| |
|
| |
|
| As a child, Victor Fries was fascinated by freezing animals, a hobby he developed to escape the pressures of his brutal, control-freak father. His parents, horrified by his 'hobby', sent him to a strict boarding school, where he was miserable, feeling detached from humanity. In college, he felt that he may never feel a warm touch, but then came Nora, a beautiful athlete, with whom he fell deeply in love with and ultimately married. |
| Nora later fell terminally ill with a rare malady. Fries took on a job working for a large drug company called GothCorp, run by the ruthless Ferris Boyle so he could find a cure. Using his great intellect and passion for cryogenics, Fries discovered a way to put Nora into cryo-stasis (using company equipment), hoping to sustain her until a cure could be found. Boyle found out about the experiment and cancelled the funding, attempting to have Nora brought out of stasis and overruling Fries' frantic objections. A struggle ensued, which resulted in Fries becoming engulfed in his own cryogenic coolants and being for dead. Fries survived, but the chemicals had altered his body chemistry and his body temperature was lowered dramatically; he could now only survive at sub-zero temperatures. Fries escaped unnoticed with the frozen Nora. In hiding, he invented a special refrigeration suit to stay alive, and used cryonic technology to create a powerful gun which fired a beam that froze any target within its range. |
| With this technology, he became a criminal called Mr. Freeze with a taste for diamonds and revenge. |
| His first act as a costumed criminal is to take revenge upon Ferris Boyle, a plan with which Batman interferes. Mr. Freeze fired his freeze-gun at Batman, but he dodged, causing the beam to shatter Nora's capsule. Freeze blamed Batman, and swore to destroy whatever the Dark Knight holds dear. |
