Mr. Freeze and the New 52 Reboot

[The Overlord]

Was Mr. Freeze made into a weaker character because of the New 52 reboot?

[Carabas]

Because the entire rest of the universe except the Question was too.

[MykeHavoc]

I don't think so?

I'm not really sure. I thought the new twist on his origin, while controversial, was pretty well done and certainly blew my mind a bit. He is probably my favorite Bat villain, but I don't mind changes. His tragic, Dr. Phibes origin lasted us a good 20 years. Prior to that he was different, so him going forward being different is fine by me. If you are talking about his physique or threat presence, I just think everyone is getting a fair amount of face time. Most of the major villains have had an arc in one of the books thus far, so it wouldn't surprise me to see some reappearances soon (well, aside from Harvey).

[The Overlord]

I don't think so?

I'm not really sure. I thought the new twist on his origin, while controversial, was pretty well done and certainly blew my mind a bit. He is probably my favorite Bat villain, but I don't mind changes. His tragic, Dr. Phibes origin lasted us a good 20 years. Prior to that he was different, so him going forward being different is fine by me. If you are talking about his physique or threat presence, I just think everyone is getting a fair amount of face time. Most of the major villains have had an arc in one of the books thus far, so it wouldn't surprise me to see some reappearances soon (well, aside from Harvey).

This twist seems to make Mr. Freeze less unique, IMO. Instead of being a truly tragic figure, he is just another delusional freak and Batman has a dozen of those already.

[Coal Tiger]

Well now you can see his guns, so that probably makes him tougher.

[The Red Monk]

This twist seems to make Mr. Freeze less unique, IMO. Instead of being a truly tragic figure, he is just another delusional freak and Batman has a dozen of those already.

How was being unhealthily obsessed with Nora to the point that he doesn't give a shit about anything else NOT make him a delusional freak?

And it's not like his back-story with Nora was all that unique. It was basically a slightly modified version of the back-story of another Batman villain, the Cryonic Man.

[The Overlord]

How was being unhealthily obsessed with Nora to the point that he doesn't give a shit about anything else NOT make him a delusional freak?

And it's not like his back-story with Nora was all that unique. It was basically a slightly modified version of the back-story of another Batman villain, the Cryonic Man.

The thing is the Dini influenced Mr. Freeze was partial right, he legitimate grudge against someone who hurt him, even if you didn't agree with methods, he had a legitimate reason for wanting revenge on someone (unlike the usual supremely petty revenge motives most villains have). After the reboot, he loses that, he is just another wack job who hates Bruce Wayne for no legitimate reason. That is less interesting.

[Carabas]

How much time did Dini-Freeze actually spend seeking revenge as opposed to just doing the Bat-villain of the week thing?

[thwhtGuardian]

How much time did Dini-Freeze actually spend seeking revenge as opposed to just doing the Bat-villain of the week thing?

Exactly, it's not as if it were a consistent portrayal, so as much as I loved that story I'm not that bothered by the new change.

[Cypher]

New52 Mr. Freeze is almost a mockery to those who are mentally ill.

[MrStatham]

New52 Mr. Freeze is almost a mockery to those who are mentally ill.

That's ridiculous hyperbole right there. If the character had been redeveloped to have an actual mental illness, then *maybe* it would. As it is, no. The character's been redeveloped to merely be more completely and utterly obsessive than he was before, and it's no more stupid than some of the excesses that the Heart Of Ice-inspired take was taken to - Lazara, anyone?

I don't think it affects the character all that much. It was good to have HOI as part of the canon in the old universe, but he was still a supervillain and few stories really utilised Nora and the HOI stuff effectively anyway. Plus, at this point, HOI has been plundered by everything from Batman and Robin to Arkham City that a change is at least interesting.

[greenish lantern]

He's better now. I never understood why Bruce didn't help Freeze with his research to save his wife (he's a billionaire a), now he has a reason.

[Stormcrow]

It certainly took away that tragic edge from the character that made him stand apart a bit, but it was a pretty well done twist and it does make Bruce not look like a dick now.

Gray and Palmiotti followed up nicely in their Villains Month one-shot, but he hasn't really shown up since. It still remains to be seen if it's an angle that will work in the long run without making too much like the Mad Hatter.

What I think he actually needs is a costume revision. The New 52 design never did it for me, and I still don't see why he would keep his arms exposed with his condition.

[Nix Uotan]

I personally think it took the tragedy away from him in order to make him into a creepy villain. So, for me, I didn't quite like this change.

[godisawesome]

In comparison to what's happened to some characters, like say every member of the Teen Titans not named Miguel, Mr. Freeze's new origin isn't too bad. It's just not the best he could have. A lot of the villains got darker and edgier stories. His was actually well written and executed. It's weakness is that is does damage his uniqueness as a villain, and in some ways makes him less scary.

Let's face it most of the best stories of Mr. Freeze are the ones that either are Heart of Ice in some way or another, or his smaller appearances, like in Arkham City or Gotham Central, where his basic character trait of being sociopathically ruthless about anyone not named Nora drove him to be an understandable antagonist.

In other words, a Freeze who we can empathize with his motives and emotions, and one who still has rationality, is on the one hand someone you can cheer for against jerks, but someone who's very frisking scary because he's human. He doesn't have super insanity like Joker, he's not an unsympathetic sonofagun like Penguin, and he's got a human past we can understand. We can see our own cruelty in him when he freezes a cop solid than slowly takes him apart because someone is slowing down his research somehow and he doesn't give a crap about anyone but his wife because he's a human Popsicle suffering from at least some perpetual sensory deprivation and he can save her he knows he can shut up about her almost certainly being dead now give me your liver.

It's a logical progression of madness. It's something we can understand and because there's no irrationality in it in terms of his logic, it kind of makes him more badass, because he still thinks like an anti-hero, as opposed to the serial killer who's got a glaring mental weakness.

I figure the best version would be to state that Nora's frozen body was off life-support long enough that the only hope Freeze has is finding someway to instantly revive her and cure her cancer, and make it clear that's impossible for at least a few centuries, so he's impatient about saving her, paranoid about anyone else touching her, and willing to do anything a villain-of-the-week would do to increase his resources and chance of saving her, trading infinitesimally small advancements for dozens of lives. Oh, and he'll murder your butt if you threaten her almost-certainly-a-corpse-sicle person, or if you're even remotely attached to the reason he and she are the way they are.