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nora and victor
One of Paul Dini’s greatest inventions was Mr Freeze’s origin story in Batman: The Animated Series, specifically the episode “Heart of Ice”. It introduces Dr Victor Fries’ terminally ill wife, Nora, who is cyrogenically frozen but is unable to be saved by her husband, as a result of Fries’ embezzlement of his employer Gothcorp’s funds. This thwarting will of course correlate with Fries’ later obsession with ice and funds for research. And thus was born a touching and humanising aspect to what could have been just another very cheesy villain. I think indisputably this makes Mr Freeze the most tragic villain of all of Batman’s Rogue gallery.
The tragedy is beautifully depicted by Dustin Nguyen here. It’s enough to melt a cold heart.