Batman: The Animated Series
Episode 14
Heart of Ice
This is one of the best episodes of the entire series and the DCAU as a whole. The introduction of Mr. Freeze is absolute perfection. The creators took a joke villain from the comics and 1960s Batman show and turned him into a tragic rogue an audience can find themselves rooting for.
Ultimately Batman has to stop him because Mr. Freeze is seeking revenge against the man who killed his wife and turned him into a freak who can only live in sub zero temperatures.
It cements Mr. Freeze as one of Batman’s best rogues in the entire series. Every episode with him was tragic and frightening and it all started with the tone set in Heart of Ice. Even the ending with Mr. Freeze sitting in his cell looking at a statuette version of his wife is so ominous. Couple that with an epic musical score and you have a timeless story.
The episode is so influential that it changed the character in the comics and also influenced how he was portrayed in the film Batman & Robin. So what you have is a film series that influenced a cartoon and then the cartoon influenced the film series. Even though Batman & Robin sucked, it was cool to see how the animated series was defining Batman.
Shoutout to Mark Hamill as corporate jerk Ferris Boyle.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
