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Poison Ivy
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Real Name
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Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley
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First Appearance
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Batman #181 (June, 1966)
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Creators
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Robert Kanigher, Sheldon Moldoff
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Team Affliations
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Birds of Prey, Gotham City Sirens, Injustice League, Injustice Gang, Secret Society of Super Villains, Suicide Squad, S.T.A.R. Labs, Super Foes
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Alias
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Paula Irving
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Base of Operations
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Gotham City
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Powers
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Immunity to all toxins, bacteria, and viruses, connection to the Green, Can secrete various floral toxins to injure or intoxicate
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Skills and Abilities
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Expertise in botany, toxicology and genetics, can create mutated plant life she can control, genius level intellect
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Tools and Weapons
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Crossbow, mutated plants, poisons, chemicals to stimulated plant growth
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Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley) is a supervillainess in the DC Universe and is an enemy of Batman, though she did also fight evil for a time as a member of the Birds of Prey.
Origin
After being exposed to an ancient and mysterious plant that granted her immunity from poisons, botonist Pamela Isley dedicated her life to crime and eco-terrorism.
Biography
Silver Age
Pamela Lillian Isley youth remains largely unknown. She started her career as a brilliant botanist from Seattle until the day she was seduced by the criminal Marc LeGrande, who needed her assistance with a very lucrative job. Together, they stole an ancient Egyptian artifact that contained an herb, but the moment the job was a success, Marc decided to kill her with the poisonous herb inside and keep all of the profits himself. Unexpectedly, Pamela survived the poisoning that the herb had granted her from all forms of poison, toxins, and diseases. Combining this with her knowledge of how to produce toxins derived from plants (including toxins capable of mind control), she began a life of crime in the guise of Poison Ivy.
She soon arrived in Gotham and made a showy entrance at the Gotham Art Museum, which was presenting portraits of Gotham's top three female criminals: Tiger Moth, Silken Spider, and Dragon Fly. There Ivy proclaims that she will be the top criminal in Gotham and proceeds to escape, despite the efforts of Batman and Robin (who were already at the Museum as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson). The three female criminals intended to get revenge for their humiliation, only to fall into Ivy's trap, where she had them unconscious and at her mercy. Batman and Robin caught up with Ivy and she tried to turn Batman against Robin, but Batman was able to overcome her manipulation and the two defeated her and sent the villains to jail.
Ivy escaped and attempted to brainwash Batman into being her personal enforcer, only to be defeated once more.
She uses toxins from plants and mind controlling pheromones for her criminal activities, which are usually aimed at protecting the natural environment. Fellow villain Harley Quinn is her recurring partner-in-crime and possibly her only human friend. She is best known as a villain of Batman and plays an important role in his rogues gallery and has proven to be one of his more powerful foes. Pamela Isley aka Poison Ivy has been portrayed as a love interest for Batman in some comics. In one comic, Ivy was robbing a charity gala Bruce Wayne was attending. Ivy's first kiss was poison, the second its antidote. When they first meet, Ivy's toxic lips planted a seed of toxic rapture in Bruce. But when she later kissed a dying Dark Knight, Ivy unknowingly cured her intended victim and established a budding romantic tension between them. 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.