Batman is famous for having arguably the greatest lineup of villains in comic books. His foes are an eclectic group of insane, colorful, memorable psychopaths who each come in their own flavor of deranged mania. Every villain brings out something unique in the Dark Knight, from Riddler testing his intellect to the Joker challenging his morality. Each villain provides a unique, complex challenge for Batman to unravel over the course of one or more issues. Each villain has the potential to wreak serious havoc on Gotham City, but none are quite so dangerous as Poison Ivy.
Over the years, Ivy has become one of Batman’s most powerful foes, deepening her connection to the Green, the lifeforce that connects all the world’s flora. She’s demonstrating all of her monstrous strength in Batman’s newest event, Bad Seeds, which sees her attempt to terraform Gotham into a prehistoric jungle, killing its inhabitants as the environment becomes uninhabitable. Of course, Ivy doing something like this seems pretty typical, but what Batman: Bad Seeds – Sunset proved is that what makes Ivy most dangerous isn’t her powers, but her mind.
Ivy’s decision to ruin Gotham City didn’t happen without buildup. She was recently elected mayor on a campaign of changing her home to fix the world. Unfortunately, this is Ivy, and that manifested as policing people who didn’t live the way she wanted and basically empowering a Green-aligned cult. Naturally, the people of Gotham didn’t like their supervillain leader for very long, and when that coupled with the fact that the Parliament of Trees was after Ivy for killing one of their servents, Police Commisioner Vandal Savage having his sights set on bringing her down, her own allies turning against her, and Harley breaking up with her, Ivy finally went over the deep end.
Any of these setbacks would be enough motivation to make Ivy mad, but all of them together sent her tumbling straight into supervillain mania. She’d never been a stable person, as evidenced by her wide, wide array of crimes and freak-outs, but none of this is unsual for one of Batman’s villains. Ivy is set apart from all the rest not by the fact that she snaps, but how she snaps. She always gets so close to having an epiphany, realizing what she needs to change to turn into the woman she wants and needs to be, but then doubles down on the path of least resistance, which usually includes atrocities. Yet, before she fully breaks down, Ivy is a very charismatic, intelligent woman, and that is a serious problem.
Unlike the rest of Batman’s rogues, Poison Ivy doesn’t think of herself as a villain. She genuinely believes that she’s doing what is neccessary to save the world. Even knowing that she goes too far, she still makes those choices under the presumption that they are required to ensure her goals, which are noble, are met. Of course, the dangerous part is that she’s physically incapable of not seeing her own goals as noble and necessary. Ivy is constantly on the precipice of realizing that she’s the problem, but then dismisses everyone’s concerns out of hand because she has to survive and be correct.
Ivy can genuinely convince herself of anything if it benefits her, and that’s very dangerous indeed, because she’s charismatic enough to convince others, too. She’s shown that she can gather enough support to become the freaking mayor of a city she’s personally nearly destroyed, which all stems from her sheer belief in herself. People want to listen to others who believe in what they say, and Ivy is always one hundred percent committed to everything she does. Even beyond gathering a cult of allies and opening doors for her to do something like becoming mayor, it empowers Ivy.
Ivy faces doubt and even regrets her actions as she does them, but she never stops because she can tell herself it’s for her goals. Because of that self-justifying train of thought, she can move the goalpost as much as she wants. She started trying to save Gotham, but the second it turned on her, Ivy condemned everyone to die. Most villains have lines, like Mister Freeze wanting to help his wife and Bane having a sense of honor. Ivy is willing to adjust her lines to whatever floats her boat, which sets her apart and drives her determination, which characters with no lines like the Joker can’t do. Ivy combines genuine determination with manic planning, which always results in a deadly duo.
Poison Ivy is a monster because she’s always convinced that she’s not, even when she knows she’s acting like one. Her unique brand of villainy is heightened so much because of that, but which part of Ivy’s insane character do you like the most?
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