DC's Wild New Batman Comic Gives A Classic Villain A Horror Movie Makeover

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If you love Batman, odds are you also love Batman villains. You'll find nary a more eclectic gallery of rogues in superhero comics. All of the A-list crowd at Arkham Asylum have distinct gimmicks and designs, and each one contrasts Batman in a unique way.

Take Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze, who is synonymous with his robotic suit (which keeps him at subzero temperatures he needs to survive) and freezing ray. But writer Scott Snyder's ongoing comic series "Absolute Batman" has introduced the most radical reinvention of Freeze yet.

Set in a new universe, "Absolute Batman" follows a young Bruce Wayne who becomes an angrier, more violent (but still non-lethal) Batman. This Bruce has few of the resources that he traditionally does, which means he needs to rely even more on his ingenuity. (The synopsis for "Absolute Batman" #1 teases: "Without the mansion ...without the money ...without the butler ...what's left is the Absolute Dark Knight!")

Mr. Freeze is the villain of the book's second arc, the two-issue "Zero" (read that with an "Absolute" preceding it). Drawn by Marcos Martín (filling in for regular artist Nick Dragotta), Absolute Freeze debuts on the last page of "Absolute Batman" #7. This Victor Fries is still a cryogenicist; he runs a Gotham City cryogenics company, V-Core, which offers Gotham's wealthiest the chance for a deep sleep and virtual immortality. 

But Fries' obsession with ice has changed him in a different way. Fries was mutated by an ancient bacteria preserved in and released from a glacier. As a result, he doesn't walk around in a bulky suit. Instead, he can change into a lanky, tall, red-eyed and blue-skinned (literal ice in his veins) monster. This Freeze has the silhouette of the Slender Man, or alternatively, Carel Struycken in blue face-paint.

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"Absolute" Mr. Freeze doesn't need a freezing ray to spread the cold (note Bruce's face freezing just from Victor's touch). He can overpower Batman, too, because his icy transformation makes his muscle tissue more fibrous.

If you'll pardon the pun, this new Mr. Freeze is only the tip of the iceberg in how "Absolute Batman" is changing things up in Gotham City.

The "Absolute" DC Universe, launched last year, is doing what Marvel Comics has done with its "Ultimate" universe — restart and distill the company's classic superheroes from the ground-up to make them more appealing to the reader of today. This has produced a dark fantasy version of Wonder Woman, a Superman who better resembles modern immigrant stories, and a Batman out to tear down the system.

Dragotta and Martín draw Batman as bulky as Frank Miller did in "The Dark Knight Returns." It's a potent comparison, too, seeing as Snyder has said he's aiming to write a Batman as relevant to now as Miller's Batman was in 1986. To be a hero of the moment, Bruce Wayne can't be a billionaire. (The "Absolute" Joker has only been teased so far, but this time he's one of the world's richest men, not Batman.)

"If the thesis of Batman is that he exists to go up against fear, then you've gotta put what you're afraid of in the book," as Snyder told AIPT.

Before he even got to "Absolute" Mr. Freeze, Snyder penned a daring reinterpretation of Batman's inescapable origin. As a child, Bruce Wayne was caught in a mass shooting, and his father/teacher Thomas died saving Bruce and his classmates. (Martha, Bruce's mother, was spared for once and has been a supporting character in "Absolute Batman.") Some of Bruce's classmates are people who would've been his enemies in another timeline: Waylon "Killer Croc" Jones, Harvey Dent, Ozzie Cobblepot, and Eddie Nygma.

"Zero" cuts between Batman investigating the murder of another old friend, Matches Malone, and Bruce holding a vigil for Matches with his other friends. In issue #8, the two stories collide.

Freeze reveals that, instead of a peaceful sleep, the ice keeps him in constant pain: "The ice isn't salvation. It's the memory of all we want to forget. It's vengeance." (Hmm, interesting word choice for a "Batman" character...). Bruce, briefly frozen in one of Freeze's traps, experiences searing memories of his own pain.

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As Batman is facing down Freeze's unthawed collection, he remembers his friends confronting him about his nightly double-life. Waylon asks him a pointed question: "Do you want to die?" Bruce says no, and Waylon makes it clear he'll be holding him to that. Snyder is further taking apart the "one great man" part of Batman; Bruce needs his friends to keep from fading to nothing inside ... or "Absolute Zero."

In the same vein, Snyder sews a new contrast between Batman and Mr. Freeze. Freeze represents being frozen as a person and constantly stewing in your own pain. Like a good super-villain should, his gimmick now reflects something deeper. Batman is often guilty of what Freeze does, too, and this book argues he shouldn't if he's going to be the best Batman he can be.

Though ice is a symbol of stasis, Mr. Freeze has actually been one of the more flexible Batman villains over the years. When he debuted in the 1950s, he was even called Mr. Zero. He only became Mr. Freeze after the 1960s "Batman" TV series renamed him that.

Until 1992, Mr. Freeze was only a generic twisted scientist villain. Then "Batman: The Animated Series" episode "Heart of Ice" gave him a tragic origin (and sweet redesign from Mike Mignola). The "Animated" Freeze, as rewritten by Paul Dini, was only trying to avenge the death of his beloved wife, Nora Fries. Freeze finally achieved true depth; though coldhearted, his actions were driven by fiery rage, and he represented what Batman could become if he lost himself to vengeance.

"Heart of Ice" is deservedly influential, but it also froze Mr. Freeze as a character. If his only motivation is avenging and/or curing his wife, then he doesn't have much reason to keep being a super-villain. During Snyder's 2011-2016 run on the main "Batman" title, he tried to reinvent Mr. Freeze by homaging then tearing apart "Heart of Ice." In Snyder's 2012 "Batman Annual," Freeze was presented as delusional. Nora was an ill woman who'd been cryogenically frozen, and Victor (due to his ice hyperfixation) convinced himself Nora was his wife.

That reinterpretation attracted some criticism, with some reading it as a defilement of "Heart of Ice." Snyder's "Absolute" Freeze is more successful by being so completely different. But there's still a nod to "Heart of Ice" — this Mr. Freeze is Victor Fries Jr. He's the son of Victor Sr. and Nora and keeps their bodies preserved in ice — not out of love, but resentment.

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The monstrous overhaul of Freeze also evokes Snyder's reimagining of the scientist villain Doctor Death. During "Batman: Zero Year," Snyder and artist Greg Capullo depicted Doctor Death as someone suffering from uncontrolled bone growth. Compare how Death's limbs stretch to how "Absolute" Freeze's do.

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The next villain of "Absolute Batman" is going to be Bane. Snyder has teased that "Absolute" Bane's transformation could resemble Doctor Death's, but with uncontrolled "Akira"-like muscle growth instead of mutating bones. Whatever the case, it's clear that Mr. Freeze isn't the only villain due for a nightmarish makeover in "Absolute Batman."

Thrilled to officially announce the next big ABSOLUTE BATMAN arc from me and Nick Dragotta. Meet Bane in... ABOMINATION.

More info on issue #9 FOC, along with the #8 release, our live comic fundamentals class tomorrow, and @FANEXPOPhilly in my newsletter:https://t.co/70AhhCHTAY pic.twitter.com/vwhlGscxiu

— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) May 14, 2025

"Absolute Batman" issues #1-8 are currently available for print and digital purchase.