The Wail of Poison Ivy?

By High C

She is a 5-foot-6 seductress, a breathtaking, green-eyed beauty who has the ability to transform men into adoring sycophants who will do her evil bidding.

She is the Siren, as portrayed by Joan Collins.

She is Poison Ivy.

It's hard not to notice those and other similarities between these two Batman villainesses, one from the 1966-68 TV show and one from the comic books. Yes, it could be mere coincidence, but a look at Poison Ivy's comic book origins can only make one wonder.

Ivy first appeared in Batman No. 181 in June 1966, more than a year before the Siren came to the small screen.

Siren was an original villain on the Batman TV show, with her inspiration largely taken from Greek mythology, as noted in a previous Omake. Since writing those words, however, I've gotten a look at two Batman comic book stories from 1966, thanks to research done by epaddon. These comics seem to suggest Siren's creation also was influenced partly by Poison Ivy.

Ivy, according to the DC Comics Encyclopedia, is described as 5-6 with green eyes and red hair. Joan Collins is 5-6 and has green eyes, although her hair was brunette when she appeared as Siren and has been brunette through most of her long career.

Look at some of the other similarities between these two seductive villainesses:

Ivy's first panel in her first story is reminiscent of Siren's final pose (as the scene fades out) in the 'tag' scene of Ring Around the Riddler, in which Siren zaps Commissioner Gordon with her hypnotic voice.

Also note in this panel how Ivy calls the other female criminals "amateurs." Siren used that same word to describe Catwoman and Black Widow.

(As an aside, it's kind of hard to believe the three other villainesses in this comic book story --Dragon Fly, Silken Spider and Tiger Moth--are the three most deadly villainesses in the world. I have been informed, however, that Catwoman’s character was still “on hiatus” at the time, which explains this somewhat. These three don’t seem very formidable in the story, however, as they all are duped easily by Ivy.)

In her first two appearances, Poison Ivy wasn’t the super-powered, green-skinned, pheromone-laden, mind-controlling beauty she later would become. It’s obvious, however, from reading the two storylines, that the seeds were being planted (pun intended) for that area of the character’s development.

Siren, of course, cast a hypnotic spell on men with her highest note.

In Poison Ivy's debut, Robin is worried about Batman being under her spell. In her second appearance, she seemingly puts him under her spell with a magical mirror in which he sees her image. She obviously has a major crush on the Caped Crusader.

It is worth noting that although the cover art from the Poison Ivy's second appearance refers to the backup story and not the Ivy part two, it certainly is of interest to visitors to this site!

The next similarity could be said of many criminal capers of Gotham City's arch-villains, of course, but it's worth noting Ivy's plan involves both Batman and Bruce Wayne, much like Siren's criminal plot.

So the question becomes, why was Poison Ivy eschewed on television in favor of the Siren?

I would speculate there were two major reasons:

1. Ivy's crush on Batman, played up in each of her first two comic book stories, would have cut too close to what they had done with Catwoman on the show, as played by Julie Newmar. So it didn't make sense to use Ivy during the 1966-67 season, which had five separate storylines featuring Newmar. (On the other hand, since the “crush on Batman” aspect of Catwoman’s character was dropped in the third season when African-American Eartha Kitt took over the role, Ivy could have filled the void. – editor.)
2. This is all a matter of taste, of course, but what famous redhead of the time could they have gotten to play her? Ann-Margret was doing movies at the time, and was thus unavailable. Besides, I don't think her acting possessed the necessary depth until the early 1970's to properly play a villainess such as Poison Ivy. (As you will see – someday – however, the aforementioned epaddon has an actress of the era in mind. – editor.)

The obvious choice for a redheaded seductress of that day would have been Tina Louise, then playing the iconic role of Ginger on Gilligan's Island. Of course, that meant she was pretty much unavailable for a two-part Batman shoot until the 1967-68 season, after Gilligan's Island had been canceled. By then, the producers apparently had decided to feature Joan Collins, and the decision was made that Siren would be a better character for her to portray than Ivy – although had Joan donned a red wig, she certainly had all the other necessary attributes. In a future Omake, I plan to examine some of Collins' earlier film roles and show how her screen persona also played a part in the Siren's creation.

Back to Omake

Back to the Batgirl Bat-Trap Homepage!