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Quote1 Have you ever seen a flower die? Watched someone that was once so beautiful, so full of life, collapse and rot from within? Quote2
Mr. Freeze


Dr. Victor Fries is a brilliant scientist and expert in all the forms of the science of cryogenics and, to a degree, in its related fields of chemistry and biology and pathology. His interest began as a child, when he innocently attempted to save several ill neighborhood pets by cryogenic preservation. This, however, horrified his parents and neighbors, and Victor grew up always feeling a little apart from everyone else. This changed when he was a young man and met Nora--a beautiful woman who saw Victor as quite a kind man. They eventually married, and they were happy.

When Nora fell ill of a rare degenerative disease, Fries embezzled a fortune from his employer GothCorp in company equipment and research materials so he could create a cure. Nora eventually accepted her death as something that would happen, which only seemed to spur Victor on even more. He neglected food and sleep, and grew more unstable and sloppy in covering his tracks--but at last, succeeded in his lifelong goal in cryogenic preservation without any of the destructive tissue damage that freezing produces in a human body. He put his wife Nora into suspended animation, and she's still there now, still alive and healthy, albeit in a coma-like state. The GothCorp CEO, Ferris Boyle, discovered his employee's extracurricular research and, as Victor had feared, declared that since Nora had been preserved using company resources, she was now company property.

Victor was finally unhinged at this, and tried to attack his employer. Boyle's security threw Victor away--accidentally onto the table of the cryonic chemicals Victor had invented. They immediately began altering Victor, burning his skin to a pale bluish white and putting him into incredible pain. Boyles, enraged at being attacked, callously decided to list Victor's imminent (or so he thought) death as a tragic lab accident.

Victor almost died there, burning alive in the room-temperature air that was close to searing his lungs. He managed to drag himself into a walk-freezer, and found it comfortable. He quickly assessed what had happened,realizing the cryogenic chemicals had altered his body. He put together a cryo-suit to keep himself below freezing, and tried to exact revenge on Ferris Boyle. He was foiled and captured by Batman, who also rescued Nora from the CEO's clutches--earning him a bit of Victor Fries' gratitude and respect to complicate the resentment he felt for Batman's interference. Nonetheless, curing Nora was still Fries' mission, and he would do anything to achieve that.

Victor is still devoted to his wife and her cure, and his crimes are aimed at more theft and acquisition of resources and technology to enable him to continue his quest. He has no desire for control of Gotham City's underworld, and operates alone if he has a choice in the matter. Over the years, he's drastically improved his cryo-suit into a truly fearsome set of powered armor, filled with his own self-made technology and turned into a weapon even Batman must treat with caution.

Arkham Asylum

Mr. Freeze's specially-frozen cell was kept in wing reserved for the most extreme criminals. At the time of the Titan debacle, Freeze had already left his cell by means unknown.

Arkham City

He was brought to Arkham City of his own free will when Hugo Strange promised full access to the old GCPD building to find a cure for Nora, who would also be with him at the building. While the promise for the lab was fulfilled, Freeze was enraged that Nora was not present.

Nora’s chamber was taken by the Joker, as leverage in blackmailing Victor to find a cure for the Titan poison. He had hit a roadblock in its development when he realized that the cure, while conceptually and scientifically sound, quickly degraded after synthesis, making it useless for neutralizing the Titan by-products throughout the body. He was going to continue his research into Nora's case only to be captured by the Penguin.

Batman, who was suffering from the same affliction as Joker, was forced to rescue Freeze from The Iceberg Lounge. Along the way, he found the Penguin had taken some of Fries' inventions for his own use, showing a particular preference for the Freeze Gun. Batman soon found Freeze locked in a beach-themed display case under a heat lamp, staying alive though the use of a plug built over his heart which can safely dispense a chemical into his circulatory system. A small vial of a blue chemical, possibly liquid nitrogen or even the same cryogenic chemicals which altered him originally, is sticking out of the plug and slowly pumping its contents into Freeze. Freeze, despite being half-cooked, initially balked at telling Batman even some of his secrets. Batman lost his patience and pulled Victor's vial out and emptied half of it to make the point that he doesn't have the time. Freeze agreed to tell Batman how to get past the Freeze Gun. With the help of Victor, Batman was able to disable the Penguin's stolen weaponry and return it to its rightful owner. The Penguin was thrown into one of his own display cases, his fortress ruined and army defeated. Freeze then explained to the Batman that the cure requires a regenerative agent to work, one that would take decades to formulate--but one which Batman already knew existed, in Ra's al Ghul's possession. Freeze returned to his lab in the old Gotham City Police Building while Batman attempted to recover a blood sample from the old assassin-king.

After recovering the blood sample, Freeze was able to complete the cure--which he promptly destroyed half of and locked the rest in his safe. Fries told Batman that Joker has his wife Nora and that he cannot allow any harm to come to her; beating Batman and turning him over to Joker would likely get Nora returned to him. Batman and Freeze fought with Freeze using his cryogenic weapons against the Batman. Using the disruptor and several other attack methods proposed by the tactical computer in his cowl and the Batcave, Batman was able to disable Freeze and damage his suit--but couldn't go further because the hallucinations from the Titan toxins chose that moment to flare. Freeze, however, had no stomach for further combat and, in any case, his suit was too damaged for him to continue. He relented and said he would give Batman the remaining dose of the cure--and all he wanted in return was to know that Nora was safe from the Joker. Victor begged Batman to ensure her safety.

When Victor went for the cure, however, Batman discovered that Harley Quinn was able to break into the safe during their fight and stole the only samples of the cure. Batman pursued her but, at the insistence of Freeze, promised also look for Nora. In exchange, Freeze gave Batman some prototype equipment he had been developing and informed Batman that the Joker also had some Freeze-tech in his possession that could be advantageous. Batman quickly found Nora in a warehouse on the property of Joker's Funland and informed Victor, who made his own ice bridge to walk across the water to get there. For the rest of the events of Arkham City, Freeze stayed with Nora.

Powers

  • Genius-level intelligence.
  • Expert in cryogenics.

Weaknesses

Must be kept at temperatures below the freezing point of water. Temperatures above freezing are both extremely harmful and painful to him.

Equipment

  • Cryo-suit that keeps his body temperature below freezing and enhances his strength and protects him from most physical attacks.
  • Thermal/Computer Goggles.

Weapons

  • Wields a Freeze Gun: That fires a freezing beam and launches cryonic grenades.
  • Uses seeker drones to locate heat signatures of his enemies.

Related

Footnotes


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Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

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