Originally airing as part of Fox Kids’ weekday afternoon line-up on September 7, 1992, “Heart of Ice” was an early entry in Batman: The Animated Series’ first season. The show rapidly gained popularity on the playground and with critics thanks to its dark visuals, slick animation style and intelligent writing, but this particular episode was a turning point. This was something special, and even kids me knew it while watching it for the first time after-school on that Monday afternoon. It not only reintroduced a classic Batman nemesis to a new generation of viewers, but made a huge change to who he was that left permanent ramifications to the character. This episode was also noteworthy because it was one of the only times Batman ever took down a supervillain using the unlikeliest of things – hot soup.
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There are many landmark milestones that Batman: The Animated Series provided to fans of DC Comics, reinvigorating the franchise for a new generation while still honoring what its fan based loved about it. One of its finest moments was this particular episode, which displayed how a so-called “bad guy” could actually be more complex than his menacing looks make them out to be. Mr. Freeze wasn’t much beyond his gimmick for the longest time, but thanks to these 22 minutes the character was never the same again, and neither were we. And that incredible encounter that forever altered a piece of DC canon wrapped up neatly with a little help from a hearty consommé.
During an usually hot heat wave for Gotham City, an armed robber is breaking into GothCorp facilities and stealing equipment that Batman figures out are parts of a massive ice cannon that can freeze anything. After surviving his first encounter with Mr. Freeze but unable to stop him from swiping the remaining part of his machine (and walking away with a case of the Bat-sniffles), Batman’ investigates the connecting elements of the plot as his investigation leads him to discover why this multi-million dollar company has been the target of these strange heists. GothCorp employee and scientist Victor Fries has been working on a way to save his wife from her terminal illness by using cryogenic technology, but CEO Ferris Boyle refuses to spend the money on Fries’ research. The two clash, resulting in a lab accident that forces Fries to spend the rest of his life in a frigid exo-suit.
Mr. Freeze’s next big move is a direct attack with his ice cannon on Boyle during his farcical humanitarian award ceremony, encasing the building and everyone inside in solid ice. As Freeze finds Boyle, Batman intervenes before the vengeful scientist can finish off the CEO. The world’s greatest detective finds himself at a disadvantage against the powerful Freeze until he pulls out an unexpected object from his utility belt – a thermos of hot soup, courtesy of Alfred who offered it to him earlier in the episode after his sneezing began. The broth causes Freeze’s glass helmet to shatter, robbing him of his vengeance. However, it doesn’t stop justice as Batman provides evidence of Boyle’s misdeeds to the press, leading to his arrest. The episode ends with a remorseful Freeze locked in an Arkham cell, lamenting his loss and feeling his first emotions since his accident.
Batman’s gadgets often get him out of sticky situations, but this is the first time soup was weaponized to fight crime. It was an unexpected but appropriate way to stop Freeze, not only because of the liquid’s scalding temperature, but because of the inherent love and care that went into making it. It’s the ultimate antithesis to everything the emotionless Mr. Freeze has become since he was robbed of his wife and his own wellbeing. There was truly no superior path to victory, metaphorically and literally, as Alfred tells Bruce earlier in the episode, it’s “the only way to fight a cold.”
“Heart of Ice” Was A New Origin Story for Mr. Freeze
The secret origin of this perennial Batman bad guy was nothing special when the character was first introduced in 1959. While he wasn’t called Mr. Freeze yet, Mr. Zero debuted in Batman #121 as a super-science villain plagued by a chemical-induced affliction that leaves him unable to breathe unless he is in his ice-cold cryo-suit at all times. His name was changed to Mr. Freeze for the campy 1966 Batman TV series, carrying over into the comic books a few years later along with keeping his origin story ambiguous outside of this experiment gone awry. For years, there simply wasn’t much interesting about the character outside of his chilling puns and toyetic costume.
Mr. Freeze was just another inconsequential member of the Dark Knight’s extensive rogue’s gallery, and would have likely stayed that way if not for the series producer and writer of many of its episodes, Paul Dini. He saw something more in the character, and decided to transform him from an average bad guy of the week into something with depth. “In writing the story, I thought if Freeze claimed to be dead to emotion, then the last scene should be him breaking down,” Dini explained in an interview with Comic Book Resources. “I worked backward from that idea, setting up the conflict that would get him to that point.” Further inspiration for his take on Mr. Freeze came from many sources, including a performance from an actor who was in that 60’s campy live-action show. Vincent Price played the self-proclaimed world’s smartest villain for a mere five episodes in that iteration of Batman, but his work as a tortured genius out for revenge in the British horror films TheAbominable Dr. Phibes from 1971 is what got Dini’s brain moving in a different direction. It wasn’t just a lab accident anymore that made Mr. Freeze grow cold to the world — it was now his inability to feel the warmth of love.
Batman: The Animated Series Rewrote Mr. Freeze’s Character
“Heart of Ice” was the start of a new chapter for Mr. Freeze, who was suddenly treated in a more serious way in the cartoons as well as the comic books (with the exception being the Joel Schumacher Batman & Robin movie from 1997, but we don’t talk about that mess). Batman had two animated movies that spun out of his hit series, including The Mask of The Phantasm, and 1998’s SubZero, which saw the tragic villain fighting once again for his wife, but this time in a desperate plea to revive her after an accident destroys her cryo-tank. Freeze appeared one year later in Batman Beyond, where his story came to an apparent end in a very touching and powerful episode called “Meltdown.”
The rage of Mr. Freeze changes from author to author, but it’s thanks to the animated series that this character became more human than supervillain. The only regret Dini seemingly had about his reinvention of Freeze was how challenging it made future scripts. “The only bad thing about reinventing Freeze along those lines was that it made it hard to come up with other stories about him. He’s not compelled to cause mayhem like the Joker, or to steal valuables like Catwoman. Those characters are easier to write because their motivations are cleaner. Like Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze is more of a victim than a villain – there’s nothing they want beyond being normal.”
What did you think about this new origin story for Mr. Freeze? Was this the start of creating more sympathetic villains in comic book adaptations? Let us know in the comments.
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