It’s a great time to be a Batman villain.
Two years after The Penguin became an Emmy-winning HBO Max series, and the same week that Clayface gets to take center stage in his own big-screen movie, comes word that longtime DC villain Poison Ivy will now get her own TV series as well.
According to Variety, the series “is in the works at HBO with The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc as a producer.”
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Created by Carmine Infantino, Robert Kanigher, and Sheldon Moldoff in the 1960s, Poison Ivy (real name Pamela Isley) has used her ability to control and manipulate plants to serve as a perpetual thorn in the side of Batman for decades. (Thorn, ha.) While typically portrayed as an antagonist to Batman, she has evolved in recent years into more of an antihero, and has headlined her own monthly DC comic — something that can’t be said for characters like Penguin or Clayface.
On screen, Ivy has previously been played by Uma Thurman, who brought a decidedly over-the-top flavor to her performance in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin opposite George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell.
One assumes the TV version of Poison Ivy will … take a different approach to the material.
The character previously popped up on the live-action series Gotham and Batwoman, and in numerous Batman cartoons. In the ongoing Harley Quinn animated series on HBO Max, Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell) is the title character’s partner and best friend.
It’s not clear from Variety’s report whether this Poison Ivy series would be set within the primary DC Universe that houses films like Superman and Clayface, or whether, like The Penguin, it would be connected to Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie. The sequel to that film, The Batman Part II is currently in production and due in theaters in 2028. After Penguin, Clayface, and now Poison Ivy, who’s next? My money’s on Condiment King.
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