Ferris Boyle is the main antagonist of the highly-acclaimed episode "Heart of Ice" of Batman: the Animated Series.
Batman: The Animate Series
Heart of Ice
Ferris Boyle is a ruthless Gothcorp CEO who falsely promotes himself and his company in a positive light publicly, and was nominated for Gotham's "Humanitarian Industrialist of the Year" award. However in reality, Boyle was a vicious, greedy and heartless man. A year before the episode took place, he broke into the lab of Victor Fries with guards to stop his uauthorized experiment to save his wife which he had ordered to be stopped week earlier as it was putting him in three million in debt. As this would kill his wife, Fries pulled a gun on him. Ferris managed to talk him down, claiming he had lost his temper and they could discuss this. Then when Fries put his guard down, Boyle kicked Victor Fries into a batch of chemicals, causing them to react. Panicking, he and his guards ran, leaving him to die; just for using his company's equipment without authorization. Fries survived, but was severely mutated by the substances and transformed into Mr. Freeze. Now, on a vendetta against Boyle, Freeze traps Batman and leaves him in his hideout, confronting Boyle at the Gothcorp Humanitarian Party and freezing him up to the waist. Boyle begs for his life. Mr. Freeze gets ready to kill him until Batman confronts Freeze at the party, fighting him one-on-one until he breaks Freeze's helmet with a flask of chicken soup. Freeze is defeated, and arrested along with Boyle, as Batman presented evidence of Boyle's crimes to the press leaves him half encased in ice, saying "Good night, Mr. Humanitarian."
He likely went to prison after he was exposed.
Comics
In the comics, Boyle wanted revenge on Mr. Freeze for losing everything, but he got killed.
Batman: Arkham Origins
Cold, Cold Heart
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Ferris Boyle in the Batman Arkham: Origins DLC; Cold, Cold Heart
Ferris Boyle makes an appearance as a minor antagonist, as well as being the one responsible for the events in the Batman: Arkham Origins DLC; Cold, Cold Heart. He's also responsible for Mr. Freeze's condition. At first Boyle appeared to be a humanitarian, but in reality, he's a stone cold, and unethical sociopath involved in illegal as well as dangerous weapon manufacturing. Because of this, Ferris is involved in various crimes including, extortion, embezzlement, abduction, and even murder.
Before the beginning of Cold, Cold Heart, Ferris Boyle secretly planned on researching highly illegal and dangerous cryogenic weaponry, without having any of his staff members finding out his true intentions. Boyle eventually found out that one of GothCorp's scientists, Dr. Victor Fries, managed to place his wife, Nora Fries, into cryostasis. Inspired of the scientist's work, Boyle offered a deal to Fries to work on his cryogenic weapons program, while stating that he will find the cure for the terminal illness Huntington's Chorea, which Nora was afflicted with.
Fries initially agrees to the deal, while he was desperate of saving his wife. But Boyle truly had no intention of keeping his word. When Fries discovered his intentions, he decided to secretly begin his research on the cure for Huntington's Chorea himself. Boyle, refusing to accept that action, brought his security guards to the lab, confiscated Nora's capsule, and beats Fries up. As he kicked Fries into a cryogenic cannon, an explosion was occured, trapping Fries and a security guard. Boyle managed to escape from the lab after dropping his weapon, leaving the lab staff for dead and have the place quarantined to cover up the incident.
The DLC began on New Years Eve, when Ferris Boyle was accepting the award for "Humanitarian of the Year" at the Wayne Foundation. The ceremony was later interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Freeze and some of the Penguin's henchmen, intending to abduct Boyle for the security codes to access Nora's capsule and get her out of Gothcorp. After being successfully captured, Boyle was dragged to the lower level of GothCorp and later taken hostage by the Penguin. Batman tried to save Boyle from the quarrel between Mr. Freeze and the Penguin, but Mr. Freeze once again captures him and brought him to the Prophellant Research Wing. Boyle refused to give Freeze the security codes and taunts him, making the latter threatening him to freeze him to face the same experience Nora suffered from.
Batman eventually caught up with them and revealed that he knows about the truth about the incident. Boyle falsely stated that it was an accident, enraging Freeze and threw him into a containment field. After Batman defeated Freeze, Boyle revealed his true nature by "thanking" Batman and aimed a cryogenic jeatstream at Freeze. Batman pushed Freeze out of the way and got himself frozen. With that, Boyle decided to leave Batman for dead to make sure that any other witnesses would never find out about the discovery.
He took a pipe from a helpless and pleading Freeze's cannon and sadistically beats him , while taunting the scientist to let him live long enough to watch Nora die. Batman broke free from the ice with his XE suit, punches him into unconsciousness, and tells him in disgust, "Take a seat...Humanitarian." With the incident exposed by Batman, Boyle was arrested alongside Freeze and Penguin.
Trivia
- Ferris Boyle was voiced by Mark Hamill in the Animated Series. The producers liked his performance so much that they replaced Tim Curry, who was supposed to play The Joker, with him, partially because Tim Curry's portrayal was too scary for kids. The Joker became Hamill's most iconic role, next to Luke Skywalker.
- In Batman: Arkham Origins, Ferris Boyle is voiced by Stephen Tobolowsky.