How to Write: Batman

How to Write: Poison Ivy [Tier: C]

In order to tell you my opinions on writing Pouson Ivy, I need to be honest with my opinions on Poison Ivy herself. I'm not a fan. In fact, I'd say she is one of the worst of the popular Batman villains in terms of writing. This is in no way an attempt to mock or insult the writers, because they've worked on other Batman media that is still very creative and interesting. This is my opinion, and you don't have to agree. That said, her character is rather bland compared to others. Mr Freeze is a brilliant but misguided mind frozen with tragedy. Scarecrow is an obsessed genius with a philosophy few understand. Ivy is an often grossly oversexualized tree hugger. Essentially, her motive for being a villain is "You stepped on my plants." In a city full of crazy and deep-written characters, Poison Ivy is pretty lame. Her power is good, of course, and there are a few redeemable qualities of her as a villain, but I feel like most of her character is rather raw. So, I propose that we do a sort of rewrite. We'll keep some core things, but also alter her to make her more interesting. If you want to utilize the same Poison Ivy in other media, I wish you luck but you may want to search elsewhere. However, before you research I would appreciate if you first read my ideas. Some of them might inspire a new way to write her. I don't think it's impossible to write Poison Ivy well, I just think she hasn't yet.

The first thing we'll be keeping is her NOBAT rule. Poison Ivy is known for being a manipulative and seductive opponent for Batman. She challenges his willpower and ability to resist temptation. Poison Ivy doesn't truthfully love Batman like Talia or Catwoman do; that's what sets her apart. She just uses her natural beauty to trick people for her own gain. Batman knows this, and is able to withstand her seduction to some extent because of it. Still, her skill in the art is exceptional and testing for even the Dark Knight. However, this does pose one problem for Harley Quinn fans. It really doesn't make sense for them to be dating. You could say she is bisexual or whatnot, but truthfully, it would generally be an insult to Harley to hmbe treated unfaithfully by ANOTHER of her relationships. So, instead, I believe it's safer and more logical for her to remain single. That being said, however, I did mention a possible connection to Two-Face in an earlier part. I once witnessed in a Batman animated television series a history bring discussed between the two, and it was interesting. I discussed using the iteration of Two-Face from The Dark Knight movie, but it poses one major problem. A core character in Harvey Dent's backstory in that movie revolves around Rachel, a coworker attorney and former flame of Bruce Wayne aka Batman. But Rachel isn't likely to exist in your story(she totally can! Bit my guess is that you will want to utilize more well-known characters). So who can fit the role? I would suggest Poison Ivy. Picture it like this: Pamela Isley was a skilled botanist, but she really became known for dating Gotham's righteous new DA Barvey Dent. She was called "Gotham's flower" as she was quite beautiful both inside and out. Se and Harvey reflected each other's internal goodness. While Harvey sought to bring justice to Gotham, she sought to bring new methods of curing patients with serious illnesses through the breeding of many plants to produce new effects. The exact science boiled down to using cured toxins to kill cells within the node to cure cancer or to use special empathy-inducing pheromones for psychiatric treatment to patients with mental illnesses. However, this all changed when the Joker kidnapped her and her fiancé in his grand scheme to reveal Gotham's true nature. Because of Joker's enthusiasm for insanity and hatred for the people who pretend things will get better, he made sure to strap Pamela to oil drums in the middle of her laboratory. If the bomb went off, she would be killed along with all her hard work and research. Inevitably, Batman chose to save Harvey Dent instead of Pamela Isley. However, she did not die. The special medicines of the prototype plants bled onto her during the explosion, giving her several new abilities and drawbacks. The empathy pheromones could now be released by her, charming people into doing her bidding. Her lips seemed to secrete the pure cell-killing toxins, causing them to be extremely toxic. Her mind was now linked to that of other plants, allowing her to send signals to any nearby. However, the same empathy pheromones affected her brain so that she shares their pain. Any plant near her that died would cause her pain mentally. But far worse than this was that she was now answering. Believed dead and now partially plant, she could hardly consider herself human. She had green skin like some sort of alien. When she grew angry, the plants thrashed and broke everything in sight. The Flower of Gotham had become a beast.

There are several ways that this story improves upon what I believe to be Poison Ivy's character issues. First, to get this out of the way, it resolves the problem with Two-Face. Now he can have his great story. It also connects Poison Ivy with the universe of Batman more as she has ties to both the Joker and Two-Face. Secondly, it provides an interesting explanation of her abilities. In a detective story(Batman stories are generally a mix of superhero and detective), more explanation makes the story feel more interesting. Third, it gives her interesting new character traits. This backstory not only improves upon her antisocial tendencies but also provides a reason why. She and others in Gotham consider her inhuman, causing her to lose faith in ever truly reconnecting with people. Thus, she connects more with plants. She uses seductive tactics partially because it's the only time when she can have others actually enjoy being around her. Her friendship with Harley Quinn(which does work in this iteration) can prove as a lesson to both of them--Harley to not be naive and to face facts, and Ivy to recognize there are always people who will accept and care for you despite what's been done to you in the past. Finally, it provides a dramatic and tragic relationship-gone-wrong situation for your characters. Imagine you love someone more than anything in the world, and suddenly your life together is ripped away from you. When you touch that person's face lovingly, only half of it is there. Kissing this person would mean his/her death. And, to make matters worse, neither of you can look the other in eye and say you are proud of who you are. Ivy can't face him when she feels so ugly and beastlike. Plus, she knows she isn't the kind, pure soul she was before. Harvey can only ever give her half a smile. And he's fallen so low that despite his great desire to be with the love of his life again, he knows she wouldn't like who he's become. It creates a really tragic dynamic between the two that could make for some really great interactions with your characters. I believe this is one of the best ways to write Poison Ivy, but if you feel different that's okay! All this information is for you to take or leave as you please. I'm sure you can make whatever version of her you want feel engaging. Either way, I hope you enjoyed my idea.

In terms of power, Poison Ivy is likely kot a genius or physical powerhouse. Her strengths lie in her manipulative tactics and abilities. One of the few Vatman foes with actual superpowers, she automatically gains an advantage when fighting any foe. However, aside from her seductive skills, poisonous attacks, and lethal plant barrage she should bot be a massive fight. Definitely powerful, but not when it comes to fists and headbutts.

Poison Ivy's heart was broken from her personal tragedy. But what happens if your heart loses warmth?