Even the most casual fan of DC comics knows that Dr. Pamela Isley, also known as Poison Ivy, is one of the most dangerous villains on earth. She connects with a powerful force known as the Green which, in turn, connects her to all forms of plant life, granting abilities like chloromancy. In various stories, readers see just how far her powers go and the destruction she causes.
Ivy is one of the most complex villains in DC's lineup. She's not always inherently evil, though, and simply wants to save the flora of earth from the effects of climate change. However, when she's finally pushed over the edge, Ivy more than proves how destructive she can be. Considering where she spends most of her time, the city of Gotham should know they sit upon a living bomb.
10 She Values Plant Life Over Human Life
It's no secret that the Queen of the Green prefers spending her time with flora than most humans as plants tend to be more friendly. The difference is that Poison Ivy prefers the eradication of human life in order to protect the plant life she adores.
This concept conveys itself in Batman #41 and #42 from 2018. It's a multi-part comic that shows Ivy take over every man, woman, and child, becoming a true Queen of the Green. She believes flora should be the dominant life on the planet, and she's willing to kill to make it happen.
9 She Can Seduce And Control Foes As Powerful As Superman
Ivy has never had problems seducing men and women to get what she wants. Traditionally, she releases pheromones strong enough to make anyone fall for her. However, it wasn't until she targeted the last son of Krypton that the true horror of this ability came to light in Batman: Hush.
What options do you have when the strongest being on the planet is under Ivy's control? That's the question both Batman and Catwoman face when dealing with the highly dangerous lovers. It's a concept rarely seen since as it shows just how overpowered Ivy can easily become.
8 She Even Scares Other Dangerous Villains
Pamela Isely's abilities make her one of the strongest forces on earth. In fact, her power is so immense that even other supervillains fear her. When they're foolish enough not to, she shows just how cruel she can be. In the Detective Comics #797-799 arc "War Games," The Riddler crosses a line with Ivy, and she makes him pay.
Ivy beats him with her fists, whips him with her thorns, and strings him up into the trees by his neck. She nearly kills him but decides instead to leave him hanging in the trees, alone. This is a highly volatile and vicious side of Ivy seen only when she's pushed to a breaking point.
7 She Can Create Carnivorous Plant Monsters
If controlling plants wasn't powerful enough, she can also create her own. When given the option, Ivy almost always chooses sentient, carnivorous beasts. One of the most horrifying is seen in the video game Injustice 2.
In the fighting game, Ivy's super move involves the creation of a massive, man-eating beast. It wraps its vine tongue around its prey and snatches them back up into its mouth. It chews vigorously, ready to swallow just before Ivy's vine pulls her opponent back out to finish them off herself.
6 She Can Bring Down Entire Skyscrapers
Few stories have shown off Ivy's immense power better than that of Gotham City Sirens #26. In a fit of rage, she summons massive roots from the earth, uprooting literal skyscrapers and ripping them apart. The devastation is enough to bring down neighboring buildings.
This kind of power is often only seen by DC's greater cosmic forces. Yet Ivy, a Batman villain based in Gotham, has the power to bring down the city in an instant if she so desires. This alone should make all Gothamites live in fear as long as she roams free.
5 She Is Immune To Nearly All Toxins
One of Ivy's primary attributes across all stories and mediums is her immunity to toxins. Being part plant gives her natural immunity to most, if not all, poisons she could ever come across. This remains true even with Joker Venom.
Joker Venom or Joker Toxin is one of the most popular poisons used by the Clown Prince of Crime. It typically causes victims to laugh uncontrollably until they injure themselves or die. Ivy equates it to being like baby food to her.
4 She Has Harley Quinn On Her Side
In many stories of recent years, and even more popularized by the recent Harley Quinn TV show, Harley and Ivy have a very close, often romantic bond. From a villain perspective, it's a union between Gotham's strongest metahuman and Gotham's most criminally insane.
The duo make for a dangerous combination. While one strangles and tortures heroes with vines, the other smashes heads in with her mallet. Not only that, Harley is stronger and more street smart than Ivy as she has learned from the mistakes of her past with Joker.
3 She Connects With Other Plant Avatars Through The Green
Poison Ivy isn't the only character with a connection to the Green and the Parliament of Trees. Swamp Thing and Black Orchid are also some of the many Green avatars with chloromantic abilities. If she ever wanted, Ivy could have a whole army march with her.
If she were to unite other users of the Green, Ivy would be an absolutely unstoppable force, rivaling that of even Superman. With an army at her disposal, she could strike fear into the hearts of people far beyond the borders of Gotham City.
2 She Grows Her Own Hybrid Children
Along with being superpowered, Dr. Pamela Isley is also very intelligent, being a doctor of plant sciences. In Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death, she shows the world she can do something extraordinary with her mind as well: She manages to create plant hybrid children.
Ivy's children defy science and she does everything in her power to protect them, even murdering other scientists. They grow to adulthood at a rapid pace, showing that Ivy has the power to grow her own family, if not her own army. Gotham can barely handle one chloromancer. Can Batman save it from a family of them?
1 She Poses A Threat As Long As She's Near A Plant
There's only one way to keep Ivy contained, and over time, both heroes and Arkham Asylum staff have learned it. She must be completely separated from all forms of plant life. Even the smallest potted plant is all she needs to mount an escape, as she makes it grow into whatever size, shape, or form she requires.
In some stories in which facilities like Arkham have technologically advanced meta-wings, Ivy is often kept locked down within thick walls of metal. She's completely cut off from the one thing she loves more than all else, and it's the one thing that can save her.