The Batman already includes a broad number of famous Batman villains, including The Penguin (Colin Farrell), Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), and The Riddler (Paul Dano). However, director Matt Reeves already has his sights on possible villains he would want to bring in for potential sequels, and this includes Mr. Freeze.
In a recent press event, Reeves spoke about how he was interested in telling a more “grounded” interpretation of Batman. The upcoming film, starring Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader, has already promised a more gritty and violent version of the character in the trailers. Reeves did say he is interested in the more “fantastical” elements of Batman stories, but he would want to tell them with a more realistic approach, and this could include Mr. Freeze. Here is what Reeves said:
“In my view, I just feel drawn to finding the grounded version of everything. So to me it would be a challenge in an interesting way to try and figure out how that could happen, even the idea of something like Mr. Freeze, that such a great story, right? I think there’s actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great. So, I love the fantastical side of Batman, but this iteration, obviously, while being, to me, I think it is very comics faithful, but I don’t think that this one is necessarily, it doesn’t lean as hard into the fantastical, I guess. But I think to me what would be interesting would be to try and unwind the fantastical and see, well, how could that make sense here? And so that’s kind of my view, how I see it.”
The last time we saw Mr. Freeze in a Batman movie was in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, where the character was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. His interpretation of the character was anything but grounded as the character constantly dropped ice puns and looked very bright and colorful. Mr. Freeze is a tragic villain whose villainous acts are a desperate attempt to save the life of his wife. If Reeves does bring Mr. Freeze in for the sequels, which are already in the works, it would be interesting to see how he approaches one of Batman’s more sympathetic foes.
The Batman will fly into theaters on March 4.
