Mr. Freeze (2023)

Martin, J. (2023). Cold-Hearted: Mr. Freeze and moral development. In 

Marco Favaro and Justin F. Martin (Eds.), Batman’s Villains and Villainesses: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Arkham’s Souls (pp. 259 – 275). Lexington.

• Using examples from Mr. Freeze’s comic portrayals between 1997 and 2020, the chapter elucidates how two constructivist approaches to moral development can be juxtaposed through his formative experiences.

• Analysis concludes with some pedagogical implications.

“Both of these features [separating moral from nonmoral understandings of social interactions and applying those understandings to complex situations]...are suggested through Mr. Freeze’s motivations to use cryogenics to save and improve people’s lives, his sense of unjust treatment, his sometimes selective use of harm, and his expressions of vulnerability….Therefore…we can learn a little something about ourselves through villains like Mr. Freeze.”