After 58 Years, DC Reveals the Mind-Bending Truth of Poison Ivy’s Origin

Summary

• Poison Ivy’s revised origin story reveals her intense motivation to save Gotham, aligning her more with Batman than other rogues.
• After a failed partnership attempt with Batman, Ivy still strives to accomplish her goals, but is labeled as one of the ”
  bad guys.
  ”
• Despite past conflicts, Poison Ivy reaches out to Batman for help in saving Gotham from a new threat, showing their similarities and potential to work together.

Warning: Contains spoilers for Poison Ivy #21!

After nearly sixty years of conflict, Poison Ivy remains one of Batman’s most powerful foes. Insight into her first trip to Gotham shows that things could have been different, as Pam Isley and the Caped Crusader have a great deal in common. They share a desire to save the city that Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to protecting, making Poison Ivy different (and more complex) than the city’s other rogues.

Poison Ivy #21 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara presents the immediate aftermath of Pam agreeing to Jason Woodrue’s experiment, wherein the doctor flees after his first injection goes wrong. Pamela begins to transform, and Poison Ivy’s powers reveal themselves in bits and pieces. Yet it’s not all “making energy from starlight” and pheromones: there’s a dark underside to Ivy’s new powers.

Poison Ivy’s revised origin story reveals that the anti-hero can hear the whole planet screaming, but one “voice” is louder than the others. Following it leads her to Gotham City — and an unfortunate encounter with Batman — for the very first time.

Poison Ivy’s three-part updated origin arc begins in
Poison Ivy
#19 by Wilson and Takara.

Poison Ivy’s Shocking True Powers Suggest She’s More Powerful than Anyone Knew

Ivy’s Connection to the Planet Can’t Be Turned Off

Pam’s retold origin fills in several blanks about her history, but the most surprising detail is why she set up camp in Gotham City. After undergoing Dr. Woodrue’s experiment in Poison Ivy #20 (by Wilson and Takara), her transformation begins immediately. She cites being unable to sleep and sedatives not working for her, but then noise begins coming from the planet itself. She describes it to Bella Garten — soon to become the Gardener — by saying the Earth is “screaming,” and that constant barrage of hurt is so difficult for her to ignore that she sneaks out of the hospital to reach the heart of it.

Ivy’s intense motivation to save Gotham sets her apart from Batman’s typical rogues, who often begin with an agenda geared toward causing suffering, and seemingly puts her more in line with the Dark Knight himself.

That heart turns out to be Gotham City. Pam says it looks like an “open wound,” and her newfound abilities do not leave room to leave. She is certain that she’s meant to be Gotham’s champion and heal the city that called out to her from so far away. For Ivy, ignoring the planet’s plea for help would be akin to Superman attempting to block out the thousands of calls for help that he hears on any given day. It isn’t just impossible; it’s painful for her, and she sees her arrival as a benefit to the city.

Poison Ivy Never Intended to Become a Batman Villain

Ivy Tried to Accomplish Her Goals Alongside Batman

Poison Ivy
#21 makes it clear that Ivy did not initially go to Gotham to fight.

Poison Ivy’s abilities prevent her from leaving Gotham, as she would be doomed (likely for the rest of her life) to hear it cry out for her help. Ivy’s intense motivation to save Gotham sets her apart from Batman’s typical rogues, who often begin with an agenda geared toward causing suffering, and seemingly puts her more in line with the Dark Knight himself. He is Gotham’s greatest protector and has sworn his life to the city, after all. Following her first stint in Arkham, Pamela makes that connection, too, and tries to pursue it rather than become another costumed villain.

Poison Ivy #21 makes it clear that Ivy did not initially go to Gotham to fight. She does not have a clear plan for what needs to be done, and she uses her first real conversation with Batman to ask him what the answer is. If she’s wrong, as he bluntly states, she wants to know the “right way.” The two started with the same goal: save Gotham from itself, but she sees an angle that he cannot and suspects they would be better as allies than enemies. Unfortunately, Batman’s paranoia and distrust prevent them from knowing with certainty.

Batman’s Rejection of Poison Ivy’s Goals Sets Her on a New Path

And Gotham City Suffers For It

Bruce Wayne’s paranoia is as much a defining trait as his strategic mind, and sometimes it comes at a high cost. As Ivy begins explaining why they should work together to save their dying planet, he becomes convinced that she’s using her pheromones to persuade him and rejects everything she says as a result. It puts an end to their partnership before it begins, putting the two of them firmly in the “enemy” territory that Pam sought to avoid. The new label doesn’t stop her from trying to achieve her goals and instead just brands her as one of the “bad guys.”

Readers can see more of Poison Ivy’s morally-gray approach to crime fighting in
Harley Quinn
#38 by Tini Howard and Natacha Bustos, which features Harley and Ivy instigating a heist against a corrupt candy plant.

Their combined might could have changed the entire landscape of Gotham, melding Batman’s people-first approach with Pam’s care for the suffering Earth beneath them. Both are willing to go to extremes for what they believe in, but their core desires are so in line that they could have struck a balance that made a bigger difference. Bruce refuses to grasp the truth in what Ivy says, and left to her own devices, she does not change her ways. It leaves both of them expending energy on each other that could have been used for the city.

Can Poison Ivy Still Act as a Savior in the DC Universe?

Ivy and Her Allies Could Still Save Gotham

Although she lost touch with the Green and fell to one of her lowest possible points, driving Poison Ivy to attempt a mass extinction event, Pamela is beginning to return to her roots. She did not get to save Gotham in the way she originally intended, noting that both she and Batman “could have been something better” than they each ultimately became, but she has not completely turned her back on humanity. Instead, when facing her own death, she chooses to step in front of her friends — proving again that the two of them are more alike than different.

Moreover, despite how many times they’ve found themselves at odds, Pam cares enough about the world to reach out to Batman one last time and ask for his help to undo her own mistakes. They both have a second chance to work together to save Gotham from the Floronic Man and Isley’s accidental army of the undead. From the moment Woodrue’s experiment began to change her, Poison Ivy could not shut out the Earth’s screaming, but she and Batman have another opportunity to save it.

Poison Ivy #21 is available now from DC Comics.