For those of us who thoroughly enjoyed the newest adventure of the famed Caped Crusader, The Batman sequel continuing the exploits of Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight is in high demand. Given the plethora of iconic members of the notorious Rogues Gallery present in the first film, including the Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman (more antihero than antagonist at this point), and a cameo appearance by what director Matt Reeves deemed “the pre-Joker Joker”, fans immediately began to question who the Batman should come face to face within the highly anticipated sequel.
And while fans would most like to see another iconic clash between Batman and the Joker, the perfect villain is another icon of DC Comics lore that has far too often been overlooked by Warner Bros. in terms of live-action film adaptations.
Who am I talking about to be the villain in The Batman sequel? I, of course, mean the one and only Poison Ivy.
The Movies Need More Bad Girls
In the age of Marvel and DC film adaptations reigning supreme at the box office, we have only been graced with the presence of actual, intimidating, ruthless female villains on the rarest of occasions. Looking back through the massive catalog of films, both comic adaptations and others of the past decade, how many of us can immediately recall more than one or two truly terrifying Femme Fatales? With Marvel, we’ve only seen a single truly terrifying female villain in Thor: Ragnarok, played to perfection by Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as the ruthless Goddess of Death, Hela.
This isn’t to say Marvel hasn’t had others, but can any of us honestly name another one that matched Blanchett’s onscreen gravitas and intimidating presence? FOX’s X-Men franchise also had plenty of opportunities with iconic performances from Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/Phoenix, and the newer versions of those characters played by Jennifer Lawrence and Sophie Turner. But, in the end, as these films either sidelined these characters as mute slaves, ruined them with ridiculous hero makeovers, or subjected them to terrible writing, the attempts utterly failed.
Even DC has missed several opportunities to take this on with the early days of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Instead of allowing her to grow as she’s done in the comics, they chose to immediately skip her villainous arc in favor of her more comical antihero. While Viola Davis gave her all in her fleeting moments as Amanda Waller, this was another character that Warner Bros. just missed the opportunity to take advantage of.
And let’s not even get started on Cara Delevinge’s Enchantress, yikes. Of course, it’s important to mention that Poison Ivy has been played on the big screen once before by Uma Thurman in Joel Schumacher’s repugnant Batman & Robin, but the less said about that film, the better. And yes, she has had numerous interpretations on various TV programs, but she deserves another shot at film-level tyranny just as much as any other villain.
The point is that we need more female villains onscreen that can separate themselves from the typical cynical sociopaths we’ve so often seen repeated as of late. And with Reeve’s Batman films taking a more grounded approach, the chance to adapt this character into this grittier Gotham in The Batman Sequel has never been more opportune.
Like Riddler & Penguin, Ivy Too Can Drop the Camp
The character arc of Poison Ivy has been one of some adaptations over the years, but her overall intent has been a hellbent journey to save Mother Earth by any means possible. The current political climate of the planet, literally with the debate of how to tackle climate change, makes her presence that much more timely and totally relevant. Not to mention, Ivy’s background with a Ph.D. in botany makes her intellect just as intimidating as her overall goal of “purifying” Gotham.
The Batman sequel could make great use of her intellect and focus. Not every villain needs to be insane like Riddler or Joker, some just need to be driven enough that they’re willing to do anything and everything to see their mission fulfilled. A sane, vengeful Poison Ivy, would make sense given how actions being undertaken to combat climate change have been met with pushback as being too lenient, not good enough, and lacking substantial impact.
And it is this struggle that would best be used to define Ivy’s character arc: becoming an eco-terrorist. For those who don’t know, eco-terrorism is defined as threats or use of violent, criminal acts for environmental-political reasons. It basically means people who could threaten to contaminate water supplies, destroy energy sources, or even engage in biological/ chemical warfare to see their demands met.
In Conclusion
If Thanos proved anything, it’s that viewers become captivated, invested in villains who do the wrong things for the right reasons. Even a casual decline from her life as renowned botanist Dr. Pamela Isley to who she ultimately becomes taking on the mantle of Poison Ivy in The Batman Sequel would be a step in the right direction. This character, especially with Reeves at the helm, could make an unexpectedly amazing villain in The Batman Sequel, done in the same vein as Riddler and Penguin.
A villain with intentions toward the betterment of the planet coupled with high intellect and access to chemical weapons would surely give Pattinson’s Batman a significant challenge worthy of the same iconic status enjoyed by numerous cinematic Batman villains over the years, opening the door for even more filmmakers to follow suit with future endeavors.
The Batman is currently playing in theaters but will potentially hit HBOMAX sometime in mid-April.
