Villain Profile: Mr. Freeze

For my next post I’d like to introduce my latest special guest, Dr. Victor Fries. Better known as Mr. Freeze. Pleasure to meet, should I be calling you Dr. Fries, Mr. Freeze or Victor?

Victor is fine, I really haven’t been much of a doctor of late.

Animated design, in my opinion
best version of the character.

Alright Victor. Before you get started on your origin story I’d like to start off by mentioning that you were originally a gag villain of Batman’s, correct? Someone on par with Calendar Man or Crazy Quilt in terms of silliness.

Quite, though like Calendar Man and a few others my origins were made considerably darker in more modern tellings. I must say I do prefer my newer origins over being Mr. Zero, the cold themed villain that stole diamonds for fun.

Mr. Zero?

Did you see Batman and Robin?

Unfortunately.

Picture that, but subtract all of the intelligence and double the ice puns.

The horror.

Indeed. On that note I’d like to begin.

Go ahead.

From a very young age I was fascinated with cold. I developed a rather bizarre hobby of freezing animals, to see the effects of ice and cold on living tissue. My parents were…less than thrilled by all of this, and sent me away to boarding school for the rest of my formative years. I suppose that was easier than dealing with a potentially problem child, but it still hurt. It was the start of a difficult time for me, which only ended after meeting my beloved Nora in college. I became a very successful and brilliant molecular biologist and Nora and I lived happily and comfortably for several years.

The only way the Batman can strike me, with a
Sneak attack.

About two years after the Caped Crusader began cleaning up the streets of Gotham is when things became…difficult, again. Nora contracted a terminal illness. At the time I was working on a device that could rapidly freeze a target, leaving them perfectly preserved. Given my earlier affinity for frozen objects, and Nora’s worsening condition, I decided to use this new machine to cryogenically freeze her until a cure could be found. Unfortunately for me, my boss Ferris Boyle, had promised my Freeze Ray to the Mob. Upon seeing me use it, he tampered with my experiment, leading to a horrible explosion. Boyle assumed me dead and went about to reconstruct my work. I, unfortunately, survived. I had been doused in the various chemicals my machine used to create rays of subzero cold, and it altered my body chemistry. My internal temperature was no longer 98.6, it had been instead reduced to…Zero. I was able to quickly assemble a refrigeration suit, to help me survive in the high temperatures of Gotham, and vowed everlasting vengeance on Boyle and all those that took Nora from me. I turned to crime to both fund my research and help me survive.

Chilling.

Quite.

So, comparatively, what does the recent snow fall in Minnesota feel like?

I could take off my suit and survive, but it’d be like a walk on the beach in mid-summer for me.

Get this obscene thing out of my sight.

Ooh, sucky.

Indeed.

Let’s talk about your tech Victor.

I utilize a number of various gadgets that both help me survive and commit my various crimes. The refrigeration suit I wear not only keeps me cool, but also increases my physical strength threefold. That, alongside my aforementioned Freeze Ray makes me a very dangerous opponent in a head to head fight. Which is why the Batman must rely on stealth and tactics to defeat me. I have in the past employed creatures adapted to similarly cold environments, such as polar bears, to help in my endeavors but they aren't a staple of mine like the Joker's hyenas.

Mr. Freeze is one of Batman’s most Iconic villains, and as such appears in most, if not all, adaptations for the Batman series.

My live action appearance sucked. Do not watch it. Do not acknowledge that it exists. It is a trite attempt at both action and comedy. I will admit I use Ice puns, but I do try to put a good amount of space between each use. I don't spew them out again and again and again and hope you laugh at some point. Batman and Robin is just bad, bad, bad. Who thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a believable scientist?

Probably the same guy that thought that Deadpool shouldn’t have a mouth.

Such fools.

 Yep. Mr. Freeze’s origin as described above first appears in “Heart of Ice,” the fourteenth episode of Batman the Animated Series. If you haven’t seen it, it is brilliant. I highly recommend it. While Freeze uses a number of ice puns, they don’t seem the least bit hammy or silly. Freeze’s opening and closing monologue to a little dancing model of his wife are particularly chilling.

Mr. Freeze didn’t appear much in the expanded universe of the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited, though his tech could often be seen in the background shots of the Batcave.

I believe my story comes to a conclusion in an episode of Batman Beyond.

"There may be some momentary discomfort," Freeze Ray

Right. Freeze, appears in the episode “Meltdown.” He’d been kept alive into Gotham’s far future thanks to being a frozen head in a jar. Freeze is given a clone version of his body in its pre-mutated state. He’s given a new lease on life, tries to give back to Gotham and those he hurt by creating a trust in Honor of Nora for all the victims of his crimes. The Old Batman is still suspicious, but the new Batman believes Freeze is sincere. Unfortunately for Freeze, his body begins to revert back to his cold form. Freeze then learns that he was given the body to serve as a guinea pig for the villain of the first season, Derek Powers. Powers suffered from a similar genetic accident that turned him into a walking nuclear reaction. They try to kill Freeze to autopsy his body in this transitional phase from human to mutated state to learn why the procedure failed. Freeze escapes, gets a suit he’d been keeping in Cold Storage, and plans to freeze Gotham. New Batman is able to convince Freeze to stop, but Freeze is ultimately killed stopping an insane Powers from killing Batman. The episode ends with the two Batmen agreeing that they were probably both a little right when it came to Freeze’s nature, that he may live for revenge but in the end he still had a heart.

A fitting end for me.

Very. The Batman series' version of the character is more in line with Mr. Zero, an insane frozen Jewel thief. And while I didn’t like the character as much as the Animated series version, but the design is pretty awesome.

Nice redesign. I've always liked the big red goggles

He was a boss fight in the Batman Arkham series, after the fight he serves as a reluctant ally to Batman in exchange for recovering Nora, whose frozen body had been taken from him at some point before the start of the game. In his boss battle, the player needs to both dodge Freeze’s icy and unrelenting attacks while simultaneously setting up traps to damage the frozen juggernaut. It’s a pretty good fight and an excellent game, give it a shot.

 I was originally introduce to Freeze in the Animate Series, and have always enjoyed the character. He is significantly more complex than a good percentage of bad guys. He is a pretty selfish villain, choosing to get his own personal revenge over the safety of others, and yet I can’t help liking the character. He commits crimes because he lost the one he loved and wants those who took her to hurt just as much as he did. Furthermore, he is a character that cannot even touch another human being, to do so would probably burn his hand. He is trapped in a shell, forever on the other side of the glass from humanity. Imagine how horrible that would feel, to never again know the warmth of a hug, a kiss, or even a handshake. It’s almost too awful to imagine. The Batman and Robin movie did the character a grave injustice and I sincerely hope he gets another chance at the big screen sometime in the future.

This has been an interesting experience for me. Thank you, for both your time and those kind words.

You are very welcome Victor. So…do you need a ride home?

No thank you, I’ll walk. I feel the need to watch the snow fall.

Poor, poor man. Next time, I’ll be covering Bishop, the time hopping X-man from the future.

Goodbye.
Chill out. Sorry, had to.

 http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Mister_Freeze

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Freeze

 http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Mister_Freeze

 http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Freeze_%28Batman:_Arkham_City%29

 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453315518715023804/