Batman Villain Makes Surprising Choice in Detective Comics

Detective Comics #1009 sees Batman becoming even more obsessed with his war on crime than usual and then having a memorable interaction with Deadshot. Readers might miss a very emotional moment with Mr. Freeze near the end of the issue which hints toward where this arc is headed. Victor Fries is on the cover of this book for more than just a year of the villain tie-in.

The doctor has just unfrozen his bride Nora and says something about the two of them being together again really soon. Apparently, Fries has something in mind and may have found some new way to cure Nora’s terminal illness. Whatever the villain’s plan is, it’s not a great time for Batman to be fighting Deadshot in a forest.

While flying to a conference in Singapore, Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox are re-acquainted with Deadshot who snuck aboard while posing as a pilot. Suddenly lightning strikes the plane, ripping a hole in the aircraft. Wayne manages to secure as many people as possible before eventually getting sucked out along with Deadshot. Now, it looks like Batman will have to contend with a highly-skilled assassin without access to his suit.

Because of all of this ruckus among the trees, Mr. Freeze will have to wait. Many fans would like to see the character get another chance on the silver screen after his appearances in comics and games lately. Filmmaker Kevin Smith mentioned how much he’d love to see Mr. Freeze brought back to life in a new film. This goes doubly for Smith when he takes into account how other storytellers have proven how interesting of a character he can be.

“Well, they’re already making 96 different Joker movies, so obviously not the Joker,” Smith joked during a live taping of his podcast Fatman on Batman when asked which villain deserves their own film. “In terms of Batman villains, I would look no further than Paul Dini’s ‘Heart of Ice,’ Mr. Freeze, from the Batman animated series. They took one of the simplest, dopiest characters in Batman’s canon, ‘He’s a man with a freeze gun!’ and turned him into one of the most tragic, Shakespearean level villains in all of comics. I would do Mr. Freeze; you get a lot of powerful material there.”

In 1997’s Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger played the villain last, though that film has endured a “complicated” relationship with the Batman fanbase because of its color palette and aesthetic choices. A new movie might do well to avoid decisions that would harken back to that portrayal. Smith and many fans think the villain could still be a compelling character if deployed correctly.

One of the keys to Mr. Freeze’s persona is that massive freezing gun, a “superpower” that could pose problems in trying to translate it in a grounded way on film. Most of the villains in the DC Extended Universe dial-up brute strength for their abilities. Mr. Freeze is more on the brainy side of things.

“Also, the freeze gun, visually, is a cool thing to see, I would imagine, on screen. We’ve seen it already done a few different times, just not the Arnold version, please,” Smith joked. “I think I’d go Mr. Freeze.”

Maybe fans will get another defining chapter in the character’s history as Detective Comics slides onward.