Why Comics Killer Frost is Somehow More Tragic Than TV Killed Frost

[LordTrump]

With TV Killer Frost, she's been there since the beginning of the Flash TV, actually first appearing in the episode of Arrow that worked as a backdoor pilot. This, when she inevitably goes "cold hearted" (I had to), it's supposed to be extra tragic.

This time for set up would've been able to do what many superhero movies wanted to do but couldn't. Iron Man 1 was going to have Mandarin as the villain, with Stane staying a seeming ally for the whole movie and only becoming Iron Monger in the sequel. This would've made his plot line less obvious, as well as more tragic. Similarly, Harvey Dent was going to be placed in what became Rachel Dawes' role in Batman Begins. This extra time with Dent would've made his downfall that much more poetic and tragic, because the audience has spent more time with him. Add the fact that The Flash is a TV show in its 3rd season, as opposed to a 2 hour movie, would've given even more time for this to take effect.

Yet, now that Caitlin is becoming Killer Frost, it's......what the heck? She's evil because.....muh white eyes? Like, why is she evil? Just because her Earth-2 counterpart was evil?! That's such a stupid reason.

Meanwhile, Comic Killer Frost doesn't just have ice powers, she's a heat vampire, and has constantly live by draining the heat from other living beings. That's automatically tragic. Now, Comic Killer Frost basically starts as a villain when compared to the development time of her TV counterpart. Yet, her turning evil makes more sense and is more tragic. If TV Killer Frost had to similarly drain people to sustain warmth, and the need and deprivation drove her crazy or even just resentful, it'd make sense. However, she doesn't even have the heat vampire angle, which is what separates Frost from other ice villains, making the transition jarring. Add in the fact that this means whenever Captain Cold makes his inevitable return, he can't get his New 52 ice powers without being completely redundant, and you have a whole host of missed opportunities.

[Slaughter]

The TV series has a important emphasis about how super-powers are linked to mental state, feelings and human perception. Its a common theme in comics too but I guess in TV they can do more with it. Its why Barry needs the pep talks - you can see early on in the first session, Wells is like "uh crime who cares we should develop the capabilities of your speed" but then realizes fighting crime and feeling good IS what makes Barry stronger.

In this case, TV Caitlin has been through A LOT - she lost her husband twice, had to keep patching up Barry, got her life threatened over and over, her mentor was a evil super-villain and she later dated a serial killer speedster, her mom is cold and mean and she has a evil Earth-2 counterpart.

When she goes "Killer Frost" she is going dissociative - we saw in the episode that when she is in Killer Frost mode she's not evil (she can't bring herself to kill Barry even through she could have killed him at least thrice), she's just angry, confused and cold.

Of all Team Flash, Caitlin is probably the one who went through the worst things with minimum good to compensate.


Comics Caitlin Snow Killer Frost barely got much of backstory, honestly.

[Ascended]

The TV series has a important emphasis about how super-powers are linked to mental state, feelings and human perception. Its a common theme in comics too but I guess in TV they can do more with it. Its why Barry needs the pep talks - you can see early on in the first session, Wells is like "uh crime who cares we should develop the capabilities of your speed" but then realizes fighting crime and feeling good IS what makes Barry stronger.

In this case, TV Caitlin has been through A LOT - she lost her husband twice, had to keep patching up Barry, got her life threatened over and over, her mentor was a evil super-villain and she later dated a serial killer speedster, her mom is cold and mean and she has a evil Earth-2 counterpart.

When she goes "Killer Frost" she is going dissociative - we saw in the episode that when she is in Killer Frost mode she's not evil (she can't bring herself to kill Barry even through she could have killed him at least thrice), she's just angry, confused and cold.

Of all Team Flash, Caitlin is probably the one who went through the worst things with minimum good to compensate.


Comics Caitlin Snow Killer Frost barely got much of backstory, honestly.

Couldn't have said it better.

I do however, really like what we've seen of the comics' Frost so far. If Firestorm could get this kind of quality overhaul he could become a stable seller for DC going forward.

Who came up with this new Frost? Any chance of him/her tackling the Nuclear Man?