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This article contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 6.
Winter is coming to The Penguin, and with just two episodes of the crime caper left, things are cooling down before they inevitably heat up for The Batman Part II. The Batman spinoff on HBO has done more than establish Colin Farrell’s Penguin as a returning antagonist for Matt Reeves’ sequel, with Easter eggs galore teasing a ton of potential villains for when Robert Pattinson reprises his role in the cape and cowl.
Reeves has previously told fans that The Penguin will take us toward the end of the year, and while we won’t quite reach Christmas or New Year in the series, the festive period looks like it’ll feature in The Batman Part II winter-set storyline. Episode 6 “Gold Summit” features a time jump that picks up with a more established version of Cobb running his Bliss empire and even sporting a fur coat more akin to his depiction in the comics. With a cold snap already here, The Penguin has lit a fire under the theories that Mr. Freeze will be the main villain of Part II.
In terms of iconic Batman villains, Mr. Freeze might not quite be up there with the Joker but sits in good company alongside the likes of the Riddler, Penguin, and Two-Face. The character debuted as “Mr. Zero” all the way back in 1959’s Batman #121 (February 1959), but nearly 30 years later, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Mike Mignola gave him a complete overhaul and new backstory for Batman: The Animated Series’ award-winning “Heart of Ice.” Freeze’s popularity has skyrocketed since then, with Arnold Schwarzenegger famously playing him in 1997’s maligned Batman & Robin.
A winter setting seems like the perfect opportunity for Reeves to put his own spin on Mr. Freeze, especially after the director told Collider he’d be interested in exploring a “grounded” version of the character in one of The Batman’s sequels: “I think there’s actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great.” Note that Reeves doesn’t specifically mention Part II, but with The Penguin showcasing an ever-expanding world of mythos, there are already plans to take the story further. With The Batman Part II already confirmed as a seasonal story, the pieces line up neatly with Victor Fries making his Reevesverse debut.
Interestingly, some think that we’ve already met Mr. Freeze in the form of Rhenzy Feliz’s Victor “Vic” Aguilar. Oz Cobb’s orphaned lackey has emerged as one of The Penguin’s most interesting characters, but it’s unclear where he goes next. There’s some foreshadowing that Vic won’t make it out of The Penguin alive. Others have suggested Victor could become this world’s version of Robin after shunning a life of crime, while there are wild theories he’s a famous character from the comics. From being a rehashed version of Victor Stone (Cyborg) to the serial killer Victor Zsasz, one of the most out-there theories is that Vic Aguilar will become Victor Fries. Even if Mr. Freeze is pencilled in for The Batman Part II, it seems unlikely that Feliz will be playing him.
There’s been plenty of discussion about Mr. Freeze appearing sooner rather than later. When Mark Strong was cast in The Penguin, there was rampant speculation he could be playing Mr. Freeze, but instead, he played the recast Carmine Falcone. HBO was once working on several spinoffs of The Batman, although planned projects based on the GCPD and Arkham State Hospital were parked while only The Penguin moved forward. Elsewhere, James Gunn recently shot down rumors that a Mr. Freeze spinoff was in development on Threads, although the DCU overload admitted that it’s not a bad idea. If anything, the fan response to the idea shows just how popular Mr. Freeze is.
Of course, we could be way off with our musings about Mr. Freeze. Despite Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises featuring a similarly snowy setting to The Penguin and The Batman Part II without so much as even an Easter egg winking toward Mr. Freeze, that didn’t stop fans from trying to find a connection. Reeves has teased what comes next, and in the same Collider interview where he confirmed Part II’s winter setting, he explained how he sees The Penguin as more than just a spinoff: “I wanted the origin stories of these other characters of the Rogues Gallery. and that story was originally going to be the entrée into the next movie.” The fact he refers to the series as an entrée and mentions ‘other characters’ rather than just Farrell’s Penguin means fans are on the lookout for even the slightest hint of who Part II’s de facto big bad will be.
Reeves’ promises of only focusing on grounded villains (and having already written off Gentleman Ghost) means any version of Mr. Freeze likely won’t be stomping around while brandishing a ray gun and quipping, “Ice to meet you.” Still, the end of The Batman and having the poorest parts of Gotham flooded could easily give Victor Fries (or whatever he ends up being called) a typically tragic backstory where he’s forced into the city’s criminal underworld to try and save his wife. Reeves is remaining tight-lipped on where things are heading for The Batman Part II, but with only two episodes of The Penguin left, we’ll have to park those Mr. Freeze theories on ice…for now.
The Penguin airs on HBO and Max at 9 p.m. ET on Sundays.
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