Claim: Mr. Freeze first was seen in Batman #121.

Mr. Freeze -LRB- Victor Fries -RRB- is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics , commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman . Created by Bob Kane , David Wood , and Sheldon Moldoff , the character first appeared in Batman # 121 -LRB- February 1959 -RRB- , where he was known as Mr. Zero . Mr. Freeze is one of Batman 's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman 's rogues gallery .   In the most common variation of his origin story , he is a former cryogenics expert in Gotham City who was involved in a laboratory accident while attempting to cure his terminally ill wife Nora Fries . The disaster lowered his body temperature to the point that he must wear a cryogenic suit in order to survive , and he utilizes a `` freeze gun '' that freezes its targets solid .   Mr. Freeze was played by George Sanders , Otto Preminger , and Eli Wallach in the original Batman television series , by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1997 film Batman & Robin , and by Nathan Darrow on the TV series Gotham . He was voiced by Michael Ansara in Batman : The Animated Series , by Clancy Brown in The Batman , and by Maurice LaMarche in the Batman : Arkham video game franchise .   IGN 's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time List ranked Mr. Freeze as # 67 .