Poison Ivy is Gotham City's resident eco-terrorist. A unique human/plant hybrid, she cares only for her beloved plants and their ultimate dominion over the planet. Once-human, Ivy's body has been chemically altered during a wayward experiment and can create any number of pheromones and toxins to entice or destroy.
Her unique bond with plants means she can swiftly generate new breeds or plant explosive seed pods on her enemies.
Background
Doctor Pamela Lillian Isley grew up in Seattle as the only daughter to wealthy yet distant parents. Intellectually brilliant but shy, withdrawn and naive, Pamela turned to plants to keep herself company as a child and consequentially immersed herself in advanced botanical biochemistry research in college, proving to be an exemplary student with an unusual affinity for the world of plants.
While attending botany class alongside Philip Sylvian and Alec Holland, Pamela was developing a thesis on Plant and Animal Hybridization when her professor, Doctor Jason Woodrue, seduced her and made her a human test subject for his own "Plant and Animal Hybridization" experiments. Nearly dying twice from his experiments, Pamela was admitted to hospital for six months while Woodrue fled the authorities by moving to New York City.
After she was released from the hospital, Pamela began developing pronounced mood swings due to her altered body chemistry but despite this, she tried to resume her college career and it was at this stage that the men and women began feeling inexplicably attracted to her when near her. Eventually gaining a loving boyfriend, Pamela dropped out of college after her lover died in a car accident that was caused by a mysterious fungal growth within his body.
While the toxins in her bloodstream left her immune to all poisons, it also made her touch deadly. As the toxins altered her body chemistry further, she soon gained the ability to control plant life and discovered that she could consciously produce pheromones to seduce men and women to obey her. She could also now "hear" the cries of the ravaged plant world and believed that the plants needed her help. While initially opting to live naturally and peacefully in an undisclosed forest away from mankind, Pamela was driven out when the forest was cleared to make way for a housing estate. Mortified by the pain and death she witnessed from the plants around her, she swore vengeance on those who caused her green friends such pain and traveled to Gotham City to face the company responsible for the estate developement.
Dubbed "Poison Ivy" by the media, Pamela used her knowledge of botany and her newfound powers to create new strains of plants to enlisted some henchmen and began her first crime wave, holding the city hostage until the city's leadership gave her a massive sum of money; which she intended to use to fund a location where she could live with her plants in peace and away from humanity. Unfortunately, this was the same year that the Batman began operating in Gotham and he thwarted her, freeing the city from her threat and imprisoning her in Arkham Asylum.
During her incarceration in Arkham, Batman went to Seattle to gain information about her and learned that both of Pamela's parents were now dead. Meanwhile, Pamela seduced her guards during a transfer to Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary and escaped from custody, fleeing to an uninhabited island near the Caribbean.
Using her powers and botanical expertise to transform the barren island into a floral paradise, Pamela was able to live there quite happily with the local populace believing her to be a plant goddess until a Russian corporation conducts an illegal weapon test upon the island; killing everyone and everything on the island with a new napalm weapon. Surviving the attack, Pamela hunts members of the corporation to Gotham where she attempts to exact murderous revenge on those responsible but she is once again thwarted by Batman and returned to Arkham, albeit after Batman saves her life by placing himself between her a bullet intended to kill her. After this incident, Pamela resolves that she would never leave Gotham, at least not until the world was safe for plants and from then on, she dedicated herself to the mission of "purifying Gotham".
During her second imprisonment in Arkham, two women named Holly and Eva successfully broke Ivy out of Arkham and brought her to their boss, the Floronic Man, who was formerly Dr. Woodrue.>br>
Despite Ivy's animosity towards him, the Floronic Man offered Ivy a massive amount of money to use her DNA to create a child who could control a new strand of high-powered marijuana which he intended to flood the world with and alter the world’s economy. Batman interrupted the plan but was ambushed and subdued by Holly and Eva. Deciding that she did not want Woodrue running the world, Ivy freed Batman and allowed him to go after the villain as she successfully escaped with the money.
Turning her hand to mercenary work; specializing in seduction and poisons, Ivy eventually became a member of the original Injustice Gang of the World, which fought the Justice League of America on several occasions.
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, despite her intentions to the contrary, her victims died and investigations revealed that they had been killed by a disease that was slowly killing Ivy as well, weakening 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.
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. As Bane had planned, Batman thwarted Ivy's plans and stopped the eco-terrorist.
While originally incarcerated in Arkham again, Ivy was shipped to Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary along with Deadshot as a possible asset for the Suicide Squad to use shortly after the Janus Directive incident and she inadvertently helped Lashina "recruit" the Squad to return to Apokolips thinking it was a Squad mission and continued to work with the Squad as recompense for being fooled.
When the voodoo-inspired L.O.A. (Louisiana Ordnance Association) drug cartel felt that Amanda Waller was getting too close to discovering their operations in Louisiana, they leak her continued involvement with the Suicide Squad to the press, forcing Sarge Steel to shut the Squad down and imprison Waller. However, Waller believes the L.O.A. must be stopped and promises Deadshot, Poison Ivy, and Ravan their freedom in exchange for one final mission; they hunt the L.O.A. leaders down and execute them.
One year after her arrest, Sarge Steel has Amanda Waller released from prison to handle a politically sensitive mission in Vlatava. American right-wing extremists, intending to spark open war with Russia, are funding a revolution lead by Count Vertigo against the Soviet regime. Waller agrees to help under several conditions. Recruiting Batman, who is investigating a homicide related to the revolution, Batman helps Waller re-recruit Bronze Tiger, Captain Boomerang, Poison Ivy, Ravan, and Vixen. After her "release" from the Squad, Ivy had became the lover of General Vaca; the president of Rio Brava in South America, and had taken advantage of her status in the country to plunder the nation's treasury. By the time Batman had come to recruit her she had driven the country's populace into rioting against her and the General and agrees to rejoin the Squad if Batman extracted her safely from the country.
Infiltrating his camp, Ivy takes control of Count Vertigo using her pheromones as the other Squad members take care of the other combatants in the conflict. As they return to headquarters Ivy keeps Vertigo under her thrall for her own pleasure, however, when the Egyptian government hires the Squad to take down Kobra in Jerusalem. Ivy had to release Vertigo from her control to disrupt the Israeli military. With Vertigo promising to kill her after he was done, Ivy flees the Squad.
During the War of the Gods incident, caused by Circe, Ivy stumbled upon Circe's stronghold in the Amazon and was captured by the Bana Mighdall. Strung up and about to be tortured, she was saved when the Squad co-incidentally attacked the stronghold to stop Circe.
Ivy's last mission with the Squad was a group infiltration and assassination mission on the island of Diabloverde. The Squad was to locate and assassinate the island's dictator, Edwardo Guzman, a CIA agent gone rogue who gained metahuman powers.
Returning to Gotham and starting another of her schemes to infest the city with her plants by distributing a super fertilizer that will allow her plants to grow at an increased rate, Ivy is present when a 7.6 "Cataclysm" earthquake destroys the city. Establishing that her plan had not been disrupted, Ivy attempts to enact her takeover while the city reeled from the earthquake, however, she was prevented from releasing her seeds into the damaged reservoir by Catwoman.
After Catwoman defeated her by causing her own seeds to grow inside her, Ivy escaped custody and found solace within the remains of Robinson Park and turned it into an Eden paradise. Sixteen children who were orphaned during the quake came to live with her, as she sympathized with them, having suffered a traumatic childhood herself. She cared for them like sons and daughters, despite her general misanthropy.
That winter, Clayface paid Ivy a visit, hoping to form a bargain with her. This would entail her growing fruits and vegetables, while the orphans harvested them, and then he would sell the produce to the highest bidder. She wanted nothing to do with the plan and attempted to kill him with a kiss. Clayface overpowered her and imprisoned her and the orphans for six months in a chamber under the lake in the park. He fed her salt and kept her from the sun to weaken her. Eventually, Batman came and discovered the prisoners. The two agreed to work together to take Karlo down. Batman battled Clayface and instructed Robin to blow up the lake bed above, allowing the rushing water to break apart the mud, effectively freeing Ivy. She fought Karlo, ensnaring him in the branches of a tree and fatally kissing him. She then proceeded to sink him down into the ground, where he became fertilizer for Ivy's plants. Batman, originally intended to take the orphans away from Ivy, recognized that staying with her was best for them, and they remained in her care until the city was restored.
As she was delivering produce to Gotham as part of her partnership deal with Batman, Ivy came across a crashed rocket from Amusement Mile. Discovering a woman inside, she took the woman back to her nursery and heal, later recognizing her as an ex-doctor of Arkham Asylum; Harleen Quinzel.
After Gotham City was re-incorporated 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.
Escaping incarceration again, Ivy was invited by Harley Quinn to attend a party alongside other villainesses and was present when Harley announced her desire to "fly solo"
Poison Ivy later came to believe that her powers were killing the children she looked after, so she asked Batman to help her reverse her condition to make her a normal human being again. Though it was a success, she was convinced soon after by Hush to take a serum that would restore her powers, but apparently died in the process. When her grave was visited later, however, it was covered with vines and ivy, suggesting that her death would be short-lived.
Ivy was back in Gotham when Riddler set his Hush plan in motion. Promising her money, Riddler used Ivy to mind control Catwoman[16] and Superman.[17] Ivy was captured nonetheless, as part of Riddler's plan. When Riddler was finally discovered, he was hunted by all the criminals he manipulated and sought Poison Ivy's protection.[18] However, Ivy wanted to destroy Riddler as much as everyone else and tried to eliminate him.[19] Ivy succeeded on destroying the Riddler by making him realize that he was no longer a criminal force in Gotham and left him in a catatonic state.
One year after the events of the Infinite Crisis, Ivy was alive and active. Her control over flora had increased, apparently on a par with that of the Swamp Thing or the Floronic Man. She also appeared to have resumed her crusade against the corporate enemies of the environment with a new fanaticism, regarding Batman no longer as an opponent, but merely as a "hindrance".
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, who 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.
Combat Statistics
- Poison Ivy (The Greenhouse)
- Poison Ivy (Arkham Asylum)
- Villainy United
- Poison Ivy (Harley's Heist)
- Poison Ivy (Wayne Manor Gala)
Associated Equipment
Involvement
- Poison Ivy is one of the possible bosses in the Turf War: Team Joker duo of the Riddled with Crime episode.
- She is one of the random bounties in the Amusement Mile's Gang War (Bounty: Joker & Riddler Allies / Wanted: Joker & Riddler Allies).
Heroes
- She is also the center of attention of the Spring Seasonal event where Heroes must stop her plants from taking over Gotham.
- Poison Ivy has released her legions of plants to spread across the Giordano Botanical Gardens area. Robin has gone ahead to investigate. You must clear the area of her plant pods and locate Robin inside Poison Ivy's lair.
- She is one of the bosses in Arkham Asylum (Alert). She, Scarecrow, and Mr. Freeze have taken over Arkham Asylum and Heroes must fight them.
- Heroes must stop her, Harley Quinn and Catwoman during Harley's Heist.
- Heroes must aid her and Harley Quinn in freeing Catwoman from the Penguin at the Iceberg Lounge.
- Heroes must stop her, Harley Quinn and Catwoman at the Wayne Manor Gala.
Villains
- She is also the center of attention of the Spring Seasonal event where Villains must help her plants from taking over Gotham. She's located in The Pit where she gives villain players their quest.
- She is one of the bosses in Arkham Asylum (Alert). She, Scarecrow, and Mr. Freeze have taken over Arkham Asylum and Villains must fight them.
- Villains must help her, Harley Quinn and Catwoman during Harley's Heist.
- Villains must help her, Harley Quinn and Catwoman at the Iceberg Lounge.
- Villains must help her, Harley Quinn and Catwoman at the Wayne Manor Gala.
Trivia
- Poison Ivy first appeared in Batman #181 (June 1966).
- Poison Ivy is voiced by Cyndi Williams.
- While Woodrue's experiments on Ivy gifted her with fantastic powers, they also left her barren and infertile. Unable to conceive a child of her own, Ivy turns to her plants as her surrogate children and has a special soft spot for children in general; often going out of her way to protect them.
- Ivy's best friend is the Joker's sidekick, Harley Quinn. Taking pity on the girl when they first met, Ivy gave Quinn a herbal remedy that increased her strength and agility as well as making her immune to poisons so that she could survive her boyfriend's abuse. As time wore on, Ivy's friendship with Quinn grew from one of strained toleration and pity to one of intimate trust and what may be love as their relationship grew to include being available to each other for emotional support and eventually sexual exploration. As Ivy tries to help break the abusive control the Joker has over Harley, Harley tries to convince "Red" that not all humans are bad.
- Ivy considers Batman "the perfect man" (largely due to his ability to constantly resist her) and wants him for herself. She also has a twisted interpretation of their relationship as Batman being her "Knight in Shining Armor" while she's locked up in Arkham, and at times has been frustrated and confused by why he would ever reject an offer to be with her forever. Although he has admitted that he finds her attractive and is tempted physically, Batman harbours no emotional attraction to Ivy.
- Ivy's skin is green due to the deadly toxins that flow through her body. As such she is immune to most toxins and possesses a "poison kiss" which can paralyze, enthrall or kill her foes depending on her mood. By manipulating the amount of toxins in her veins, Ivy can return her skin colour to it's previous "human pink" hue.
- Ivy's physiology is dependent on receiving a certain amount of sunlight, which she absorbs and converts to energy in much the same way plants do. She becomes greatly weakened if deprived of sunlight for an extended period of time. To this end she prefers to expose as much of her skin to sunlight as possible and so wears as little clothing as possible (which conveniently aids in her seductive abilities), indulging in pure nudism when in the privacy of her home.
- Both self professed "Guardians of The Green”, Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing are considered to be mirror images of each other; where the latter is plant life convinced it is still a man, while the more humanoid Ivy will willingly sacrifice the lives of humans in favour of her beloved plants. Swamp Thing himself refers to Ivy as the "May Queen".
Gallery
.png "Poison Ivy (Hall of Doom).png (83 KB)")
See also
External links
- Poison Ivy (comics) Wikipedia
- Poison_Ivy DC Database
| v · e · d | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Affiliates | Amanda Waller - Bane - Black Adam - Captain Boomerang (George Harkness) - Captain Boomerang (Owen Mercer) - Captain Cold - Deadshot - Doctor Light - Duchess - Harley Quinn - Killer Frost - King Shark - Mirror Master - Oracle - Parasite - Penguin - Poison Ivy - Power Girl - Solomon Grundy - Speedy - Steel - Superboy - Vixen |
| Adversaries | Batman - Lois Lane |
| Other | Chemo - Vicki Vale |
| Items | |
| Bombshell Belle Reve's Poster | |
| Weapons | |
| Apparel | Expert Marksman - Punchline |
| Vehicles | |
| Locations | |
| Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary | |
| PvE | Suicide Squad Training |
| PvP | Belle Reve Sanitarium |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Checkmate - United States of America - Justice League of America - Justice Society of America | |