Mr. Freeze: The Frozen Tragedy

 

During the last 2 weeks, I have expressed my thoughts and personal opinions about some of my favorite comic book villains. Now, what I will be talking about, not only in this post, but in the next 2 as well, about a specific villain that is too powerful to deal with in a physical fight, and requires the hero to think about a possible way of neutralizing the threat that the villain poses. They were originally created as one-dimensional bad guys, but later on, they are given sympathetic origins, that make them counterpoints to the respective hero they face. Now that the introduction is about to end, let’s start talking about the Batman villain known as Mr. Freeze.

Quote from "Batman: Arkham City" (2011):

Mr. Freeze: "Have you ever seen a flower die? Watched something that was once so beautiful, so full of life, collapse and rot from within?"

As I indicated at the beginning of my post, Mr. Freeze was originally created as a simplistic villain that committed crimes related to ice and cold, while making a lot of ridiculous ice puns.
 

Quote from “Batman & Robin” (1997):

Mr. Freeze: “What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age!!”

 

 

It wasn’t until the Batman animated series from the 90’s was created, that the character was finally done correctly, and managed to be the most sympathetic Batman villain ever. In his origin story, which was adapted into the comics, with a little more background info added in the process, Victor Fries, as a child, had a hobby of freezing animals in order to prevent them from dying, in response, his parents sent him to a boarding school where he became an outcast. It was there that he met Nora, the love of his life, who he married years later. However, his happiness was not meant to last, as Nora became terminally ill, and Fries was forced to put her in suspended animation by using cryogenic technology. His corrupt boss, Ferris Boyle, finds out about the experiment and confronts Fries, with the confrontation culminating with the latter being exposed to unstable chemicals, which would cause his body to be only able to survive at sub-zero temperatures.

Quote from “Batman: The Animated Series” (1992):
Mr. Freeze: "I have failed you. I wish there was another way I could say it. I cannot... I can only beg your forgiveness, and hope that you can hear me somehow... someplace... where a warm hand waits for mine...

Mr. Freeze: "Rest well, my love. The monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish... best served cold."

Victor Fries, now calling himself Mr. Freeze, built a suit that would be able to protect him in his new condition, and began robbing banks in order to get money and the equipment required to make a cure for his wife, as well as getting revenge on his former boss,    unaware that these actions would inevitably make him cross paths with Batman. So, how is Mr. Freeze similar to Batman, you may ask? Well, both of them have suffered the loss of a loved one, except that in Freeze’s case, he still has the option of bringing his loved one back, and will do whatever it takes in order to accomplish that, even if it means putting innocent people in danger.

Quote from “Batman: Arkham City” (2011):

Mr. Freeze: “Death is cold, Batman.”

I watched in the TV the failure that is the “Batman & Robin” film, not to mention that also, as I mentioned in previous entries or posts or whatever, have the “Night of the Owls” comic book storyline, which is part of the New 52 continuity, and I am very much aware of the significant changes that Mr. Freeze suffered in both of these incarnations. However, I believe Freeze’s New 52 origin story is tragic in its own way, due to Mr. Freeze being obsessed with Nora, instead of being married to her, as she was frozen a long time ago before he was even born, and also because of Freeze trying desperately hard to feel love, but with his, literally, cold-blooded nature not allowing him to have a change of heart. I must admit that my favorite incarnations of the character are: the Post-Crisis one, the Animated series one, the New 52 one, and the Batman: Arkham series incarnation.

 

I think that’s enough info for today. See ya!!