Mr. Freezehas always been one ofBatman’smost sympathetic villains, especially when compared to the likes of the Joker and Scarecrow - which is why it was always confusing that Batman didn’t help him more. However, one forgotten Mr. Freeze fact might explain why.
Batman: Shadow of the Bat#75 by Alan Grant and Mark Buckingham touched ona crucial detail about why Mr. Freeze commits crimes.Most fans might assume that Mr. Freeze simply needed money tocontinue research to save his wife Nora Fries,and that’s usually the reason given for his criminal acts these days - but it wasn’t the original reason.
It turns out that Mr. Freeze’s armor, which he needs to survive, is powered by diamonds. Mr. Freeze attacks banks over and over again hoping to increase his own power through the stolen gems.
Batman Can’t Save Mr. Freeze with Cash Donations, Because He Needs Diamonds to Survive
Batman: Shadow of the Bat#75 by Alan Grant, Mark Buckingham, Wayne Faucher, Pam Rambo, and Bill Oakley
Mr. Freeze is a complicated villain in Batman’s history. He originally appeared as Mister Zero, a generic criminal with frost-related weaponry. He mostly robbed banks and seemed purely motivated by monetary gain. Overall, he wasn’t very interesting, just another generic villain with a gimmick for Batman to punch. Later on, he was improved by Paul Dini in theBatman: The Animated Seriesepisode “Heart of Ice,” which gave Mr. Freeze the motivation of saving his dying wife, buteven this change doesn’t explain why Batman can’t help him, asBatman has more than enough money to give Mr. Freezehis own laboratory.
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This detail about needing diamonds to survive perfectly explains why Mr. Freeze continues to be a criminal. If all he needed was money to save his wife, there’s no reason that Batman couldn’t just supply him with a laboratory and funds for his research. Mr. Freeze is trying to cure a disease after all. It’s not like there’s no altruistic benefit to helping him accomplish his goals. But stealing diamonds to make himself more powerful is a motivation that Batman can’t support. If Mr. Freeze was satisfied with just one diamond, then Batman could likely supply that due to his wealth, but Mr. Freeze doesn’t want just one.
The Iconic Batman Villain Mr. Freeze Wants Power, Not Salvation
The Older Mr. Freeze Was Far More Brutal
If Mr. Freeze wanted to devote himself to saving his wife and keep himself alive, he would simply get a stockpile of diamonds and only use one at a time to keep his armor powered. Batman himself states that Mr. Freeze’s armor only needs one diamond to keep him at sub-zero temperatures.Unfortunately, Mr. Freeze wants moresimply because they make him more powerful, and so he stops being sympathetic. It’s that criminal element of his character that Batman can’t reason with and that allows him to make sense as a recurring villain, asBatman can’t just solve Freeze’s problems with money.
If Freeze’s only goal is to save his wife, there’s just no reason Batman can’t help.
Batman has always tried to redeem the villains that he could. Clayface and the Riddler have both worked with the Bat-Family in the past. Batman has even redeemed killers like Ghost-Maker and his own son, Damian Wayne. There’s no denying that Batman is perfectly open to working with villains who want to do better, so his never being able to redeem Mr. Freeze just never made sense. If Freeze’s only goal is to save his wife, there’s just no reason Batman can’t help. Several creators have tried to fix this moral problem, but none have done it as well as in the earlier comics, likeShadow of the Bat.
DC’s New 52 Continuity Tried to “Fix” Mr. Freeze
Unsurprisingly, the New 52 Changes Didn’t Work
DC’s New 52 continuity tried to give Mr. Freeze an unreasonable element by making him completely unrelated to Nora. Nora was just some frozen woman that Victor had never met and became obsessed with saving. This change in origin explained whyBatman wouldn’t just help Mr. Freeze save her, but it was also a misstep, as it also completely removed any tragedy from the character.Mr. Freeze simply isn’t a good character without Nora Fries, but he needs something to explain why Batman can’t solve his problems with money.
Making Mr. Freeze obsessed with stealing more than he needs simply for power is a great explanation for why he remains a villain. After all, with enough power, Mr. Freeze could take over any laboratory he wanted to in order to continue researching a cure for his wife. He can steal whatever equipment he needed, but only if he has power, which he has to get from diamonds. It’s that unreasonable element that his character has been missing in recent years, because without it,Batmancould just throw money atMr. Freezeto solve his completely reasonable problem.
