Considering Firefly is a arsonist for hire who works for businesses like Gothcorp (at least in Batman 2004) and Mr. Freeze is a scientist who almost lost his wife because of the head of Gothcorp (at least in Batman: The Animated Series), I really can't imagine these two getting along at first. Hell, I can imagine a world where firefly was contracted to take care of freeze by ferris boyle. That might actually make for a really interesting story. Fire and Ice. Enemies who maybe learn to be more amicable? Or alternatively get Gotham caught in the crossfire of their private feud?
I love how Batman 2004 gave them almost opposite personalities. Freeze is a cold and cunning man who speaks in deadpan, overly serious tones. But Firefly was a quick witted man who jokes around a lot and zips around, buzzing and shooting off lasers in combat. They're very different, but I like the differences. It helps emphasize the real fire and ice thing they have going on, honestly.
“We all have one of these inside our heads, a symbol of death without which we cannot live. And if we use what's inside our heads, eventually we will live to conquer death.” - Mister Freeze
Real Name: Victor Fries
Aliases:
Mister Zero
Doctor Zero
Gender: Male
Height: 6′ 0″
Weight: 190 lbs (86 kg)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Bald
Skin: White
Powers:
Unique Physiology
Abilities:
Genius Level Intellect
Science
Mechanical Engineering
Weaknesses:
Technological Reliability
Equipment:
Cryo-Suit
Mister Freeze's Cold Gun
Universe:
Earth-One
Earth-Two
New Earth
Base of Operations: Gotham City
Citizenship: American
Parents:
Charles Fries; father
Lorraine Fries; mother
Marital Status: Separated (Nora Fries; wife)
Occupation:
Criminal
Cryogenicist
College teacher
First Appearance: Batman #121 (February, 1959)
Powers
Unique Physiology
Abilities
Genius Level Intellect: Victor is also a polymath who has studied many areas of physics and chemistry, as well as neurobiology and medicine.
Science: He's a gifted scientist, having built his Cryo-Suit, Cold Gun, and life support machine.
Cryogenics
Medical Science
Mechanical Engineering
Weaknesses
Technological Reliability: He relies on his cryo-suit to regulate his temperature at a frozen level.
Equipment
Cryo-Suit: Wears a suit that keeps his body temperature below freezing.
Mister Freeze's Cold Gun: He freezes areas around him using special weapons and equipment.
History
Victor Fries, primarily known as Mister Freeze and before that Mister Zero, is a scientist skilled in cryonics. With his Ice Gun, he is a recurring foe of Batman and his allies in Gotham City.
Earth-One
A scientist, whose name remains unknown, adopted the identity of the criminal Mister Zero after he suffered an unfortunate accident that changed his physiology, forcing him to live in environments below zero temperature. He was experimenting with a concentrated freezing solution in order to create an ice gun and he was accidentally exposed to the solution. In order to be able to go out to the normal environment, Zero created an air conditioned costume, which helped him remain in cold temperatures, even in hot climates. Using this equipment, Zero gathered a small gang and started a crime spree in Gotham City, stealing mainly diamonds and other precious jewels. Mr. Zero was eventually confronted by the local vigilantes, Batman and Robin, who were unable to stop Zero as they couldn't stand against his cold weapons. The Dynamic Duo were eventually captured by Zero and brought to his secret cold hideout, near the mountains. Trapped in blocks of ice, Batman and Robin learned Zero's plan to steal a large collection of gems and using their cages as weapons, Batman broke a steam pipe in Zero's hideout, causing steam to fill the entire place, melting the ice away and apparently curing Zero from his ailment. After this, Batman and Robin were able to capture the whole gang and brought Zero to the authorities.
After years of inactivity, Zero returned to crime, but this time, he changed his alias to Mister Freeze. Freeze's condition had apparently returned and he was forced to remain in cold temperatures once again. In this second exploit, Freeze redesigned his Cryo-Suit and also improved his cryothermal gun. With a new gang, he started a new series of crimes and stole valuable pieces of art. Similar to his first criminal activities, Freeze was eventually stopped by Batman and Robin.
Long after this, Freeze became part of a mock criminal trial, after which he changed his Cryo-Suit for one that allowed him more mobility. Freeze eventually fell in love with a woman called Hildy. In order to slow her aging process, Freeze set out to recreate the accident that transformed him. Using wealthy people in Gotham as test subjects, Freeze experimented on them, but all the efforts resulted in failure and the victims were turned into frozen zombies, who followed Freeze's command. His new crimes alerted the police and Batman, who confronted Freeze and was only able to defeat him when Hildy showed her true intentions and betrayed Freeze, only to be encased in solid ice when her plan backfired. Freeze's next plan consisted in freezing Gotham City by removing all the heat and transporting the energy to the neighboring city of Metropolis. Freeze was unable to accomplish his goal as he was stopped by Batman and Superman. During one last attempt to freeze Gotham entirely, Mr. Freeze created a large ice cannon. After robbing a bank, Freeze was confronted by Batman and the new Robin, who managed to defeat him with help from Vicki Vale and Julia Pennyworth, who Freeze had previously captured.
Origin
As a child, Victor Fries was fascinated by freezing animals as a hobby he developed to escape the pressures of his brutal, control-freak father. His parents, horrified by his 'hobby', sent him to a strict boarding school, where he was miserable, feeling detached from humanity. That winter, when the other children went home for the holidays, Victor discovered that his parents had disowned him. He was thought of as in embarrassment, a mistake to be filed away and forgotten, and he never saw them again. In college, he felt that he may never feel a warm touch, but then came Nora, a beautiful athlete, with whom he fell deeply in love with and ultimately married. He later got a job teaching cryogenics at the local college.
Nora later fell terminally ill with a rare cancer. Fries left teaching and took on a job working for a large drug company called GothCorp, run by the ruthless Ferris Boyle, so he could find a cure. Using his great intellect and passion for cryogenics, Fries discovered a way to put Nora into cryo-stasis using company equipment, hoping to sustain her until a cure could be found. Boyle found out about the experiment and canceled the funding, but Fries continued with the project, leaving Boyle in huge debt. Boyle attempted to have Nora brought out of stasis and overruled Fries' frantic objections, during which a struggle ensued. As a result, Fries became engulfed in his own cryogenic coolants and was left for dead. Fries survived, but the chemicals had altered his body chemistry and his body temperature was lowered dramatically; he could now only survive at sub-zero temperatures. Fries escaped, unnoticed with the frozen Nora. In hiding, he invented a special refrigeration suit to stay alive, and used cryonic technology to create a powerful gun which fired a beam that froze any target within its range.
With this technology, he became a criminal called Mr. Freeze with a taste for diamonds and revenge.
Criminal Activities
His first act as a costumed criminal is to take revenge upon Ferris Boyle, a plan with which Batman interferes. Mr. Freeze fired his freeze-gun at Batman, but he dodged, causing the beam to shatter Nora's capsule. Freeze blamed Batman, and swore to destroy whatever the Dark Knight holds dear. Mr. Freeze once joined a team of Gotham's "costumed freaks" lead by Two-Face. The group attempted to destroy the remnants of Carmine Falcone's Crime Family. During the Columbus' Day Massacre, Freeze was assigned to the removal of Edie Skeevers. Mr. Freeze and the others eventually fought Batman and Robin in the Batcave, after a botched assassination attempt on Two-Face by Hangman.
Initially locked in Arkham Asylum, Freeze was eventually transferred to the Gotham State Penitentiary, from where he escaped and attempted to steal technology from S.T.A.R. Labs until he was stopped and returned to prison by Batman.
After this series of encounters with Gotham's vigilantes, Freeze decided to hibernate inside a block of ice created with his own weapons. His frozen body was eventually found in the Gotham River, where the police pulled him out and took him to the morgue, assuming there was a corpse inside the ice. When the ice thawed, Freeze crawled out to the cold room, where he was stopped by Detective Montoya and Batman. Freeze was then arrested and taken away in an ambulance with the necessary equipment to keep him alive.
City of Crime
Freeze was eventually contacted by Penguin and he agreed to work for him as a "cleaner". However, Freeze's unstable mind caused him to go overboard and started killing Penguin's people. Freeze's mind was having a regression after his treatment at Arkham and he kidnapped a pregnant girl, believing that she was her late wife, Nora. Freeze was then attacked by The Ventriloquist's henchmen and Batman had to step in to save him. Freeze returned to his hideout to recover from the damage done, but the kidnapped girl tricked Freeze into hugging her, causing him to be paralyzed due to her warm body affecting his system. Batman arrived in time to rescue the girl and left Freeze to be taken by the authorities.
Under the Hood
When Black Mask became the new crime lord in Gotham, he approached Freeze and offered him to join his gang; an offer that Freeze accepted on the condition that he was given a new Cryo-Suit. The construction of a new cryo-suit was slow as Freeze kept killing the technicians that Black Mask provided him, but eventually Freeze was given a new and improved cryo-suit, sealing the deal. Once under Black Mask's command, Freeze was told to recover anything he could from the stolen shipment at the Gotham Harbor. However, Black Mask's plans were foiled by a new criminal called Red Hood, forcing the crime lord to send Freeze to kill Red Hood and recover the Kryptonite shipment for him. Freeze found Red Hood and a fight between them started until Batman and Nightwing showed up and stopped their fight. After this, Freeze used his cold gun to escape the place.
Once, in the hopes of reviving Nora, he allied himself with the Secret Society of Super Villains, fashioning for Nyssa Head a sub-zero machine in exchange for the use of her own Lazarus Pit. He attempts to restore Nora to life without waiting for the adjusting needed in the pool chemicals, however; she returns to life as the twisted Lazara, and escapes. She blamed her husband for her plight and estranged herself from him.
Heart of Hush
Freeze was eventually approached by Hush, who asked him to create a machine that could preserve a beating heart out of the body. Freeze created such machine and asked a large amount money in exchange.
Upon returning to Earth, Freeze started attacking Intergang, to take back the control of Gotham. For this purpose, he made an alliance with Killer Croc and together they attacked the members of Intergang at the Iceberg Lounge.
Battle for the Cowl
After Batman's death, most of the Arkham inmates were freed by a new Black Mask. Freeze was among them and he started working on a project called Ice-X Protocol when the GCPD tried to capture him. He stunned them with his gun and captured Gordon, taking him to his secret lair. Gordon managed to break free and defeat Freeze by causing an explosion that weakened Freeze. After his capture, Freeze was taken to Iron Heights prison.
Black Mask attempted to control Mr. Freeze by implanting a device in his head. He escaped Black Mask and tried to perform brain surgery on himself to remove the chip, but was captured and imprisoned by the Outsiders. The chip was eventually removed by Owlman.
Convergence
He robs a diamond store and is stopped by Nightwing. He later teams up with Penguin to attack Poison Ivy. It is clear that he has lost motivation due to his separation from Nora.
Fun Facts
Mister Zero had a counterpart on Earth-Two. It is unknown whether he ever adopted the Mister Freeze alias.
Mr. Freeze does not believe in heaven or hell or any sort of afterlife, making him an atheist.
Will Victor ever let it go? Let It Go? Let It Goooooo?!
Just going to put it straight out there-This won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in and Animated Program for a reason, ya’ll. Go watch it.
Gothcorp, The People’s Company, is being struck with various ice related crimes, and Batman figures out that whoever’s committing these crimes is collecting tech to create a freeze ray, and they have only one place left to go. Batman’s there on the scene, when Mr. Freeze, along with his lackeys, step out of his armoured van. Freeze gets away, but ruthlessly leaves behind one of his own for his “foolishness”. Batman takes the thug away to the Batcave for medical attention and answers. He does this all while sick, by the way. Talk about being committed to the job.
Bruce Wayne goes straight to the source of the issue, since he can’t go anywhere else-Gothcorp. He talks to The Jok-Err-I mean, Ferris Boyle (Freeze & Boil? Heheheh) about who would want to do such a thing, and Ferris states the only guy who would want to is dead! Later on, Batman breaks in and snoops through Gothcorp’s files. He plays a cassette tape featuring precision filming of the “death” of scientist Victor Fries-A man who only wanted to save the life of his wife through cryogenic freezing. Boyle destroys his work, and traps Fries in a room with the cryogenic chemicals. Batman stands aghast, and Mr. Freeze walks in behind him, gun ready, remarking that he would cry if he had ‘any tears too shed”.
And that’s where I’m going to leave you, because I really want you to watch this episode!
FREEZYBATFACTS: One of the original ideas for Freeze’s origin tape, he was supposed to cling to his wife’s cryogen tube and watch in horror as his hair broke off in frozen chunks. Another, was that his tears would fall and become snowflakes.
Apart from Nora, do you have any other relatives or friends? Because you never really seem to be close to anyoune else.
I had parents, but they did not...appreciate my work and we have not spoken since my wedding to Nora. I am not sure if they are still living or not. I had some friends in GothCorp, but after my accident I cut off ties altogether from anyone who wasn't Nora.
Occasionally I will work with others in Gotham. Batman has his intentions in the right place, but is an annoyance more often than not. The others in the so-called Rogues Gallery irritate me; the Clown and Oswald especially. I suppose Crane is a tolerable ally when necessary.
