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Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
Batman & Mr. Freeze SubZero
"It's Going to Get Cold This Summer!"
Directed By Boyd Kirkland
Written By Boyd Kirkland, Randy Rogel
Cast Kevin Conroy, Loren Lester, Michael Ansara, Mari Devon
Produced By Benjamin Melniker, Randy Rogel, Boyd Kirkland, Michael Uslan
Film Editing By Al Breitenbach
Music By Michael McCuistion
Studio Warner Bros. Animation
Franchise DCAU Franchise
Country United States
Language English
Release Date March 17, 1998
Runtime 67 Minutes
Rating NR
Budget Warner Home Video


Overview[]

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero is a 1998 American produced superhero animated feature film with Kevin Conroy and Michael Ansara contributing as the primary voice actors.  It was directed by Boyd Kirkland.  SubZero was a direct-to-video film and a direct sequel to Batman: The Animated Series with Conroy and Ansara also reprising their titular roles of Batman and Mr. Freeze from the series respectively and also resolving several unfinished plot threads from Batman:TAS.

Mr. Freeze is back!  And he is about to embark on his most frigidly fiendish plot yet!  To save his dying wife's life, Freeze kidnaps Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl to serve as an involuntary organ donor.  Freeze doesn't know it but her crimefighting compatriots, Batman and Robin are in hot pursuit to save her from his cold-blooded clutches!  It's a race against time for both men trying to save the life of their damsels in dire peril.  Who shall prove victorious?  The Dark Knight or the Villain with the Heart of Ice? 

Plot[]

Following his last encounter with the Batman, the icy cold villain Mr. Freeze has managed to make a sort of peace with the world, living in near total isolation in the Arctic Circle with his beloved cryogenetically preserved wife Nora at his side with an orphaned young Inuit Koonak and a pair of polar bears, Hotchka and Shaka for company.

But his idyllic and peaceful life ends when a submarine carelessly destroys his lair and damages Nora's cryogentic chamber.  An enraged Mr. Freeze extracts his cold vengeance on the hapless submariners, entombing them alive in an icy prison with his freeze gun and discovers that Nora's condition is rapidly deteoriating and the disease's progression has reached a point where not even his cryogenic freezing technology can preserve her life anymore.

Several weeks later in Gotham City, Robin in his alter ego of Dick Grayson is trying to woo his fellow caped crimefighter Batgirl aka Barbara Gordon at a shindig hosted by Veronica Vreeland while Dr. Gregory Belson argues with his stockbroker about his increasing debts.  Belson had been on the verge of amassing a fortune with a new drug when side effects were detected during tests and thus his planned riches never materalized and is now teeteering on complete financial bankruptcy.

On his way home, Belson's car hits an icy patch and crashes.  He is shocked to encounter his former colleague, Mr. Freeze having thought him killed in a battle with the Batman.  Freeze kidnaps him and demands his help to save Nora.  Belson's reluctance is tempered by Freeze producing a gold nugget for his "consultant's fee" proclaiming that he inadvertently discovered a large gold vein while on his Arctic holiday.

Meanwhile Grayson has convinced Barbara for a romantic weekend getaway even as Belson reluctantly concludes that Nora's condition is worsening and she needs a complex and extensive organ transplant.  Freeze immediately demands he perform the operation but Belson proclaims that there simply isn't any available organs of the type Nora needs thanks to her especially rare blood type; repeating that there are no deceased compatible donors.   

To wit, Freeze coldly concludes that they will simply have to harvest some from a suitable living candidate to Belson's growing horror.  Providing Belson with an even larger sample of gold however manages to quiet the financially and morally bankrupt physician's concerns. Accessing the medical directory, Belson searches for compatible healthy female donors of the suitable blood type and finds one: Barbara Gordon!  

But due to Nora's rare blood type, Belson and Freeze inadvertently have chosen the wrong organ donor. Their choice just happens to be the daughter of Police Commissioner Gordon, Barbara who also is secretly the darling crimefighter known as Batgirl!

Kidnapping her for the surgical extraction, Freeze unwittingly attracts the attention of Batman and Robin.

Cast[]

Production[]

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment as a direct-to-video animated movie. It was produced by Boyd Kirkland, Randy Rogel, Benjamin Melniker, and Michael Uslan and was also directed by Boyd Kirkland. This movie was intended to be released in 1997 in order to capitalize on the live action Batman & Robin movie in which Mr. Freeze was a major villain which came out earlier than year. But Warner Bros. became worried by the overwhelmingly negative critical reactions and reviews of the movie and decided to delay release. Surprisingly, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero was immensely successful and praised for its storyline and won the Annie Award for Best Home Video Animation.

Based upon the hugely successful and popular Batman: The Animated Series television series, this movie drew its plot and storyline directly upon the Emmy Award winning episode for Best Writing, "Heart of Ice" and also "Deep Freeze" with this movie serving as the continuation/conclusion.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero was the second of a trilogy of animated movies based upon Batman: The Animated Series; a sequel to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and the predecessor to Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.

Reception[]

Trivia[]

External Links[]

IMDb

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