside her, incapacitating the villain. Ivy was handed over to the GCPD and asked that the seeds inside her be allowed to keep growing, even if it killed her. (Catwoman v2 #57)
Ivy discovered Harley Quinn trapped under some wreckage, later she took Harley in and gave her a chemical drink that gave Harley superhuman powers. Ivy had a truce going with Batman, she could remain free as long as she delivered food to quake victims and didn’t go after Batman. To circumvent this she sent Harley after him. (Batman: Harley Quinn v1 #1)
Harley Quinn wanted to prove her worth to Joker, so she teamed with Ivy to hack into and raid Branaco’s bank account. Ivy also used files on Branaco’s database to expose the environmental damage the company was causing to the media. Ivy tried to convince Harley that with her new offshore account she should be independent, and stay away from Joker, but her advice fell on deaf ears. (Harley and Ivy: Love on the Lam v1 #1)
Ivy choked off the Amazon river with mutated hyacinths in order to flood nearby villages in an attempt to stop the deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest. She was apprehended by Flash and Batman. (JLA: A League of One v1 #1)
After Gotham City was reincorporated into the United States, the city wanted to evict her from the park and send her back to Arkham Asylum. They also mistakenly believed that the orphans in Ivy's care were unwilling hostages. The Gotham City Police Department threatened to spray the park with 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 as well. Ivy refused to leave the park to the city and let them undo the work she had done, so she chose martyrdom. It was only after Rose, one of the orphans, was accidentally poisoned by Ivy that she surrendered herself to the authorities in order to save Rose's life. Batman then became aware that Ivy was still more human than plant. (Detective Comics v1 #752)
Later, it was discovered that Ivy had 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 referred to it as a guilty pleasure. In an unprecedented event, the souls of her victims merged with the plant, creating a botanical monster called Harvest, which sought revenge upon Ivy. With the intervention of Batman, however, she was saved. Ivy was left in critical condition, and the whereabouts of Harvest were unknown. (Detective Comics v1 #823)
Later on, Lex Luthor orchestrated a scenario to test Supergirl Kara Zor-El powers. To achieve that end, he hired Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to rob a bank, and when Supergirl arrived Poison Ivy kissed Supergirl with synthetic kryptonite lipstick. Surprisingly the synthetic-k had no effect on Supergirl, and she easily bested Ivy and Harley. (Superman/Batman v1 #19)
Needing a place to stay, she used her abilities to seduce the Riddler and kept him docile whilst she lived at his townhouse off Robinson Park. (Gotham City Sirens v1 #1)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Pamela Isley was born with a skin condition - an aversion to sunlight. Though the doctor had prescribed her a lotion to protect her, little Pamela's abusive father had forbidden her from going outside at all. On one occasion, when her mother allowed her to play outside, he had angrily punched her in the face, giving her a black eye. As if nothing had happened, Pamela's mother stepped outside and began gardening. Seeing her daughter there, she explained that she liked gardening because the flowers listen to her, and sometimes, if she stays very quiet, they speak back to her. When Pamela had asked about the black eye, her mother had assured her it was nothing to worry about. The abuse continued. Every time he hit her, Pamela's father bought his wife's forgiveness with flowers, and her garden would grow. That was how Pamela learned that flowers could manipulate people. However, she also learned of human cruelty when her father murdered her mother in cold blood, having had enough of her disobedience to him. He buried his now ex-wife under her own garden—her flesh decaying and now feeding the very flowers she planted—before being arrested by the police. At the trial, he was found guilty of domestic violence and murder, and sentenced to life in prison. Pamela was then sent to live with a relative. In college, she created designer drugs, doling pheromone pills out in order to study their effects. The University learned of her activities, and she was expelled and put in jail pending a criminal indictment. However, she had already used her pills to get the Dean under her thumb. Charges were dropped, and she graduated Summa Cum Laude. After graduating, Pamela visited her father in prison for the first time since the murder of her mother. He stubbornly sat in silence, just staring at her and waiting for her to make the first move. After a time, she decided to do what made the most sense. She leapt up out of her seat and kissed him on the lips. By the next morning, he was dead, and the toxin used to kill him was untraceable. (Detective Comics v2 #23.1)
After being freed by Ignatius Ogilvy, Ivy came to owe the man a favour as he wanted greater power to defeat Batman. (Detective Comics v2 #19) This led to him being given a concoction that transformed him by giving him superhuman abilities where he took the name Emperor Penguin. (Detective Comics v2 #20)
She then went to rendezvous with Harley at Eden only to arrive to find it burnt down with Joker's clowns present at the scene. Ivy then used her powers to kill the clowns and decided to use this as an opportunity to re-invent herself with her taking the name of Queen Ivy. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She was born as Pamela Lilian Isley though in time she was known by a number of names on different files including Pamela Isley and Lilian Rose though she also let people call her Ivy. (Secret Origins v2 #36) After re-inventing herself, she decided to take the name of Queen Ivy. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1)
Pamela was said to had always wanted to be a botanist as she lived flowers and plants. She felt that they were real with her in her youth talking to them and telling them her hopes as well as her fears. (Secret Origins v2 #36)
It was said that Isley related with plants more than she did with people. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43)
No one was said to be able to figure Pamela out when she was younger as she was a smart woman that was drawn to abusive men. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43)
According to herself, she claimed that she was a really ugly kid with buck teeth and plump hair. She was said to had discovered boys when she was 5 years old whilst they discovered her when she was 15 years old. (Secret Origins v2 #36)
Her family were said to had been rich but not super-rich. (Secret Origins v2 #36) By the time she was an adult, her parents were noted to had been deceased and that she had few living connections to her past. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43)
While being interviewed as a potential candidate for the Suicide Squad, Pamela reveals to Inspector Stuart on how she became Poison Ivy. When she heard about Batman, she instantly fell in love with him—believing him to be the “perfect man”; going so far as to make a love shrine of him. With her goal set, she moved to Gotham, created a costume and renamed herself Poison Ivy; she then began committing crimes for the purpose of getting his attention in the hopes of them becoming the #1 crime couple. Unfortunately for Pamela, it didn't work out the way she wanted it to, and so she was apprehended and sent to Arkham Asylum. (Secret Origins v2 #36)
Powers and abilities
It was said that she was a brilliant researcher during her years in university. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #43)
Poison Ivy was able to wall-crawling as the homonymous plant. (Batman v1 #181)
By reducing the intensity of her poison, she can give herself a normal skin tone, allowing her to move around in public without being recognized. (Gotham City Sirens v1 #9)
She could create facsimiles of herself through plants over great distances allowing them to take on her features and voice so she could communicate with a person over great distances. (Gotham City Sirens v1 #1)
Ivy once engineered a carnivorous plant that came to be known as Harvest where she fed her victims to it. The plant absorbed the personas of the people it ate and developed the ability to rapidly regenerate as well as transform itself into any plant-life it chose. However, Harvest would break free from Ivy's control and would seek revenge against her. (Detective Comics v1 #823) Through genetic engineering, she was responsible for creating human/plant hybrids called Sporelings. These were plant-based humanoids that grew at an accelerated rate to adulthood. Initially, these included two such children that were Hazel and Rose with them being joined a third named Thorn who was created from research stolen from Poison Ivy. (Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death v1 #5)
She once turned Marc Legrand into a wood-based plant creature to serve her where he took the name of Redwood with him forgetting his past. (World's Finest v1 #252)
Among her creations included:
- Edenspring : a product of a hybridization experiment between a desert cactus and an Amazon succulent that caused the accidental creation of a mind-altering drug. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #42)
- Feraks :
Ivy created a garden paradise she called Eden in a cave system underneath Gotham City's park after Harley Quinn was poisoned by the Joker. It was meant to serve as a kind of rehabilitation clinic and contained plants that could remove toxins from a person's body. Poison Ivy's usual rule was that there were no clothes around in Eden but this varied if other people were brought to the location. Some of the plants were said to hold residual personalities of Poison Ivy. (Batman v3 #97)
Notes
- Poison Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff where she made her first appearance in Batman v1 #181 (June, 1966).
- In an interview, writer J. T. Krul said, "The thing I love most about Poison Ivy is her walking that line between bastion of Mother Nature and psycho Eco-terrorist. She sees herself as the hand of Mother Nature. If Mother Nature were "God," then Ivy would be her "Jesus." She defends the defenseless nature of the world and truly believes in her cause. Maiming, mauling, and mutilating are extreme measures, but it's nothing compared to what irredeemable cruelties humanity's done to the world of nature. Ivy always sees the greater good as she punishes those who deserve it."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In the DC Animated Universe, Poison Ivy made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Batman: The Animated Series, Poison Ivy first appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Diane Pershing.
- In The New Batman Adventures, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Diane Pershing.
- In The Batman, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Piera Coppola.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Jennifer Hale in "Chill of the Night!" and by actress Vanessa Marshall in "The Mask of Matches Malone!".
- In Young Justice, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Alyssa Milano.
- In Justice League Action, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Natasha Leggero.
- In Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Lake Bell.
Films
- In Batman & Robin, Poison Ivy appeared in the 1997 live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Uma Thurman.
- In Batman and Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated film where she was voiced by actress Paget Brewster.
- In Batman Ninja, Poison Ivy appeared in the setting of the anime film where she was voiced by Japanese actress Atsuko Tanaka and by English actor Tara Strong in the English dub
- In Batman: Hush, Poison Ivy appeared in the animated film where she was voiced again by actress Peyton List.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Poison Ivy appeared in the MMORPG video game where she was voiced by actress Cyndi Williams.
- In Infinite Crisis, Poison Ivy appeared as a playable champion in the setting of the MOBA video game where she was voiced once again by actress Tasia Valenza.
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Poison Ivy was referenced in the setting of the fighting video game.
- In Injustice 2, Poison Ivy appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where she was once more voiced by actress Tasia Valenza.
Appearances
- Batman v1: (1966)
- Detective Comics v1:
- Batman: Poison Ivy v1:
- Batgirl v1:
- Batman/Superman v1:
- Gotham City Sirens v1:
- Birds of Prey:
- Detective Comics v2:
- Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death v1:
- Batman v3:
- Heroes in Crisis v1:
- Batman: The Joker War Zone v1: (2020)
- Poison Ivy v1: (2022)
External Links
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