Rocksteady has now confirmed the return of iconic DC Comics character Poison Ivy in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
The character – now just named Ivy – returns in Suicide Squad with a radically changed appearance following her apparent demise in 2015’s Arkham Knight. (As a reminder, Suicide Squad is a canonical follow-up to the Arkham series, also developed by Rocksteady).
Rocksteady debuted Ivy’s new appearance via an extended look at the character in a fresh developer diary, which you can watch below.
Ivy is now depicted as a child – much to the surprise of Harley Quinn, who knew the previous incarnation of Poison Ivy back in the Arkham games. Perhaps for the best, this child version of Ivy doesn’t remember any of the events of the Arkham trilogy, though senses she and Harley previously knew each other.
“For fans who paid close attention to Arkham Knight, they’ll remember that when Poison Ivy died, she left behind a little sprout,” Rocksteady states in the new developer diary.
“And in this game, [the Suicide Squad] discover that the sproutling has been cared for by people who have their own motivations for doing so, but in the chaos of Metropolis she’s escaped.”
Opinions on this new take on the iconic character are mixed, as you might expect on such a different take. There’s disappointment from some that Ivy hasn’t returned in the same form, while other fans have said they’re impressed by her creepy new look.
Eurogamer reported on the flood of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League leaks earlier this week – and while we didn’t detail Ivy’s return then, her design was indeed one of those that had appeared online.
Rocksteady dubbed the leaks “disappointing”, and asked people to not post spoilers and ruin the enjoyment of other players. It’s unclear whether the studio hurried out its own introduction to Ivy in response.
After several delays, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set to release on 2nd February 2024 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. But not on the Epic Games Store, where it has been subject to yet another hold-up.