Margot Robbie wants to bring one of the DC Comics’ best partnerships to the big screen.
In a new interview, the Harley Quinn actress has made it clear she’s doing her best to see that if Birds of Prey 2 is made, then Harley will join with Poison Ivy in a wild caper.
Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn
It seems an offbeat pairing of the Joker’s psychotic girlfriend and Batman’s plant-wielding foe, yet it has been a popular one for some time.
In the comics, Pamela Isley was a scientist warped by an experiment into a plant-controlling madwoman who would be all too willing to wipe out the human race to save the Earth.
Uma Thurman memorably played her in 1997’s Batman and Robin, and three different actresses portrayed her on Fox’s Gotham series as she mutated from a 12-year old street kid into a twisted villainess.
In a 1993 episode of the Batman Animated Series (titled, appropriately, “Harley and Ivy”), Harley Quinn has a tiff with the Joker and decides to prove herself by robbing a museum. She interrupts Poison Ivy’s own theft, and after a brief fight, the two realize they’re better off working together.
The episode ends with them and the Joker ending up back in Arkham, but the banter of the two women (for once, Ivy is the sane one in a conversation) made the pairing an instant audience favorite.
Since then, DC Comics has played on the pair as best friends and clearly something more. They’ve been portrayed as a couple in DC’s “Elseworlds” and “Bombshells” series, and the animated Harley Quinn series has their relationship being front and center.
Robbie Margot wants to team up with Poison Ivy
But can a pairing of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn happen on the big screen? Well, Margot Robbie certainly hopes so; when talking to Den of Geek about a possible Birds of Prey sequel, Robbie revealed she’s been pestering Warner Bros about it for some time.
“Trust me, I chew their ear off about it all the time. They must be sick of hearing it, but I’m like, ‘Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy. Come on, let’s do it.’ I’m very keen to see a Harley-Poison Ivy relationship on screen. It’d be so fun. So I’ll keep pestering them. Don’t worry.”
Robbie appears to know just how important the bond between Harley and Ivy is, telling PrideSource back in 2018 that she’d adore seeing that on-screen.
If you read the comics you know that Poison Ivy and Harley have an intimate relationship. In some comics they convey it as a friendship; in other comics, you can see that they’re actually sexually involved as a couple. I’ve been trying to—I would love to have Poison Ivy thrown into the universe, because the Harley and Poison Ivy relationship is one of my favorite aspects of the comics, so I’m looking to explore that on screen.”
Robbie isn’t alone, as Birds director Cathy Yan told the Wrap in 2020 that she was hoping to develop a sequel focused on Harley and Ivy.
Can it happen?
The idea of a Batman villainess as famous as Ivy working in the DCEU is appealing. The character has long been striking not just for her good looks but also for how, in a way, she has a point about saving the environment; she just goes about it the wrong way.
Ivy could click in a Birds movie with her unique style and the Birds trying to temper her actions while she and Harley hit it off. Even if the movie doesn’t make them a full couple, the bantering between them can be fun with the right actress as Ivy.
Robbie admitted that there are no plans for a Birds sequel as of yet, as, while enjoyed by fans, the film was seen as a box office disappointment. She is also busy reprising her role as Harley for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad film.
Yet Robbie intends to have this unique female relationship be part of the DCEU, so it’s possible fans may one day see a Harley and Ivy movie misadventure on the big screen.
The Suicide Squad premieres in theaters and HBO Max August 6.