Batman Symbolism: What 15 Most Famous Villains Really Mean

15. Poison Ivy - His Toxic Mirror

Poison Ivy is about as different from Batman as it's possible to be - she's female for a start - and yet she represents an awful lot of his personality and background. She mirrors his obsession with order and avenging his parents - given that it has been confirmed that, in her pre-Poison Ivy life, Pamela Isley's lost her parents - but, in her case, it's about restoring natural order to the planet and avenging mankind's destruction of the environment and the natural world, rather than fighting crime to maintain order. She also has two identities (the aforementioned Pamela Isley and Poison Ivy), like Batman himself, and his genius in planning and preparation is mirrored by her genius in botany. Plus, as an occasional love interest to the Dark Knight, she is "poison" to Batman in exactly the same way that his secret identity is "poisonous" to any other love interest he may have.