Victor Fries (Gotham)

Victor Fries is a supporting antagonist in the second and third season of the TV series Gotham. He is the show's incarnation of the Batman villain Mr. Freeze and is played by Nathan Darrow.

Victor is a cryogenics engineer who is desperate to find a cure for his terminally ill wife Nora, which leads him to hunt down civilians to test his cryo-formula on them. After Nora dies, Victor tries to commit suicide with one of his cryo-cartridges but survives and reemerges as Mr. Freeze.

The character also appears in the motion comic Gotham Stories, which bridges the gap during the mid-season break. Here he appears as an adversary to the Penguin.

Gotham
In a stinger at the end of "Worse Than a Crime", Victor can be seen pursuing a man down an alleyway. Victor corners the man and freezes him with his freeze gun.

Sometime afterwards he comes across a disused slaughterhouse which Penguin and his gang are planning to use as a safe-house after Penguin helped kill Mayor Theo Galavan. Victor blows open the door and points his freeze gun at them. Penguin asks him whether he is here to apply for a job, but Fries tells him that he's there to do one. Fries then attacks, freezing Penguin's henchmen. Penguin and Selina Kyle are the only ones to escape.

Having abducted a victim around Gotham, Fries is approached by a police officer after lifting the body into his van. The officer tells him that a kidnapping took place and wants to know whether Fries lives in the area. When Fries' answers don't satisfy the officer, the officer orders Fries to open the van. Fries obliges, but then snatches his cryo-gun out of the trunk and freezes the officer to death.

Fries then returns home to the sickbed of his wife Nora. Nora wakes up and realizes Victor looks tired. He claims that this is due to his work but also states that he is making progress. He reveals that, as they planned, he can freeze her to stop the disease from killing Nora but that he does not know how to bring her back yet. Nora looks sad, claiming that she is thinking of all the poor mice that Victor is experimenting on for her sake. Unable to tell her the truth, Victor calms her by saying that they do not feel anything. Victor then returns into his basement laboratory where he stores the frozen bodies of his victims for experimenting. He takes one of the bodies to reanimate it, however the experiment is a failure and the body withers away in front of Fries' eyes. At the same moment, Nora's condition grows worse. Fries returns in time to help her through the attack.

Realizing that Nora does not have enough medication to survive another fit, Fries visits a nearby pharmacy to have the bottle refilled. However, the pharmacist arrogantly refuses, causing Fries to violently insult the man. Before he storms out of the store, Fries claims that the man should not have antagonized him and that Fries will return. Indeed, Freeze returns hours later with his cryo-gun. There he freezes the security guard and forces the pharmacist to give him the medicine. After the man has complied, Fries freezes him too, claiming that both men will aid him in his quest to save his wife. He then has two of the nearby civilians load the bodies into the car. While doing so, they witness the police arriving. To escape, Fries leaves the body of the security guard on the street, causing Harvey Bullock to drive right into it. In the ensuing chaos Fries escapes.

He returns home and sneaks the body into his lab. However, Nora hears him leave and, expecting him to be in his lab, ventures down into the basement. She panics when she finds the bodies. At the pharmacy Bullock and Gordon find Nora's prescription bottle, causing them to head to Fries' address. They enter the house where they find the bodies and Nora in the lab. Gordon also finds the cryo-gun. When Victor returns home, he witnesses Nora entering the police car but is unable to reveal himself. Fries later heads into the GCPD to give himself up. However, he finds that four other people have already claimed to be the freezer and is told by the annoyed police officer to sit down with them. While waiting for Gordon, he sees one of the formerly frozen victims escape from the morgue, unfrozen and alive. Realising that his experiments were a success, Fries leaves the police precinct to continue his research.

Attacking Arkham
To obtain more of the liquid helium he uses to freeze people Fries enters Ace Chemicals, followed by the GCPD. When Gordon, Bullock and the SWAT enter the facility they find the frozen bodies of seven police officers and deduce that a janitor has been taken captive. Inside Ace Chemicals they see that a canister of helium is missing and they also find that Fries carved "Free my wife" into the body of a frozen officer. To set a trap for Fries, Barnes orders that Nora Fries is transferred to Arkham Asylum to draw Fries in.

However, Fries swiftly realizes that it is a trap. He decides to break her out of Arkham nonetheless, claiming that walls and guns won't stop him. At the docks he tests his newly constructed freeze grenades, which freeze a large part of the harbor, before setting out for Arkham. He sets a distraction by freezing the janitor to the wheels of a bus and having him blast through Arkham's front gates. While the police is distracted he blasts through a wall and enters the asylum, taking out some SWAT members with his grenades. Strange watches Fries venturing through the facility, at one point contacting him via loudspeaker. He introduces himself to Fries as a great admirer and offers him a way out of his situation. Knowing that Fries cannot escape with his wife, he tells Fries that the keys to a vehicle lie on a nearby chair. He then proposes a deal to Fries, allowing him to escape in exchange for one cartridge of his cryonic formula. Fries accepts and leaves one of his grenades which Strange sends Peabody to collect.

Losing Nora and Becoming Mr. Freeze
Fries then confronts Leslie and Gordon while they try to bring Nora out of the building. Finding out that Leslie is a doctor Fries forces her to come with him. Claiming that he doesn't want to hurt anyone if he doesn't have to, Fries then orders Gordon to enter a nearby locker and freezes the door. He then leaves with Leslie and Nora. Though Gordon breaks free and follows the group Fries escapes in the vehicle provided by Strange. Realizing that Fries has to store Nora in one of the cryo-chambers at his house in order to keep her frozen, Bullock and Gordon head to Fries' home.

Meanwhile, Victor prepares the chamber for Nora. When Leslie asks him how he will take care of Nora's body if he is in prison, Fries' answers that the state will, because as long Nora is alive the state legally has to care for her. Although Nora begs Victor to let her go, Victor proceeds with the process, promising Nora that he will be there when she wakes up. Before he freezes her Nora begs Victor to bring her the necklace from her nightstand. While Victor leaves the basement to fetch it, Nora gives Leslie the chance to leave but Leslie refuses, claiming that as a doctor she is bound to stay with Nora. Nora then asks Leslie for some water and while Leslie is distracted switches the cartridge inside Victor's gun with one from the failed tests.

Victor then returns to the basement and, after sharing one last kiss with Nora, begins freezing her. After she is frozen Fries asks Leslie for a little more time with Nora before he turns himself in. Leslie allows it, but Nora's frozen body then starts to crack. Victor cannot believe what's happening as he knows that his formula works. While Nora crumbles, Victor finds the cartridge next to her body and realizes that Nora switched them. In his shock, he sends Leslie out to the waiting police to tell her that Fries will come out. However, once Leslie is gone Victor sits down next to the body of his wife and uses one cartridge to attempt a suicide. Screaming as his entire body freezes, Victor then slides to the side motionlessly just meters beside his now deceased wife. His body is found by Jim Gordon who enters the basement moments later. His body is then brought to Arkham.

Professor Strange later calls Jim Gordon, telling him that they were not able to revive Victor. However, it is revealed that he in fact managed to save Fries. When Fries wakes up, he finds himself in a cooled down room. Through the cell's window he is contacted by Strange who tells him that he has been brought to Indian Hill and that, while Fries officially lies in the morgue of Arkham, Strange's team managed to save him by using his own formula. However, Strange also reveals that Fries' cellular structure was changed in the process and that he can only survive in temperatures below freezing. Strange assures Fries that they made some changes to his suit to allow him to walk freely. Before leaving, Strange tells Fries that they will starting on a new project the next day and that death is a new beginning.

Working for Strange
When Strange decides that Karen Jennings, who has been imprisoned at Blackgate, needs to die, he visits Fries in his cell. Glad for the chance to leave his cell, Victor agrees to attack Blackgate Prison. Additionally, Gordon, Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth want to free Jennings who is a key witness in the case of the Wayne murders. They intercept the prison truck delivering Karen and hijack it. While driving the truck out of town, they crash as the road has been frozen. Upon exiting the van they are faced by Fries, who has donned his suit. Gordon and Fries recognize each other, but Gordon then opens fire at Victor. Although the impact throws Fries to the ground, the armor shields him from the bullets. Fries gets back up immediately. Knowing that Fries is after her, Karen leaves her cover to save the rest of the group. Victor immediately shoots his cryo-gun at her, freezing her. He then smashes the frozen Karen to bits, killing her. He throws a cryo-grenade after Gordon but then turns around, not interested enough in the three of them to pursuit them.

After the Court orders Strange to destroy Indian Hill, the professor sets a bomb in the facility. Strange then heads to a different part of the building where Freeze, Firefly and Firefly's 'servant' Selina Kyle are waiting for him. Strange orders Freeze to go inside to kill every living experiment and Selina tells him not to, claiming that he is mean. Strange then orders Freeze to kill Selina, to the displeasure of Firefly. Firefly claims that she needs Selina but Strange replies that it was merely an experiment. However, Freeze has already approached Selina. Firefly shields her off, warning him to stay away. Despite Freeze's best intentions, Freeze and Firefly start battling each other and Freeze is forced to take cover as both of them fire their weapons. During the fight, Strange stays in his cover, unable to flee to the exit as Freeze and Firefly crossed their fire and frost rays. When he sees Gordon, Bruce, Jim and Selina entering the room, the weapons of Firefly and Freeze stop firing for a brief amount of time. Strange uses the opportunity to flee to the exit but the two fighters have recharged their weapons and continue their fight. Strange is caught in the crossfire and starts burning and freezing at the same time as both beams hit him. Shocked, Freeze and Firefly stop attacking and Gordon rushes to Strange's aid and is able to reanimate Strange. After the battle, Freeze is able to evade capture and to escape Arkham and flees Gotham entirely in favor for a frozen wasteland.

Approached
In his new home, Fries is suddenly visited by Oswald Cobblepot and Ivy Pepper who want to recruit him. Fries is outraged to see Cobblepot, given that he ran a mayoral campaign on the hate against Fries and other "monsters", and grabs Oswald and slams him into a wall. Fries angrily blames Cobblepot for running him out of Gotham but Oswald reveals that he only did so in order to appease the voters. Cobblepot realizes that Fries is trying to revert his condition and offers his help, telling Fries that he was run out of Gotham as well. Oswald offers Fries resources once he reclaims his throne as King of Gotham. Fries seems ready to agree but mentions that he cannot survive outside sub-zero temperatures without his suit. As this, Oswald beckons Ivy to put down the case she is carrying. Oswald reveals that he retrieved the suit from a secret Wayne Enterprises warehouse and Fries, now free to enter Gotham once more, pledges himself to Oswald's cause.

Victims

 * Unnamed civilian - frozen and killed
 * Several mobsters working for Oswald Cobblepot - frozen to death
 * Oswald Cobblepot - attempted to freeze but he escaped
 * Several Gotham civilians - frozen and later died
 * Officer Holt - frozen to death
 * Peter (Pharmacist) - frozen, later reanimated back to life
 * Unnamed pharmacy guard - frozen, later killed after being accidentally driven into and smashed to pieces
 * Karen Jennings - frozen to death and smashed to pieces

Season 2

 * Rise of the Villains: Worse Than a Crime
 * Wrath of the Villains: Mr. Freeze
 * Wrath of the Villains: A Dead Man Feels No Cold
 * Wrath of the Villains: Pinewood
 * Wrath of the Villains: Transference

Gotham Stories

 * Chapter 1 - Penguin's Cold Surprise
 * Chapter 2 - Mr. Freeze Targets Penguin
 * Chapter 3 - Run, Penguin, Run!

Trivia

 * His clothing worn in his first appearance is similar to that of Captain Cold.
 * The origin used appears to be based off the popular one as established with the Batman: Animated Series Mr. Freeze, which helped turn him into a more tragic figure.
 * This is the first live action depiction of Mr. Freeze since his infamous portrayal by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.
 * Unlike most versions, this version of Mr. Freeze became a criminal before the accident that turned him cold blooded.
 * He also becomes Mr. Freeze at least a decade prior to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman.
 * Unlike all previous versions, his last name, Fries, is not pronounced "freeze" but is pronounced "frice", the media nickname him Mr. Freeze based on the nature of his crimes before his true identity was known and derived from his actual name.
 * Unlike other versions, his cold gun is not a laser but shoots a formula that causes freezing.