Each of the comic books in DC Comics' Absolute Universe is going to feature some big changes to the characters that comic book fans know and love. For example, Wonder Woman uses more magic than kicks to the face and she also communes with the Greek Gods a lot. Meanwhile, Superman is insecure and comes close to killing Brainiac. And then there’s Batman, who has had more changes to his lore besides his massive size.
No matter where you looked, Absolute Batman was ranked as one of the best comic books of 2026. A lot of it has to do with the fantastic creative team that put must-read stories together month after month. As magnificent as those tales have been, the terrifying villains also made more and more people take an interest in this series. And if you thought Poison Ivy was going to be the exception, not only were you wrong, but the picture below will show you that she looks more horrifying than even the Absolute Joker.
Absolute Batman No. 17 creative team
- Writer: Scott Snyder
- Artist: Eric Canete
- Colors: Frank Martin
Don’t let the beautiful art of Mark Brooks fool you. Absolute Pamela Isley is scary. She still has control over people and is a brilliant scientist with multiple degrees. However, unlike her counterpart, this Poison Ivy didn’t stop at plants.
As Ivy thinks about her mother’s growing illness and the way that people have built walls around and inside each other, she remembers something her mom says: “From the heart, Ivy girl.” She then thinks: “What does ivy do? It climbs.” Ivy goes on to say that there may be a version of her that stops at plants (and there is), but not her. She’s going to pull from all six kingdoms of life (Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia) and “climb higher.”
Batman makes his way to the top of the flora where the mind-controlling spores are at their most potent and the dangers are the toughest. At the top is Pamela Isley, live and in color. Except, as Alfred Pennyworth points out from his base, she’s not fully human. Bruce learns this the hard way after he tries to burn her, and it does nothing. All he sees is Ivy splitting her body into the six kingdoms of life. It was something out of a horror film that will give this writer nightmares forever, but he couldn’t look away because it was also breathtaking.
As terrifying as that was, I’m calling shenanigans. I don’t believe what we’re seeing is actually Poison Ivy’s true form. I do believe that she’s doing this, but could the images we're seeing actually be Bruce Wayne hallucinating? If you remember from Absolute Batman No. 10, Ivy was struggling to keep her form. It's doubtful that she'd become this powerful so quickly, but it wouldn't be out of the question for her spores to be. At the end, she ma well be more fragile-looking.
I’d love to believe Poison Ivy is another intense monstrosity, but this doesn’t seem like a fight Batman will win with his fists or science. With everything going on in his life, it feels like this is a battle that the Dark Knight must overcome mentally. He'll have to dig down deep and fight the mind-controlling spores with a little help from Barbara Gordon and maybe even Dick Grayson.
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