Warning: SPOILERS for Poison Ivy #6Despite her status as an anti-hero, Poison Ivy reminds everyone that only villains can save the world of DC Comics. Poison Ivy has become a more sympathetic character lately, but that doesn’t mean she won’t take drastic action to save the planet. Ivy knows that sometimes the ends do justify the means, and she’s willing to draft other villains into her righteous fight.
Traditionally depicting as an evil nemesis to Batman, Poison Ivy’s dedication to saving the planet—at any cost—has become a more sympathetic and even heroic stance in recent years. DC has responded to that change in culture by reworking Dr. Pamela Isley into more of an anti-hero than an out-and-out villain; first, she helped save Gotham (with her beloved Harley Quinn) in the Fear State crossover event last fall, and now she’s again on a quest to save the planet by destroying humanity in the recently-renewed Poison Ivy miniseries. Over the course of that series, however, she learns that humanity itself isn’t the problem, and rededicates herself to saving the planet and humanity by specifically targeting the wealthy and greedy elite instead.
Ivy conceives of this new mission in Poison Ivy #6 by G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Jay Leisten, Brian Level, Arif Prianto, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. She realizes who she must destroy by any means necessary after confronting (and then killing) her abuser, Dr. Jason Woodrue, one of the aforementioned greedy elite. Woodrue tells Pam that the people will never see her as a hero. She replies: “I don’t care how they feel about me. When the heroes won’t act…it’s the villains who must save us.”
Poison Ivy Reclaims the Label “Villain” on Her New Path.
By meeting “regular” people on her journey—including a chef, a poet, a factory worker, and more—and by confronting her traumatic past, Ivy has grown far past her previous pure-evil role in DC. Poison Ivy has grown to love and care for humanity by seeing humans as an integral part of the environment and the planet. She wants to save people along with saving the planet, and she’s willing to do that saving by any means necessary, even if that continues to paint her as a “villain.” Ivy knows she will go where and do what most heroes won’t, making her—a villain—one of the true for-the-people saviors in DC Comics.
But Is Poison Ivy in the Right?
In the final page, however, Poison Ivy calls out the need for “assassins” and other “revolutionaries” who are willing to act violently on the Earth’s behalf. Whether Pamela Isley is right to be seeking “retribution” rather than “justice” is yet to be seen, but DC Comics readers are eager to see more of this fan-favorite anti-hero as she fights for the planet and all the wonderful people still living on it.
Check out Poison Ivy #6, available now from DC Comics!
