The DC Universe is full of intriguing characters that have plenty of good and bad qualities. These qualities create incredibly complex characters that become interesting to explore in a feature film format. Poison Ivy may not be considered the most lethal villain, but she has many qualities that would make her a great leading lady.
There have been plenty of DC projects that have explored the backstories of its heroes and villains. Formations of groups heroic and villainous groups were seen in Justice League and both adaptations of Suicide Squad, but there have been plenty of solo projects that have arrived in the past few years. In 2019, DC explored the backstory of one of the most notorious villains in Joker.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance as the twisted Gotham villain in Joker gave the DC character a complicated backstory that stemmed from familial issues, societal treatment, and mental illness. These qualities festered, forming an eventual break for Arthur Fleck. Joker is not the only DC villain with a horrendous backstory worth exploring. Poison Ivy, while not as famous as Joker or even Harley Quinn, has a story that could be examined in a film like the 2019 Joker film.
How Poison Ivy comes into her powers often differs from each adaptation of the character. Often, Ivy is a Ph.D. student who is somehow poisoned or experimented on out of ill intent. In Fox's Gotham television series, Ivy's powers manifested after an incident as a young child. Regardless of how she comes into her powers to control and mutate plants, Ivy is always portrayed as a character who has a deep-rooted love for plants and an understanding of how they must be cared for. Prior to her powers, Ivy is typically an impressionable and somewhat shy character that has trouble asserting herself with others.
This gullible persona is abandoned once Ivy does come into her powers. She becomes overly confident and has no trouble exercising her powers for the benefit of the environment. Because of this, she is traditionally considered an eco-terrorist and labeled a villain. However, some adaptations portray Ivy in the light of an antiheroine. Her motives can alter between good and bad, but the intent behind her actions rarely changes. Her allegiance lies within the earth and its botanical creatures. This makes Ivy a character far different from anyone currently in the DC Universe. With the evolution of CGI and what can be created visually, Ivy's powers have unimaginable potential for what they could look like in a live-action format.
A feature film that explores Ivy's life before her powers would certainly be able to examine her antiheroine label. Even if it does not begin with Ivy's childhood and merely offers short glimpses into it, the treatment she received from her parents could offer a deeper understanding of the character. This tactic was used for Arthur Fleck in Joker and worked well to understand his motives and the behaviors he was exposed to as a child. If Ivy has been routinely deceived by humans and those she trusted, it would add credibility to her allegiance to nature as opposed to humans.
Ivy is not immune to relationships with humans, as she has a history with both Batman and Harley Quinn that is worth exploring. Batman has had countless live-action adaptations and Robert Pattinson's upcoming debut as Bruce Wayne in The Batman may allow for a Poison Ivy connection in the future. Margot Robbie has not only been included in Suicide Squad but has had her own film in Birds of Prey. Robbie has been vocal about her hopes to see Ivy introduced to the DECU, as the two characters are tightly woven in DC Comics. Even if these characters only make brief cameos in one another's projects, a solo Poison Ivy project would allow the history of these characters to gain traction within the DC Universe.
Ivy's relationships with both Harley and Batman tiptoe between platonic and romantic endeavors, which would be another interesting element that a solo film could explore. Whether it is unreciprocated love or a rocky love-hate relationship, it would also go a long way in fully fleshing out characters like Batman and Harley, without devoting a ton of time to it. It would add another layer to their characters that might ordinarily be overshadowed. For Harley, her friendship and potential tie to Ivy may give her character an element that it has been missing thus far.
With ongoing global climate crises, Ivy's story could also pack a real-world punch that comic-inspired stories can sometimes have. Her characterization is largely flexible, especially in her younger years, which could guarantee an exciting, fresh narrative that has yet to be seen in some origin stories. Ivy's antics are not rooted purely in evil motives and her backstory certainly has the opportunity to prove that. Ivy has the ability to become one of the leading women in the DC Universe, connecting with viewers on her matters of eco-consciousness. Viewing how ignorance or human's refusal to help the world play a role in her dislike for them and her villainous ways would lend itself well to live-action.
Even though Ivy is not as evocative as Joker and Harley, she has several qualities that make her an interesting character for DC to devote the time to explore. Her motives contain an equal dose of righteousness and sin, which already gives her the makings of an entertaining character. Given the traction an antiheroine like Scarlet Witch has found in the MCU as of late, the success of a character like Poison Ivy could bode well for the DC Universe.
