Mr. Zero

I wanted to follow up a little bit on the whole Riddler thing, specifically how the TV show took a minor villain and turned him into a huge part of the entire Batman mythos. Today I'll spend just a few minutes on another baddie turned bigger baddie.

Ever hear of Mr. Zero? Probably not, he only made one appearance clear back in '59 and faded into history. He was a scientist working on a freeze gun. Then he spilled the crap on himself (as they always do) and found out he needed sub zero temps to survive.

Sound familiar now?

Yup, it was the TV producers who took a one shot nemesis and recreated and renamed him and thus was born Mr. Freeze. The show borrowed heavily from the comic, especially the idea of Freeze walking around in a bathrobe when he wasn't on the job and hot and cold zones in a room, so he could hang out with his henchmen. Eventually a lot of this changed and that's probably for the better. Ian fact, he changed a lot in the show. Only special guest villain I can think of who was portrayed by a different actor each show. Pick a favorite and defend him to the death with your friends!

I think the need for these changes is pretty obvious. Only the Joker smiles more than this guy, and I'm not so sure that's voluntary. Zero's constant smile makes him either psychotic or stupid. Oh, and Batman not only escapes Zero's death trap, but also cures him in the process. Ah, for simpler times.