Mr. Freeze in Reeves' Batuniverse

[DeadlyWest]

Mr Freeze is my personal favorite Bat villain and I badly want to see him in a live action movie done right but I really dont know how he would work in this David Fincher universe Reeves has created. Freeze has to be a bit fantastical and stylized to pull off right IMO.

Honestly I don't think Freeze is that hard to bring back down to a more grounded take. I've even described how you could do it, so I'm gonna quote myself here

Backpack full of liquid nitrogen + Reverse engineered flamethrower + need to regulate body temperature due to genetic disorder that was severely aggravated by accident + Cruel irony of freezing the ones who caused his accident.

Literally all you need.

Freeze is 100% doable in a more realistic setting

 

[Boom]

I read a thread a while ago from someone else talking about how Mr.Freeze should be a hitman for penguin. He would wear regular suburban dad clothes, oldschool glasses, and be a physically intimidating guy. Also during the job he would be wearing just a suit and after his killings he dumps the bodies on ice cream trucks and leaves them in freezers to decompose. After that, he becomes famous in Gotham for his brutal hits and the mob starts calling him "Mr.Freeze".

His name would be Victor Schivel and he is American with German or Austrian descent, so he has that european look. Personality wise he is a friggin psycho. Even Penguin is afraid of him. Victor would kill anyone to save his sick wife. He has no remorse for killing, he'll use the most insane and creative techniques to murder. He kinda likes it, makes him feel powerful. As how this would be tied to Batman? Maybe penguin sends Victor to do one last kill in exchange for millions. And that is Batman. Bruce finds out how Victor has been extortioned by Oz so Bruce funds Nora's treatment and helps Victor. Victor is sent to Blackgate, he'll not be with Nora but he is calm knowing his wife's disease is being controlled thanks to Bruce. The end .

I have heard this grounded take for some time now and I think its my favorite one for freeze so far.

As for casting, for Victor I'd get Alex Skarsgard. For Nora maybe Olivia Grant, a british actress that is mostly in small supporting roles and looks like Martha Wayne

A lot of that works conceptually, but you gotta have some kind of a costume for him. It's hard enough picturing Mr. Freeze without a freeze gun. Him just walking around in ordinary clothes is... well, dull.

Funny enough, I thought Gotham had a pretty interesting spin on Freeze that works very well. Nora is terminally ill, but she's still conscious and functioning in every day life. Freeze is out abducting people and using them as guinea pigs for his cryogenic experiments. He wants to perfect the freezing/reviving process before performing it on his wife. He gets the "Mr. Freeze" moniker because he's dumping the frozen bodies of his "failed experiments" all over town. You lose the freeze gun and the character needing to be kept at subzero body temperature, but you still have an excuse to have him wear a cool costume in a subzero lab environment.

Maybe he specifically targets members of GothCorp for his experiments because they cut his funding? Or maybe he works out a deal with Penguin where Penguin gives him funding for his experiments, and in return he performs these experiments on people that Penguin wants out of the way (to play into that "hitman" concept above).

About Cryonics | Cryonics Institute

The science is certainly not there yet, but it is a science that is being actively worked on today. So that will hopefully scratch Reeves' realism itch.

 

[DeadlyWest]

Yeah, no thanks on the idea of Freeze being a hitman.

To not do the Heart of Ice story where he's actively taking revenge on the company that made him how he is as well as trying to regain the funds to develop a cure for Nora and just have him be Hitman #23423 with a good conscience would be a massive disservice to the character imo.

If you wanna make him that after that story, I think that's okay. But let's get the foundations down first before we start diverging, in my opinion. There's a reason Heart of Ice won an emmy.

 

[Boom]

In pursuit of making him more "realistic," I could live without the character needing to be kept at subzero temperature. Victor Fries (pronounced "freeze") + cryogenics expert + accident that requires him to be kept as subzero body temp + freeze suit and gun = very gimmicky.

Otherwise, it's really hard to imagine him without a freeze gun, and impossible to imagine him without some type of costume. But the costume could just be a form of protection against the freeze gun, or for when the character is working in a cryolab.

 

[shauner111]

To me, the world Reeves has created could be seen as "grounded in reality" by some of his rules, but visually, I think there's definitely a door open for things a bit more "out there". Including Mister Freeze.

From a "dramatic" point of view, we're in a classic revenge story, so no problem with that. But in terms of "concept", to me, it's really just good old science fiction. And I honestly think even Nolan could have found an angle to adapt this character.
Because if it was possible to ground in reality a machine to travel through dreams or time via some pseudo-scientific explanation, then in my opinion, it shouldn't be too complicated to explain how and why a man is compelled to maintain his body at an extremely low temperature. Could be simply a way to slow down the progress of a disease or something like that.
Either way, I have no doubt about Reeves and his team to make this character work if they choose him. His stylization being stronger as Nolan, this can only help the character to blend with the rest. I mean, I don't think Mr. Freeze would take any more effort at acceptance than seeing Harvey Dent walking around with half his head pizza-style.

What I have a harder time to see though, is him as the main antagonist of an entire movie. To me, this isn't your typical villain threatening Gotham or actively wanting to chase Batman, etc.
Not the best example, but I'd rather imagine Freeze as some sort of "Man with the Harmonica", a guy who tries to fix a personal tragedy but whose trajectory will end up crossing something bigger. Here, Batman's main mission. Perhaps they have a common “prey”?

Anyway, just my two cents about it !

Bronson’s Harmonica is actually a fantastic comparison to make. Wished I thought of that. It’s a story about vengeance. As is The Northman (amleth)...which is one of the many reasons for my Skarsgard casting. But I agree that it feels weird for a long film.

Maybe Batman can help Victor see that vengeance isn’t the answer. Unless that’s just too much of the same?

 

[shauner111]

In pursuit of making him more "realistic," I could live without the character needing to be kept at subzero temperature. Victor Fries (pronounced "freeze") + cryogenics expert + accident that requires him to be kept as subzero body temp + freeze suit and gun = very gimmicky.

Otherwise, it's really hard to imagine him without a freeze gun, and impossible to imagine him without some type of costume. But the costume could just be a form of protection against the freeze gun, or for when the character is working in a cryolab.

Meh just make it the coldest, harshest Winter in the history of Gotham and that corner of the United States. He just wears his protective gear when he goes out. I don’t see the problem in that. The gun = liquid nitrogen (as suggested by many). Vengeance. Dying wife. Desperation. He steals, he kills, he freezes, he makes a deal with the devil (Penguin). Put all that into a blender and there ya go.

 

[DeadlyWest]

It definitely is a little out there, but a part of me really hopes the sub-zero temperature thing is just incorporated somehow because that adds so much to the tragedy of the character via having him essentially have a physical disability caused by his accident that he has to live the rest of his life with that can never be normal again. It'd be a shame to lose that, I definitely think it'd be worth trying to just ground that in reality.

 

[Boom]

Rory Kinnear

 

[metaphysician]

It definitely is a little out there, but a part of me really hopes the sub-zero temperature thing is just incorporated somehow because that adds so much to the tragedy of the character via having him essentially have a physical disability caused by his accident that he has to live the rest of his life with that can never be normal again. It'd be a shame to lose that, I definitely think it'd be worth trying to just ground that in reality.

Best way to do it: just do it. Simply do not have the narrative question that fact that this is something which can happen, anymore than it questions the idea that Batman could survive close range explosions or carry an absurd amount of grapple line on his person.

 

[WayneMB]

what about Daniel Craig? he came to my mind recently and i would love to see that

 

[Lautox]

If we are doing the late 40s early 50s route I would also like Joel Edgerton and Jesse Plemons for younger version

 

[Boom]

So apparently liquid nitrogen turns into a vapor almost immediately upon hitting open air due to the extreme difference in temp. Doesn't sound like it would freeze anybody if shot as a stream.

 

[J.Drangal]

Bronson’s Harmonica is actually a fantastic comparison to make. Wished I thought of that. It’s a story about vengeance. As is The Northman (amleth)...which is one of the many reasons for my Skarsgard casting. But I agree that it feels weird for a long film.

Maybe Batman can help Victor see that vengeance isn’t the answer. Unless that’s just too much of the same?

Personally, I like this idea. We're used to having Robin as the person who needs Batman's advice to get through the pain, but I'd find it more interesting/unexpected to see this exchange with an antagonist.
And it would echo the first film in a way: after inspiring Nashton to blind revenge, this time Batman could inspire (or at least try to) some good in his enemy, by helping Victor Fries find hope.
This could be a nice subplot that could end with Bruce Wayne putting his resources directly into saving Nora Fries. That way, this would also encapsulates the emergence of the philanthropic Wayne, and how he doesn't always need his mask to find a solution.

 

[Chris B]

I'd be surprised if it hasn't been suggested already but I wonder if a heightened version of laser cooling could be a realistic approach to the freeze gun?

 

[Invader Joker]

Mr. Freeze in a grounded setting is streaming show villain material or secondary villain, he's not main villain material, so I don't think we should have much hopes of seeing him as the latter.

 

[shauner111]

Calling it: he’s Penguin’s hitman or he’s not in the sequel. And that role could easily go to Deadshot or just a henchman like Croc (or a made up muscle bound brute). So I also think it’s unlikely we’ll see him next.

Still believe a Mr Freeze movie that embraces all the futuristic stuff should be greenlit eventually. Joker style. Alexander Skarsgard when he reaches his 50’s. R rated Heart of Ice basically. With a few twists. Kinda feel the same about Ras Al Ghul. Either bring him into a Justice League where he goes face to face with Keaton. Or wait 10-20 years and cast someone like Dev Patel for a solo adventure totally unrelated to Gotham City.

 

[Lautox]

Calling it: he’s Penguin’s hitman or he’s not in the sequel. And that role could easily go to Deadshot or just a henchman like Croc (or a made up muscle bound brute). So I also think it’s unlikely we’ll see him next.

Still believe a Mr Freeze movie that embraces all the futuristic stuff should be greenlit eventually. Joker style. Alexander Skarsgard when he reaches his 50’s. R rated Heart of Ice basically. With a few twists. Kinda feel the same about Ras Al Ghul. Either bring him into a Justice League where he goes face to face with Keaton. Or wait 10-20 years and cast someone like Dev Patel for a solo adventure totally unrelated to Gotham City.

Heart of Ice Movie directed by Derek Cianfrance. I would sit out Freeze from the trilogy just to have that movie.

 

[DeadlyWest]

So apparently liquid nitrogen turns into a vapor almost immediately upon hitting open air due to the extreme difference in temp. Doesn't sound like it would freeze anybody if shot as a stream.

In reality, sure. But this doesn't have to follow the rules of reality to the letter. Batman more or less would've gotten decapitated by the bridge during the wingsuit scene, Penguin 100% would've been dead in that crash. You just need it to be somewhat grounded in reality and then exaggerate it from there. That way, it's believable. The idea that a really smart dude can find a way around that isn't too far fetched

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Heart of Ice Movie directed by Derek Cianfrance. I would sit out Freeze from the trilogy just to have that movie.

Funny you mention Cianfrance.

Cause I’d have Freeze be an armed robber who uses a bike as his getaway vehicle like Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines (a Batman/Catwoman/Freeze bike chase like in that film would be intense). And maybe he wears a chrome motorcycle helmet with red goggles at some point, along with his winter biker jacket.

Maybe Freeze desperately needs money to pay for his wife’s cryonics or treatment, and so he steals from guilty corrupt rich people (the Court, his employer?) to do so, paralleling what morals Bruce is willing to bend or break to protect the ones he loves.

And I really don’t think Freeze needs a health condition. Saving his wife is all the motivation he needs. At most, maybe we just have Victor meet his demise by getting cryogenically frozen too, joining his wife. And then maybe Bruce renews funding in the research for bringing them back.

 

[shauner111]

Heart of Ice Movie directed by Derek Cianfrance. I would sit out Freeze from the trilogy just to have that movie.

Gosling-Cianfrance-Freeze

Wow.

 

[shauner111]

Funny you mention Cianfrance.

Cause I’d have Freeze be an armed robber who uses a bike as his getaway vehicle like Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines (a Batman/Catwoman/Freeze bike chase like in that film would be intense). And maybe he wears a chrome motorcycle helmet with red goggles at some point, along with his winter biker jacket.

Maybe Freeze desperately needs money to pay for his wife’s cryonics or treatment, and so he steals from guilty corrupt rich people (the Court, his employer?) to do so, paralleling what morals Bruce is willing to bend or break to protect the ones he loves.

And I really don’t think Freeze needs a health condition. Saving his wife is all the motivation he needs. At most, maybe we just have Victor meet his demise by getting cryogenically frozen too, joining his wife. And then maybe Bruce renews funding in the research for bringing them back.

What if sections of the city are abandoned because of the flood. Empty homes. Some empty mansions. The snow and ice have transformed these areas into something almost other worldly. Victor suits up every time he tries to enter a house/mansion (stealing for his sick wife). Winter is harsh. Victor makes a deal with Penguin, where they both get something from the other. And this part relates to Batman.

His wife has the health condition. He doesn’t need one too.

 

[Boom]

If he works in cryonics research, he's handling dangerously cold materials like liquid nitrogen or liquid helium. Direct exposure to these materials can cause frostbite, which in turn can lead to scarring or even amputation in worst cases. So maybe there was a lab accident or an act of industrial sabotage where he's completely soaked or submerged in liquid nitrogen/helium, and is left deformed by severe frostbite scarring. Maybe even an amputated nose, like that one popular concept piece of a "realistic" Mr. Freeze.

Reading up a bit on cryonics research and where it stands now, the science dictates that a person must be clinically dead before the freezing process can take place. So perhaps Nora had already died and Freeze put her body in cryo, in hopes of perfecting the revival process and bringing her back to life (which is the endgame of cryonics research anyway).

If you want to bring GothCorp into the fold, let's say that as Nora is dying, they decide to shut down their cryonics research department. Freeze strongly protests, and he gets ****-canned. Nora doesn't have much time left, and in desperation Freeze steals some equipment and flees. Nora dies, Freeze puts her body in cryo, and he commits robberies to fund his research. And maybe he knocks off some GothCorp people in retribution.

If Nora is alive but terminal, and Freeze's motive is to save her life before she dies, then Batman is presented with an opportunity to help someone else save their family. Something that he could not do with his own.
If Nora is already dead, and Freeze's motive is to revive her, then Batman is presented with an opportunity to help someone else let go and move on.

 

[shauner111]

I think all of this could be solved if Bruce just saved her life in the first 20 minutes lol. So I agree with the “does this need to be a 2.5 hour movie?”. So to make it more tragic, to stretch it out, I’d have her dead already. It’s a lost cause. Which makes it so sad to see Victor trying so hard.

I don’t know man. This might be a hot take but...I’m kinda sick of science in comic book movies lol. I’m sick of seeing labs, experimenting on humans, trying to find cures. It’s like enough already.

I’d rather just see some more horror or freaks trying to be gangsters.

 

[DeadlyWest]

I think all of this could be solved if Bruce just saved her life in the first 20 minutes lol. So I agree with the “does this need to be a 2.5 hour movie?”. So to make it more tragic, to stretch it out, I’d have her dead already. It’s a lost cause. Which makes it so sad to see Victor trying so hard.

I don’t know man. This might be a hot take but...I’m kinda sick of science in comic book movies lol. I’m sick of seeing labs, experimenting on humans, trying to find cures. It’s like enough already.

I’d rather just see some more horror or freaks trying to be gangsters.

I feel like you could definitely tell a Freeze story so long as it was just a major part of the story, ala Riddler's story in this movie. The Batman by all accounts has two main plots that are just connected together. You have trying to catch the Riddler which then leads into Falcone's plot. I think you could connect a Freeze plot to the power grab plot in this same vein and it'd work fine. You can stretch out the plot with this Batman without needing to kill Nora. Have it be part of Bruce's story trying to essentially act as the head of Wayne Enterprises as he learns how to do that. Then bring the investigation into who Freeze is into it. But due to Batman also being preoccupied with the power grab stuff, he only figures it out until the last 30 minutes.

 

[Boom]

I think all of this could be solved if Bruce just saved her life in the first 20 minutes lol. So I agree with the “does this need to be a 2.5 hour movie?”. So to make it more tragic, to stretch it out, I’d have her dead already. It’s a lost cause. Which makes it so sad to see Victor trying so hard.

I don’t know man. This might be a hot take but...I’m kinda sick of science in comic book movies lol. I’m sick of seeing labs, experimenting on humans, trying to find cures. It’s like enough already.

I’d rather just see some more horror or freaks trying to be gangsters.

The main issue with Mr. Freeze is that he has a singular motive across all contemporary incarnations of the character, and that is to save his dying wife. Characters like Joker, Riddler, etc. afford you a certain level of flexibility because their popularity is not tied to a very specific origin. So you can get creative with them and audiences can go in without knowing what to expect.

I don't think the problem is Mr. Freeze's story not being able to fill a 2.5 movie. Of course it can. It's just, if you're a Batman fan and Mr. Freeze is the villain, you kinda know what to expect from the story.