Mr. Freeze - in Other Media - Television

Television

• In the 1960s Batman television series, Mr. Freeze was played by George Sanders in the first two-part appearance, Otto Preminger in the second two-part appearance, and Eli Wallach in the third two-part appearance. Sanders and Wallach used German accents for the role, while Preminger used his own Austrian accent. While the George Sanders version wore the classic refrigerated suit, the Otto Preminger and Eli Wallach versions wore a "Freeze Collar" around their neck that went with Mr. Freeze's cooling suit. Before Mr. Freeze was on the show, he was always called Mr. Zero. The show's version of him continues to be campy like the comic books and is given an alias Dr. Schivel.
  • In his first appearance, "Instant Freeze", it is revealed that it was Batman who spilled the cryogenic chemicals on Dr. Schivell (portrayed by Sanders) during an attempted arrest. Batman thus feels a certain amount of guilt for his condition. Mr. Freeze ends up stealing some famous diamonds from the Gotham City Diamond Exchange. When Batman and Robin try to stop him, he ends up freezing them with his freeze gun. In the next episode, "Rats Like Cheese," Mr. Freeze kidnaps Paul Diamante of the Gotham City Eagles Team and offers to return him in exchange for Batman. Batman and Robin were able to apprehend Mr. Freeze. During this appearance, Mr. Freeze's hideout has "warm lights" so that his henchmen can interact with Mr. Freeze.
  • In "Green Ice," Mr. Freeze (portrayed by Preminger) escapes from prison and captures Miss Iceland from the finals of the Miss Galaxy Pageant. In the next episode "Deep Freeze," Mr. Freeze has led all of Gotham City to believe that Batman has given in to Mr. Freeze's bribes. Batman and Robin managed to find Mr. Freeze's hideout, rescue Miss Iceland, and defeat Mr. Freeze (who was placed in the same freezer that he placed Miss Iceland in after his Freeze Collar was knocked off).
  • In "Ice Spy," Mr. Freeze (portrayed by Wallach) kidnaps Icelandic scientist Professor Isaacson in order to obtain an "Instant Ice" formula. In "The Duo Defy," Mr. Freeze finally obtains the "Instant Ice" formula and ends up building a large freeze ray. He is thwarted by Batman and Robin again. As Mr. Freeze and his henchmen are arrested by the police, he told the police officers that apprehended him not to touch the dials on his Freeze Collar.

• Mr. Freeze appeared in The Batman/Superman Hour voiced by Ted Knight. The Filmation series has Mr. Freeze make extensive use of his self made technology such as making certain parts of his hideout "warm corridors" to accommodate underlings.

• Mr. Freeze appears in The New Adventures of Batman episode "The Deep Freeze" voiced by Lennie Weinrib in a Russian-like accent. Unlike the theme song, Mr. Freeze was shown without the helmet that goes with his refrigerated suit. He and his henchman Professor Frost plot to steal the N-1000 (a superfast submarine) to pull of the Crime of the Century. When Batman and Robin raid his hideout, Mr. Freeze manages to freeze both of them but takes Robin with him and Professor Frost. When Mr. Freeze and Professor Frost managed to steal the N-1000, Mr. Freeze has Professor Frost steer it to the North Pole. When Batman and Bat-Mite catch up, Robin makes his escape while Mr. Freeze and Professor Frost continue to the North Pole. When Batman, Robin, and Bat-Mite catch up to Mr. Freeze and Professor Frost at the North Pole, Batman and Robin fire a beam from their device that reverses the polarity of Mr. Freeze's freeze gun so that it warms up. Batman and Robin managed to defeat Mr. Freeze and remand him to prison.

• Mr. Freeze appears in several series for the DC animated universe voiced by Michael Ansara.
  • Mr. Freeze appears in Batman: The Animated Series with his design created by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola as per request of series creator Bruce Timm. Mr. Freeze is introduced in the episode "Heart of Ice", which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program. According to flashbacks, cryogenic scientist Victor Fries was working for the company Gothcorp and embezzled funds for an experiment in order to save his terminally ill wife Nora Fries by cryogenically freezing her until a cure could be found. However, Gothcorp CEO Ferris Boyle (voiced by Mark Hamill) broke into the lab with guards, demanding an end be put to the experiment. When Fries desperately grabbed a security guard's pistol and aimed it at Boyle, the corrupt CEO kicked Victor into a table of chemical beakers filled with cryogenic substance, leaving him to die. But he survived and was severely mutated by the substances. Unable to live outside subzero conditions, he must wear a cryogenic suit to survive, which also triples his strength. In the present day, he now calls himself 'Mr. Freeze' as he leads a band of henchmen and makes several raids on GothCorp, stealing the parts for a freezing machine he wishes to build and use in his vendetta against Boyle. This leads to his first confrontation with Batman, whom he traps in a block of ice. Freeze leaves the trapped Batman in his hideout, confronting Boyle at the Gothcorp Humanitarian Party and freezing him up to the waist. Batman escapes, then confronts Freeze at the party, fighting him one-on-one until he breaks a thermos of chicken soup on Freeze's transparent head dome to cause it to shatter with the induced thermal shock, rendering Mr. Freeze unconscious. Batman then presents evidence of Boyle's crime to the press. Freeze is imprisoned in Arkham Asylum in a special cell that is kept at subzero temperatures. As the episode ends, he's begging his wife for forgiveness. Mr. Freeze later appears in "Deep Freeze" where he is kidnapped by giant robots and brought to an off-shore city called Oceana. There, he meets billionaire amusement park designer Grant Walker (voiced by Daniel O'Herlihy) wanting to become like Freeze so he can create a frozen world for selected residents. Mr. Freeze agrees to help when Walker promises to cure his wife (whose cryogenic tank is in his possession). Batman and Robin arrive and try to reason with Freeze that if he were to help Walker, Nora would hate him. Freeze eventually turns on Walker, freezing him to a wall. Freeze overloads Oceana's power-core, which starts the destruction of the city as he instructs its inhabitants to evacuate. Freeze stays behind to die with his wife, and they all disappear in the explosion, though the episode's end reveals that they survive, trapped in icebergs. Mr. Freeze's next appearance is as the main antagonist in the direct to video movie Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero. After Nora's tank is shattered, Freeze kidnaps Barbara Gordon in order to perform a vital organ transplant and uses Barbara to get it. Freeze makes a deal with a greedy old colleague of his to help cure his wife in exchange for gold. Batman and Robin thwart this plan and Freeze is then presumed killed in the explosion of his lair on an abandoned oil rig. Wayne Enterprises then finances Nora's surgery saving her life which Freeze overhears while watching in on researchers in the North Pole, bringing tears to his eyes.
  • Mr. Freeze returns in The New Batman Adventures with a new, sleeker look. After Batman and Mr. Freeze: SubZero, his wife is cured but his condition prevents him from reuniting with her. In the episode "Cold Comfort", Freeze learns that the serum that mutated his body is slowly destroying it. Although he has kidnapped many scientists to try and stop the process, they only succeed after the process has claimed all but his head, which is supported by four robotic legs built into his suit. By this time, Nora has married the doctor assigned to her case and left Gotham permanently. The trauma destroys whatever is left of Freeze's humanity, and he vows to inflict on others the loss he's suffered by taking away the things they value most. One of his targets is Bruce Wayne, and he almost kills Alfred Pennyworth at Wayne Manor. At his hideout, Freeze is confronted by Batman and Batgirl, and he reveals his true condition to them, as well as his goal of destroying Gotham and thus all Batman holds dear by dropping a "reverse fusion bomb" that will freeze the city. Freeze boards a helicopter to drop the bomb, but Batman follows him and they engage in a duel in which Batman uses his grappling gun to hook Freeze to the bomb and drop it into the river, where an explosion creates a huge iceberg to which Freeze is presumed dead. As the episode ends, his frozen armor is missing Freeze's head, thus Freeze escapes with his life.
  • In Batman Beyond, Bruce Wayne still has one of Mr. Freeze's guns in the Batcave since the series premiere "Rebirth" which the new Batman uses to freeze Inque when she infiltrates the Batcave in "Black Out" but Inque destroys the one in "Disappearing Inque". In the episode "Meltdown", Victor Fries' disembodied head survived for 40 years thanks to the cryogenics technology, which has granted him eternal life. Wayne-Powers CEO Derek Powers has Doctor Stephanie Lake (voiced by Linda Hamilton) use Fries as a test subject for a process she hopes will cure Powers' own mutation. She creates a clone body for him using his baseline DNA and transfers Victor's mind into it. Given a normal life, Fries tries to right some of the wrongs he has committed, creating a charitable organization with all his legitimate earnings from before he was imprisoned. However, Victor's new body soon begins to revert to the same sub-zero biology. Lake and Powers betray Fries when he returns to their lab for help, hoping to learn more from a biopsy but he escapes. After he recovers an advanced suit of sub-zero armor to which he becomes Mr. Freeze again, he seeks revenge by freezing Lake, freezing Powers (which he survives due to his mutation into the villain Blight), and attempting to blow up a Wayne-Powers complex with himself in it. In the middle of his plan, Freeze fights Batman and then does battle with Blight. After Freeze redeems himself by saving the new Batman from Blight, Batman attempts to save Freeze from the collapsing building, but Freeze refuses help and presumably dies in the explosion. In the uncut version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a life-size replica of Mr. Freeze (in his The New Batman Adventures design) is briefly seen.
  • While Mr. Freeze never appeared in neither the Justice League animated series nor Justice League Unlimited, another of his freeze guns is seen in the Batcave in the former's series finale "Starcrossed (Pt. 3)" which Kragger (voiced by Hector Elizondo) uses on Superman to which the Kryptonian blows the freeze charge back which freezes the Thanagarian instead, and is briefly mentioned in the latter's second season finale "Epilogue" by Terry McGinnis.

• Mr. Freeze appears in The Batman voiced by Clancy Brown. This version of Mr. Freeze is a bank robber who is condemned to life in a cryogenic suit after an accident in a cryogenics lab while being chased by Batman. Unlike other versions of the character, The Batman interpretation fires ice blasts directly out of his hands rather than from a gun. After emerging from a cryogenic chamber, he forces a scientist to create a special refrigerated suit for him. In the episode "The Big Chill", he becomes 'Mr. Freeze' and commits a series of robberies and manages to freeze Batman's body. Upon freezing a park, Mr. Freeze holds the police at bay until Batman defeats him. In the episode "Fire and Ice", Mr. Freeze teams up with Firefly to put Gotham in a permanent winter. Batman defeats both of them and leaves them tied up outside the police station. In the episode "The Icy Depths", he competes against Penguin to claim an umbrella that is in fact a map to a sunken treasure. When the location is found, Mr. Freeze freezes the surrounding waters so that he can access the boat. When the ice starts to melt, he fights Penguin to claim the treasure. Both of them are fished out of the water by the police. In the episode "Artifacts" (set in 2027), Freeze's powers have increased to the point that he wears a special mecha suit. However, he loses an unhealthy amount of weight and becomes unable to walk, and is forced to use mechanical spider legs. After a near-death escape, Freeze places himself in cryogenic suspension until someone wakes him up 1,000 years in the future in 3027. Once his suit is repaired, Mr. Freeze continues terrorizing Gotham. Eventually, law enforcement officers use methods saved for the future by Batman to defeat Mr. Freeze and place him in a special cell. In "Rumors", Mr. Freeze is among the villains captured by the titular villain. In "The Joining (Pt. 2)", Mr. Freeze joins The Joker, Penguin and Bane in fighting the Joining when Arkham Asylum is attacked. Mr. Freeze saves Commissioner Gordon by freezing one of the Joining's robots. In "The Batman/Superman Story (Pt. 1)", Mr. Freeze is hired by Lex Luthor, along with Black Mask, Clayface and Bane, to kidnap Lois Lane and use her as bait for Superman. He and the villains are defeated by Superman, Batman and Robin.

• Mr. Freeze appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by John DiMaggio using a German accent. He first appears in his Silver Age appearance under the name 'Mr. Zero' in the episode "Legends of the Dark Mite" where he is among the Batman villains in Bat-Mite's fantasy. Batman defeats him by throwing a batarang at his helmet. Mr. Freeze makes a cameo in the teaser for "Sidekicks Assemble" as one of the villain holograms that Robin, Speedy and Aqualad fight. Mr. Freeze later appears in "Chill of the Night!" with a design resembling George Sanders' depiction. He is among the villains at a weapons auction held by Joe Chill. In "Bold Beginnings!", Mr. Freeze has captured Aquaman, Green Arrow and Plastic Man. Batman rescues them and recruits them to fight Mr. Freeze and his henchmen. After Mr. Freeze is defeated, Aquaman remains behind to wait for the police and continue telling Mr. Freeze of his first team-up with Batman against Black Manta. Mr. Freeze also appears in the opening for "Crisis: 22,300 Miles Above Earth" in which he is one of the villains at the Joker's celebrity roast in which the assembled villains are literally roasting Batman alive. With help from Jeffrey Ross, Batman breaks free from his death trap and defeats Mr. Freeze and the other villains present.

• Mr. Freeze appears in the Young Justice voiced by Keith Szarabajka. Introduced in "Independence Day (Pt. 1)", Mr. Freeze terrorizes a park in Gotham City until he is distracted and weakened by Robin and taken down by Batman. In "Terrors", Mr. Freeze is seen as an inmate at Belle Reve alongside Captain Cold, Icicle Jr., and Killer Frost. He and the other villains collaborate with Icicle Sr. in a breakout plot. When Mr. Freeze is brought to the prison's warden, Amanda Waller, he ends up freezing his own collar and then taking out the guards. He is defeated when Superboy shatters his helmet, forcing Mr. Freeze to turn his powers on himself in order to survive. In "Coldhearted", Mr. Freeze and the other ice-based villains are seen in their cells.