Harley's best friend and fellow Arkham Asylum escapee, Dr. Pamela Isley (aka Poison Ivy) She is the deuteragonist of the TV show, Harley Quinn. She normally prefers plants to people, but she has a soft spot for Harley and tries to reign in some of her more manic excesses.
Appearance
Ivy is a beautiful woman with green skin, green eyes and green lips — all of her outfits also heavily favor green. She has long red hair and styles part of her hair on the left side, almost covering her eye. She usually wears a green jacket and a white shirt underneath it, with green tights and black high heels. In her pajamas, she wears a "tree hugger" shirt with green sleeves on it and green pajama pants. In Arkham, she wore an orange prison suit just like Harley. In episode eight, L.O.D.R.S.V.P., Ivy wears a green bikini and a scuba diver's goggles.
Biography
Background
Pamela Isley was born to incredibly wealthy parents, but was not born as a usual human. Even as a child she was a meta-human with green skin, which made her stand out and hampered her ability to make friends. This was exacerbated by her own parents mocking her over it and emotionally abusing her. Eventually Pamela went on to gain her doctorate in botany-related sciences, briefly dating a man named Dan there, and shortly after assumed the identity of Poison Ivy, a self-styled "eco-terrorist" fighting for the environment using her power to control plant life.
She eventually ended up in the Arkham Asylum for her crimes, where psychiatrist Doctor Harleen Quinzel helped Ivy to resolve her psychological issues. Harleen diagnosed Ivy as a "classic misanthrope with abandonment issues who befriends plants to avoid human intimacy", and was so successful with her that she managed to get Ivy to the point where she could be around people without vomiting — although she still loathed it. For her help, Ivy became good friends with Harleen until she left to become Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick and girlfriend.
Season 1
"Til Death Do Us Part"
- Main article: Til Death Do Us Part
Ivy kidnapping Harley, having knocked her out with a pheromone toxin
Ivy is introduced in the Arkham Asylum after Harley had been inside for six months. She tried to gently convince Harley that the Joker is not coming to rescue her over the course of three months following that, but Harley stubbornly insisted on waiting for him, even with literally all of Harley's peers agreeing with Ivy. Ivy insisted that Harley could find someone better, but Harley remained unconvinced for another three months until Ivy broke out of Arkham and kidnapped Harley in the process.
Bringing Harley back to her apartment, Ivy set about restoring her dying plants and learned that Frank the Plant ate the boy she paid to water them, along with his parents. When Harley awoke she insisted on leaving to return to the Joker as soon as possible, but Ivy restrained her with several vines and forced her to listen. She reminded Harley that she was a "genius psychiatrist" and convinced her to diagnose herself, and after talking to a hallucination of Doctor Quinzel, Harley diagnosed herself as a "classic abusive codependency". Realizing the problem, Harley finally agreed with Ivy's suggestions to break off her relationship with the Joker.
Not to be outdone, the Joker began to manipulate Harley almost immediately, angering Ivy. Ivy tried to keep Harley from falling for it, but in only a few seconds the Joker had Harley kissing him again and they were back together, stunning Ivy. In response, Ivy called in her debt with the Riddler, having him claim to have a riddle "so funny it makes people's explode" so that the Joker would send Harley to kill him. When both Harley and Batman arrived, the Riddler captured them both and forced the Joker to choose which to live and which to fall into acid. Surprisingly, the Joker chose to save Batman, and Harley was dropped into a pool of "acid".
The acid was actually margarita mix that Ivy scrounged together, but it proved Ivy's point that the Joker did not care about Harley. Ivy pulled her out of the "acid" and explained that she set it all up, before taking Harley back to her apartment. Shortly afterward, a goon from the Joker arrived at the apartment and literally exploded, serving as the Joker's apology to Harley. Harley then went off to break up with the Joker, with Ivy standing by to assist if needed, but Harley ended up needing no help so Ivy simply offered to get her some Thai food.
"A High Bar"
- Main article: A High Bar
While watching Howie Mandel with Harley and Frank the Plant, Ivy saw the Joker take over the show, insult Harley, and then activate a bomb on Howie. Harley then smashed another of Ivy's TVs with a bat, much to her consternation. Harley insisted on showing off her independence despite Ivy's protestations, and together with Frank they convinced Ivy to come along, just before Harley smashed Ivy's phone after seeing confirmation of Howie's death on its screen.
Ivy flying with Kite Man over Gotham City Park
Seeing that the party Harley crashed was actually a bar mitzvah for Joshua Cobblepot, Ivy suggested leaving, only for Harley to abandon her to get propositioned by Kite Man. Eventually Harley came back, but still insisted on staying to rob the Gotham Mint before abandoning Ivy once again. She then found herself surrounded by several kids, Kite Man having stolen Ivy's distilled pheromones and gave it to them. Given that her distilled pheromones cause people to fall in love with her and then die, Ivy and Kite Man had to head back to her apartment to get an antidote. However, Kite Man was under the impression that they would have sex and so disrobed, forcing Ivy to bluntly tell him to get his clothes back on so they could fly back to the bar mitzvah. Kite Man apologized en route, and Ivy admitted that when they were simply soaring through the air, it was actually rather nice.
She arrived just as the Joker threatened to kill Harley if she did not admit she was "nothing" without him, and when she refused all of the Legion of Doom members converged on them all. Ivy countered Scarecrow while Kite Man reluctantly fought Bane and Harley attacked Two-Face. Kite Man quickly went down, and Ivy defended Harley from gunfire while Harley disarmed Scarecrow. Ivy then tossed Harley Two-Face's gun, which she used to shoot Scarecrow's toxin tank and blast him away. However, The Penguin then entered the fray and disarmed Harley, with all of the Legion members surrounding Ivy and Harley.
Harley used a lull in the fight to convince the Legion members to defect from the Joker, so he drew his own gun to kill her, but Ivy stood in his way. Ivy continued to block his path as he became surrounded in hostile plants, the tension rising until the Joker suddenly got a phone call from his contractor. Angered by delays, the Joker just said to "put a pin in this" and departed, allowing Ivy and Harley to leave unhindered. Back at Ivy's apartment she tried to convince Harley that she didn't need to prove herself to anyone, but Harley now insisted on joining the Legion of Doom herself. Frank interrupted them to remind them of the poisoned boys from earlier, so Ivy drank the antidote and kissed each briefly on the lips to cure them.
Personality
- ❝ I can be around people now. You know, I mean I hate it, but I can do it without vomiting. ❞
- — Poison Ivy
Ivy has an acerbic, misanthropic personality, although she is quite affectionate and understanding when it comes to the very few people she considers her friends. Her primary love is for nature, and focuses her criminal goals around obstructing any efforts to harm the environment or plant life. Indeed, most of her friends were plants that she brought to life, until she became friends with Harley Quinn (then Harleen Quinzel). Her strongest relationships are with Frank the Plant, Kite Man her boyfriend, and most importantly Harley herself. Due to her difficulty forming relationships, Ivy has severe abandonment issues.
Frank the Plant is a venus flytrap she brought to life to be her friend, but he turned out to be a sarcastic needler who often gets on Ivy's nerves. As for Kite Man, although she was initially held him in contempt, flying together on his kite over Gotham City slowly began began to warm her to him. Slowly they began a relationship, and although she initially tried to hide it out of shame, she eventually admitted to being his girlfriend and formed a much more powerful relationship with him.
Ivy's relationship with Harley began when Harley helped her deal with her misanthropy, and when she saw Harley being abused by the Joker, Ivy took it upon herself to help Harley out of a bad situation. She slowly managed to get Harley to realize how toxic her relationship with the Joker was, and protected her at any cost, but Harley relapsed several times. This hurt Ivy deeply, and eventually caused a rift in their friendship when Harley abandoned Ivy to go with the Joker. This resulted in Harley becoming Ivy's greatest fear, the fear of allowing herself to trust someone only to be abandoned. However, Harley reformed herself and eventually won back Ivy's friendship.
Powers and Abilities
Ivy is a supervillain with plant-based abilities.
Powers
- Toxin Immunity: Poisons and toxins have no effect.
- Chlorokinesis: Ivy is able to manipulate and animate plants. However, she cannot control plants from Fairy Tales, or certain mutated plants.
- Pheromones: Ivy's pheromones can make people do anything from passing out, to falling in love with her before transforming into trees and dying.
- Regeneration: As a human-plant hybrid, Poison Ivy is able to completely heal herself from even the most fatal of wounds and injuries, provided that she's been buried in fresh soil. After she was impaled through the chest with a harpoon, she was able to make a full recovery within a week.
Abilities
- PhD recipient specializing in:
- Botany
- Chemistry
- Toxicology
Weaknesses
- Mental Illness: Ivy is an extreme misanthrope who originally could not stand to be around humans without vomiting, but managed to learn to avoid doing so with Doctor Quinzel's help.
Gallery
Trivia
- The previous versions of Ivy were manipulative, heartless, seductive, and exotic. However, this version of Ivy is more sarcastic, bitter, laid-back and easygoing.
- She enjoys taking long showers.
- She secretly watches NASCAR.
- She loves Jazz Fest.
- She thinks paper straws are "stupid and get too soggy".
- The Legion of Doom sent her 148 invitations to persuade her into joining them, but she turned them down anyway due to her lack of interest.
Template:MCs