Victor Fries (Gotham)

History

Early Life

Victor Fries showed signs of disconnect from the social world around him, generally unable to make meaningful connections with other human beings. Fries earned a doctorate, leading to him becoming one of Gotham City's preeminent cryogenics engineers. Victor went on to meet a woman named Nora, who became his one central human connection. The two eventually married, only for Nora to be diagnosed with a terminal illness.^[1][2][3]

Kidnapping Spree

Unable to accept the thought of Nora dying, Victor began to make plans to combat her disease. Nora began taking various medications to keep her sickness at bay while Victor built various cryogenic equipment, a Cold Gun (which runs on liquid helium that he obtained from Wayne Enterprises), and protective freeze gear. Victor informed Nora of his plans to cryogenically freeze her until he can find a cure for her disease. In preparation for this, Victor began kidnapping people so that he could experiment with freezing them in order to find a way to reanimate them. Every one of his experiments failed and every one of the victims perished as a result. Victor covered up his activities by lying to Nora, telling her that he was experimenting on rats.^[4]

Struggle With The Penguin

When the crime lord known as the Penguin moved his base of operations to a Gotham City slaughterhouse, Victor targeted the Penguin for reasons unknown. Victor murdered most of the Penguin's hired henchmen, though both the Penguin and Selina Kyle narrowly managed to escape.^[5]

GCPD Investigation

Victor's kidnapping spree attracted the attention of GCPD detectives James Gordon and Harvey Bullock when he murdered a police officer that had discovered one of his victims. As Victor's experiments continued, more and more of his test subjects continued to die. When Victor was away from his home, Nora inadvertently discovered his makeshift laboratory in the basement, causing her to learn the truth about his horrific experiments. Nora was horrified at the revelation.

Upon investigating a lead on the kidnappings, Gordon and Bullock were led to the home of Nora and Victor Fries, where they arrested Nora. While Gordon and Bullock interrogated Nora, Victor returned home and soon learned that one of his experiments was finally successful. Victor then vowed to save Nora from incarceration.^[6]

Rampage

In retaliation for Nora's arrest, Victor stole more liquid helium from Ace Chemicals and began murdering various members of the GCPD, leaving behind a written message that said "Free my wife". This only made GCPD Captain Nathaniel Barnes more determined to arrest Victor. When it was released to the press that the police were moving Nora to the medical wing at Arkham Asylum, Fries built a weaponised armoured suit in order to free her from containment. Victor broke into the asylum and captured Nora, managing to escape with her despite the efforts of the police. Fries then took Nora back to his home laboratory.^[7]

"Death" and Rebirth

When Gordon deduced that Victor would be returning to his home, the police quickly surrounded the area, making it impossible for him to escape. Victor planned on safely freezing Nora so that he could reanimate her later on. However, Nora felt responsible for the deaths Victor had caused and switched out the canister in his freeze gun so that she died upon being frozen. Devastated by Nora's demise, Victor attempted to remove his armour in order to surrender to the police. He accidentally froze himself in the process. Victor was sent to the medical wing at Arkham, where he was publicly pronounced dead.

Victor awoke in a refrigeration unit at Indian Hill, where he met Professor Hugo Strange. Strange informed Victor that he survived the freezing but he is no longer able to survive outside of subzero temperatures. Although Victor proclaims that he wishes he would've died with Nora, Strange offers him a partnership as a fellow scientist, telling Victor that this could be a new beginning for him.^[8] However, exposure to a gas at Indian Hill altered his personality, causing him to become much angrier, with a diminished moral code.^[9]

At this point, Victor began working for Professor Strange. Strange sent Victor and Azrael out into the public to preform various tasks.^[9][10] This led to suspicion from James Gordon and the GCPD, as both Victor and Azrael were sent to Arkham Asylum after being presumed dead. Hugo Strange's direct superiors were not pleased with the public exposure, leading to them ordering Strange to destroy all traces of Indian Hill and move to an upstate facility. Strange ordered Victor to kill certain witnesses, but he was stopped due to a conflict with Firefly. The GCPD soon discovered Indian Hill and Hugo Strange was arrested for conducting illegal experimentation, leaving Victor Fries' current whereabouts unknown.^[11]

The Army of Freaks

Legion of Horribles

No Man's Land

After the destruction of Gotham's main bridges, Freeze and all the other villains started claiming territory in the fallen city. Victor took control of an abandoned factory and the surrounding district, freezing everyone who tried to stop him.^[12] Three months later, Mr. Freeze had engaged in a turf war with Firefly and her gang. The outcome of their conflict is unknown.^[13] By day 391 into No Man's Land, Victor Fries' territory and all the other villain sectors had been taken over by the GCPD.^[14]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Unique Physiology: Due Dr. Strange's experiments on him after the cryogenic acccident, Fries' biology was altered, causing him to survive in extreme cold. It also forces him to rely on sub-zero temperatures to survive.

Abilities

• Genius Level Intellect
  • Cryogenics
    

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Cryo-Suit
• Mister Freeze's Cold Gun: Fries' gun ejects liquid helium that freezes specified targets.
  

Notes

• This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the television series Gotham and its tie-in webseries and shorts, Gotham Stories and Gotham: A City Gone Mad. It is an adaptation of Mister Freeze. The original character was created by Bob Kane, Dave Wood, and Sheldon Moldoff and first appeared in Batman #121.
• Mister Freeze was portrayed by Nathan Darrow.
• Shane West was initially considered for the role, but due to scheduling conflicts, the role ultimately went to Darrow. West later portrayed Eduardo Dorrance/Bane in the fifth season.^[15]

Related

• 21 Appearances of Victor Fries (Gotham)
• 7 Images featuring Victor Fries (Gotham)
• Quotations by or about Victor Fries (Gotham)
• Character Gallery: Victor Fries (Gotham)

Footnotes