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The villains from 1997’s Batman & Robin, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy, devised a terrible plan with no trace of logic. But how bad was it?
Director Joel Schumacher’s 1997 sequel Batman & Robin wasn’t the critical or commercial success Warner Bros. hoped for, and instead brought a temporary end to the blockbuster franchise. From its campy tone to the infamous Bat-nipples, the film was widely mocked, and even dubbed among the worst of all time. Among its more ridiculous, and often overlooked, elements, however, was the plan for world conquest concocted by villains Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy: freeze the world and let the plants thrive. One can’t help but to wonder on what Earth that scheme makes sense.
Analyzing the plot, the dialogue or the cinematography the same way one would such films as The Dark Knight or Joker could result in pure dissatisfaction. There’s a reason Batman & Robin gained a cult following over the years for being a so bad that it’s good. It is undeniably fun, after all. But how would Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy’s plan actually play out?
In Batman & Robin, Mr. Freeze (memorably played by a scene-chewing Arnold Schwarzenegger) wants to hold Gotham City encased in ice, for ransom. That money would then be used to develop a cure for his terminally ill wife. Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), on the other hand, wants to protect the environment by eliminating toxic waste. Already their goals are polar opposites; Freeze’s motivations are personal, while Ivy’s are more selfless. Never mind that ice and plants don’t exactly go well together.
During the later half of the movie, Ivy breaks Freeze out of prison and proposes a team-up. When he asks what’s in it for her, Ivy responds, “Let’s cool it for now.” The audience never gets a full explanation, so the only remotely logical takeaway is that they’re helping each other because they’re the “bad guys.” That’s it.
The two villains do have one thing in common, however: Batman and Robin foiling their plans. It’s possible that Ivy set Freeze loose in order to distract the Dynamic Duo and enact whatever plot she had up her (green) sleeves.
That still doesn’t make sense, though, because Mr. Freeze had more powerful equipment capable of encasing all of Gotham in ice. What if he were truly capable of triggering a new ice age? Ivy’s plants would have no place in this new world, and she wouldn’t be able to grow her forests. She would also die by the time Earth thaws, so she wouldn’t be able to see any plan to fruition. And if Batman and Robin succeed in stopping Mr. Freeze, what chance does Ivy stand against them? Surely the abomination named Bane won’t be enough to stop Gotham’s finest.
In the end, both Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy lose to the Caped Crusader and his trusty sidekick, to the surprise of no one. Even Batgirl joined the fray, which Ivy definitely didn’t see coming. It doesn’t take an expert to figure out how flawed their so-called “plan” is, if there even was one to begin with.
In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t all bad. It was the failure of Batman & Robin that prompted Warner Bros. to give us 2005’s Batman Begins and its masterpiece of a sequel, which shaped the future of DC films. Despite all of its shortcomings, Batman & Robin stands today as a fun movie to watch, and laugh at, with friends. Nothing beats quoting those hilarious puns and wishing you had that never-expiring Bat credit card. Just when people thought there was nothing else to take away from this 24-year-old film, the villains’ nonsensical plot simply adds more to the fun.
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