Batman & Robin - Mr. Freeze

In their fourth adventure, Batman and Robin, the dynamic duo were pitted against Dr. Victor Fries, a brilliant molecular biologist whose experiments backfired, turning him into the diabolical Mr. Freeze.

It took a little coaxing and a $25-million US paycheque to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the chrome-domed ice king. Not even one of the biggest pay-days in Hollywood history could get Arnie to shave his head. He insisted on skull caps and special effects makeup to transform him into Mr. Freeze.

"I knew I would have to be promoting my Christmas movie Jingle All The Way and I couldn't do that without any hair," explains Schwarzenegger. "It wasn't vanity, it was practicality."

With all the public complaining George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell have done about the hefty weight of their Bat suits, Schwarzenegger wants his word in, too. "My Mr. Freeze suit weighs at least 40 pounds and so did my polar bear lounging robe."

Schwarzenegger says he has been dropping hints to director Joel Schumacher for years that he wanted to work with him. "It finally sunk in. He says I was his first and only choice for Mr. Freeze. I think it was my brainwashing that put the idea in Joel's head."

About Mr. Freeze in the comics:

Victor Fries was a child who was fascinated with freezing animals: bugs, little critters, everything. His father got so fed up, he shipped him off to a strict boarding school. Well, Victor, despite his nerdiness, managed to meet Nora, an attractive girl, the only woman that ever cast a second glance upon him. They loved each other very much, and got married.

Unfortunately, though Victor turned out pretty normal, Nora got sick, and was dying from some disease. And Victor couldn't stand to lose her. So he took on a job working for a large company, working on cryogenics. Now, Victor hated business, but he needed the money to help Nora.

As fate would have it, Victor discovered a way to freeze Nora, until a cure could be found. But Victor's boss, after shutting down the project, became angry, and came to stop the experiment. Victor fired a security guards gun, blowing holes in some coolant pipes, and as a result, Victor became exposed to the coolant. This had the strange effect of lowering his body temperature, but he survived. As a result, Victor had to wear a special refrigerating suit, too keep him cool. And thus, Mr. Freeze was born.

Mr. Freeze's crimes tend to involve freezing everyone and everything he runs into. Rather nasty, and pointless, actions, except they seem to satisfy his urge to get even with a hard, cruel world.