Poison Ivy Appreciation 2020

[marhawkman]

Well I agree with you and I don't think it is a good idea make Poison Ivy some kind of hero: I don't see in her the charisma needed to create a successful franchise and in the Harley Quinn's franchise she would create the problems of balance of power you have just pointed out.

Lots of the time Ivy is "that crook who uses plants" but when Poison Ivy has an actual motive explained she suddenly becomes more interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acb25isLOak

[Celgress]

Lots of the time Ivy is "that crook who uses plants" but when Poison Ivy has an actual motive explained she suddenly becomes more interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acb25isLOak

True, I must agree.

[Restingvoice]

I don't mind whichever as long as it makes sense for her character development

[Celgress]

I don't mind whichever as long as it makes sense for her character development

A valid point, so often it doesn't sadly.

[Confuzzled]

A valid point, so often it doesn't sadly.

It's annoying because they keep resetting her as some ambiguous blank slate. I'm beginning to wonder if that is a editorial mandate so that future writers/events can use her as whatever they feel like: hero, anti-hero, villain or anti-villain.

[Restingvoice]

It's annoying because they keep resetting her as some ambiguous blank slate. I'm beginning to wonder if that is a editorial mandate so that future writers/events can use her as whatever they feel like: hero, anti-hero, villain or anti-villain.

The villain part is the simplest and most often in other media in the past
The anti-hero anti-villain part in other media is still really recent. Arkham Knight, Harley Quinn...

I do believe... seeing how people view the necessity of nature these days, her relationship with Harley who's now a paragon for an abused woman and together they're like a lesbian icon, Gotham City Sirens relation with Catwoman who's firmly on the hero side, her own habit of being the source of food every time Gotham is isolated... I think the anti-hero-anti-villain part is here to stay for the longest time.

The only time she'll be a villain again is in special cases like Batman Who Laughs possessing her in Metal, or if there's an event that pushes her to be back being an extreme eco-terrorist. Did she even do anything in Year of The Villain?

Other than that, she's a neutral force that can be an ally in extension through Harley and Catwoman. She's the farthest from the Bat fam among the Sirens, but characters like Bruce and Babs tend to understand her or know how to talk to her.

[Gotham citizen]

Lots of the time Ivy is "that crook who uses plants" but when Poison Ivy has an actual motive explained she suddenly becomes more interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acb25isLOak

I totally agree and in fact I think she works better like ecoterrorist, than Goddess of the Plant, while too often the writers did the opposite: they have been focused on her power, putting her motivation aside.

[Frontier]

According to Everyone Loves Ivy, Rebirth Ivy has never killed anyone.

I think that may be a bit too much. She needs to at least (want to) kill the despicables. It was pretty awesome when Ives tossed Mistah J into the vat of chemicals.

I agree it was excessive. Her name is literally Poison Ivy, it really doesn't make much sense that she wouldn't have a body count, especially with her prior characterization.

Of course, the reaction to her killing a bunch of mobsters also seemed overblown. Ironically no one watching the Harley cartoon seems to bat an eye when Ivy kills a bunch of people, but then they did with comic Ivy?

A heroic, overpowered nature goddess suddenly becomes disruptive to a noir-esque Bat franchise which prides itself on being more "street", but she infinitely grows more possibilities for her own stories, or even stories with other Gotham characters (if not in Gotham exactly) with higher stakes.

I wonder if that's one of the reasons the HQ show adapted Cataclysm and shook up (no pun) the status quo of Gotham, literally razing it to the ground, as Ivy was way too overpowered in context of the city as it was. When The Joker took over the city, they literally had to take her off the board to even the stakes for Harley and co. And we saw what happened as soon as she returned.

A post-apocalyptic setting in Season 2 would definitely higher the stakes for a superpowered anti-heroine like Ivy, especially with no Batman to help protect what remains of the city.

She would definitely feel like a very different character, in my opinion, if they tried to make her more overtly heroic, although they seem to handle her powerset fine while still firmly portraying her as a villain.

[Confuzzled]

She would definitely feel like a very different character, in my opinion, if they tried to make her more overtly heroic, although they seem to handle her powerset fine while still firmly portraying her as a villain.

Are they though? She keeps protesting when labelled a villain and brings up topical points to justify her means (in a far more rational manner than say in BTAS). She went out of her way to save the kids at Penguin's nephew's Bar Mitzvah. Even when she joins Harley and crew for low stakes crime, it is for the reason of looking out for Harley. Clayface called her the most "human" of all of them at her funeral. Even her death was portrayed like a hero's death. Ditto for her resurrection. Other than the actual heroes, she's easily the most heroic character on the show.

[Frontier]

Are they though? She keeps protesting when labelled a villain and brings up topical points to justify her means (in a far more rational manner than say in BTAS). She went out of her way to save the kids at Penguin's nephew's Bar Mitzvah. Even when she joins Harley and crew for low stakes crime, it is for the reason of looking out for Harley. Clayface called her the most "human" of all of them at her funeral. Even her death was portrayed like a hero's death. Ditto for her resurrection. Other than the actual heroes, she's easily the most heroic character on the show.

I was talking on a more general basis rather then just narrowly with the HQ cartoon. Like in TNBA, The Batman, etc.

[marhawkman]

She would definitely feel like a very different character, in my opinion, if they tried to make her more overtly heroic, although they seem to handle her powerset fine while still firmly portraying her as a villain.

At one point Ivy actually ran an orphanage in Gotham. Why? because she wanted to protect them.

[signalman112]

Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala give Ivy a leaf bikini in BATMAN #367.

Ivy367Batman.jpg

[Gurz]

I really like the villain poison ivy. Lately, they turned her into a hero or something... :/ that doesn't sit right with me. I mean we are talking about poison ivy, she would kill you,if she saw you pull a leaf from a tree... And she fed people to her monstrous plants ocationaly. Ok, you will say she protects plant life and mother nature and stuff... so she has goodness in her. That's what i hear from the most people who want to see poison ivy as a hero....

Yeah, she sadisticly protects plants from other humans but not herself. She makes experimants on plants, gmo them, turn them into horrific monsters as it suits her... what the hell is kind of protection is that, It's just hippocracy... So i believe Poison Ivy is a villain no matter what DC say... 'cause it doesn't make one bit sense, she's not hero material and i like her as good Batman villian anyway.

[Confuzzled]

I really like the villain poison ivy. Lately, they turned her into a hero or something... :/ that doesn't sit right with me. I mean we are talking about poison ivy, she would kill you,if she saw you pull a leaf from a tree... And she fed people to her monstrous plants ocationaly. Ok, you will say she protects plant life and mother nature and stuff... so she has goodness in her. That's what i hear from the most people who want to see poison ivy as a hero....

Yeah, she sadisticly protects plants from other humans but not herself. She makes experimants on plants, gmo them, turn them into horrific monsters as it suits her... what the hell is kind of protection is that, It's just hippocracy... So i believe Poison Ivy is a villain no matter what DC say... 'cause it doesn't make one bit sense, she's not hero material and i like her as good Batman villian anyway.

All this is just Paul Dini writing her. The comics had already started using her as an anti-villain way before BTAS/TNBA (Neil Gaiman in his Black Orchid mini in 1986, Batman Family #17 in the 70's where she teamed up with Catwoman to stop Madame Zodiac) and the 90's comics started portraying her in a far more sympathetic light.

[Confuzzled]

Speaking of Batman Family #17 in 1978, it revealed that Ivy shares the same birthday as Catwoman and Madame Zodiac (March 14).



^This seems like a proto Gotham City Sirens TBH.