Pamela Isley

Pamela Isley: 1976 - 2005
Pamela Isley was brought up in a home of well-mannered, wealthy academics. At a young age, Pamela became fascinated by gardening and would spend hours at a time with her mother in the family greenhouses, producing award-winning specimens. As she grew older and began to understand the work her father did in pharmaceutical development, she became fascinated with helping people through selected breeding of plants to produce all manner of cures. This fascination became her life’s work and into her university studies, she began experimenting on plants using cutting-edge science to produce results that far surpassed that which was capable through typical gardening.

After attaining her doctorates degrees, Pamela worked at Arkham Asylum as an intern and later as a resident in pharmacy. She is also responsible for the creation of the Botanical Gardens which has remained an iconic part of the Arkham facility, and been a core part of many patients’ therapy and rehabilitation efforts. After the creation of the Botanical Gardens, Pamela was recruited by Bruce Wayne to work in research and development department of Wayne Enterprises.

After the termination of Nygma, Isley’s department suffered significant cutbacks in funding during the restructuring of Wayne Enterprises. Instead of requesting additional funding due to her meek and timid personality, Dr. Isley focused on a single project: the development of a natural neurotoxin derived from plants. After prolong exposure to the fumes of the neurotoxins, Isley shed her cautions personality and became a sultry and bold femme fatale. Donning lipstick made from the same toxins, she attempted to seduce Bruce Wayne to further fund her project. Bruce denies she was successful, Pamela says otherwise. In any attempt, Bruce came to his senses at some point and terminated her employment. Frustrated, Isley returned to her lab in a fit of rage and injected herself with the untreated toxins.

Poison Ivy: 2005 - Present
Upon injecting herself with the untreated plant toxins, Pamela Isley went into convulsions. She was rushed to a nearby hospital by ambulance. While passing Robinson Park en route to the hospital, the ambulance was stopped by a blockade of trees and shrubbery. Vines wrapped around the vehicle and the paramedics barely had time to escape being consumed by the mass of plant matter. The crushed vehicle was projected out minutes later, while Pamela was kept contained in a pulsing cocoon that formed in the heart of Robinson Park.

When Batman responded with Robin (it was actually Jason's first real field mission), the metamorphosis was nearly complete and both Caped Crusaders were present for the rebirth of Pamela Isley, who emerged naked from her cocoon in a cloud of pink pollen. Now calling herself Poison Ivy, she wasted no time using her nakedness and and her new powers to her advantage to turn the Caped Crusaders against each other to buy her time to don her unique choice of apparel and flee the scene. By the time the boys regained their senses, Ivy was gone.

It would be weeks before Ivy would return to the spotlight. Her first true act of terror was a bank robbery spree, but that was short-lived. Her next foray into crime was an escape from Arkham and an attack on Mayor's Office after they announced plans to remove the oldest tree in Slaughter Swamp for fear its collapse was imminent and could damage property. And then, of course there was the time that she created plant doppelgangers of socialites and infiltrated Gotham high society. Who can forget that one?

Of course, Ivy's most notorious stint was teaming up with Harley Quinn and Catwoman in 2010 and founding the Gotham City Sirens. Though the three started their partnership as criminals, they stumbled into a path of semi-vigilante behavior. In late 2015, Selina left the Sirens and Ivy and Harley quickly fell back into their criminal ways and were captured. Pamela was recently paroled and she seems to be doing fine... but this wouldn't be the first time she seemed sincere in her reform.

Medical Profile

 * Patient’s physiology is unique, requiring time in the sun for photosynthesis.

Metahuman Profile

 * Patient is a metahman with the abilities classified as chlorokinesis and toxikinesis, including pheromone based mind control.
 * Patient’s immunity to chemicals makes medicating and sedating her difficult.

Psychological Profile

 * Patient has little regard for human life in comparison to vegetation.

Behavior Profile

 * Patient is a former employee of Arkham Asylum [Contract Botanist – 2 years].


 * Patient was a well-educated botanist until her research mutated her.

CAUTION: THIS INCLUDES FEMALE STAFF AS WELL!
 * Patient has a history of using seduction to get what she wants. She has been proven to be quite effective even when the collar negates her pheromones.
 * Patient has agreed to therapy if she is allowed to the Asylum Gardens and Greenhouse. This arrangement has proven so effective that she has been employed in the Asylum’s Groundskeeping Crew. [CAUTION: Search her at the end of her shift. Do not allow even a seed on her person to be brought back]


 * Patient has a criminal history with patients Selina Kyle (#40331) & Harleen Quinzel (#99312), calling themselves the “Gotham City Sirens”.

Trivia

 * Arkham's inhibitor collar lowers Ivy's chlorophyll levels, turning her skin from green to flesh colored. Since her powers are what corrected her vision, she also needs her glasses when she wears the collar.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Pamela Isley
 * Character Galler: Pamela Isley