Poison Ivy’s Expanded Origin Confirms Her True Love BEFORE Harley Quinn

Warning: Contains spoilers for Poison Ivy #20!

Poison Ivy is one of the longest-standing villains in Gotham, but a new look at her origin shows a never-before-seen side of her life. That includes the woman she fell in love with years before her relationship with Harley Quinn. Bella Garten, who worked as a lab assistant alongside Ivy, became an incredibly influential person in her life – in all manner of ways.

Poison Ivy #20 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara continues Pam’s journey toward Poison Ivy, and it remains heavily focused on her time as Jason Woodrue’s assistant, student, and lover. Things grow complicated when Bella Garten, the woman who would eventually become the villain known as the Gardener, enters the program.

After beginning as a tense competition, Pam and Bella’s relationship turns into something more. The two become fascinated with each other and the connection and knowledge they share, and their secret relationship becomes a defining point in Ivy’s life, even contributing to her eventually agreeing to participate in Woodrue’s ill-fated experiment.

Poison Ivy Had a Deep Connection With Bella Garten

Pamela may have viewed Bella as a threat when she entered Woodrue’s botany program, but that feeling was only the beginning of something far more complex. Unlike the enormous power imbalance in Pam’s relationship with her eventual supervillain nemesis Woodrue, she finds a true companion in Bella. That narrative is echoed in Garten’s own recounting of their relationship in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1, where she recalls how Pam’s ideas were “electric and beautiful.” They play off each other’s enthusiasm, love of the planet, and all the future may hold, making it clear how entangled the two become.

In Bella, the young Pam found someone who listened and believed that her ideas and plans mattered. She felt understood in a way she hadn’t known before and would not know again until becoming involved with Harley, and Bella offered a support system while Woodrue only brought her down. Still, despite all the good they did for each other, they saw their work differently and diverged on what they were willing to do to achieve it. While Bella built monsters for the world, Poison Ivy became one — yet neither forgot what they meant to each other.

Ultimately Poison Ivy’s One True Love Is Her Own Work

Both women remember their time together as something both exciting and healing, but Pam’s need to outdo Bella and her fierce passion for the planet were always secretly in the lead. Ivy’s involvement with Bella helped foster the best parts of herself, but their relationship was not enough to overcome her ambitions, her plans, or Jason’s subtle manipulation. These elements all acted in tandem leading up to Woodrue’s experiment, which in turn creates Poison Ivy from Pam’s ashes. This origin proves that the love of her work drove Poison Ivy to become what she is, and it continues to guide her in sometimes twisted ways.

Poison Ivy #20 is available now from DC Comics.