Robert Pattinson's The Batman promises to explore a younger version of the Dark Knight and his iconic arch-nemeses, but Poison Ivy's full potential would be wasted in this continuity. Instead, her character would be far better placed alongside Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the DCEU. Against Batman, Poison Ivy would simply be another villain to be defeated, but as a villainous protagonist with Harley, writers would be able to explore her character with much greater depth and nuance.
The Batman, scheduled for release in 2022, features several of Batman's most renowned adversaries, such as Catwoman and The Riddler. Warner Media intends to make an entire Batman trilogy with a new cinematic continuity, which leaves an open question about which of the caped crusader's adversaries may make appearances in later movies. One obvious contender is Poison Ivy, one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable of Batman's long list of villains, she hasn't made a movie appearance since Uma Thurman's performance in Batman & Robin. But Poison Ivy is no longer most memorable as a villain to Batman, but as a partner in crime to Harley Quinn.
Poison Ivy has a devoted fanbase, in no small part because standing against authorities to help the environment makes her deeply relatable in a world full of increasing climate anxiety. The biggest reason for her popularity, though, is down to her dynamic with Harley Quinn. With one of the most high-profile and unambiguously romantic queer relationships in comics, introducing the pair to the big screen would help to further improve the DCEU's track record for LGBTQ+ representation. This can build on the groundwork already laid by Birds of Prey, in which Renee Montoya is lesbian and Harley is confirmed as bisexual in the opening animation sequence.
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy work well together as a pair of characters, with their sharply contrasting fire-and-ice personalities. This kind of dynamic — one impulsive and hotheaded, the other cool and calculating — is used to great effect in other duos from comic books, ranging from enemies, like Batman and the Joker, to allies, like Iron Man and Captain America. While the pairing of Harley and Ivy hasn't yet made it into movies, comics and animated series have used this dynamic to great effect. Their juxtaposition works to give the pair far greater character development than either could have had on their own, whether as a romantic pairing or simply as partners in crime.
Poison Ivy's original characterization is now cringe-inducingly outdated, as a two-dimensional femme fatale pandering heavily to the male gaze, and returning to this would be another big mistake for the DCEU. Newer writers have added much greater depth to her personality, with her morality shifting from that of a standard Batman villain into a much more interesting grey area, making her more of an anti-villain or even an anti-hero in some storylines. Recent movies have shown that charismatic villainous protagonists can be extremely popular, and Poison Ivy deserves that treatment too, rather than being relegated to the status of a simple one-time movie antagonist.
There's always the possibility that The Batman will include its own version of Poison Ivy, seeing as it already revolves around its own version of Batman himself. But to see Ivy and Harley together, it's hard to imagine anyone filling Harley's shoes other than Margot Robbie, after Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad. Both Robbie herself and Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan have said publicly how much they'd like to make a future movie that puts Harley and Ivy together. One way or another, it's probably only a matter of time until Poison Ivy finds herself back on the big screen.
