Matt Reeves The Batman was able to do a lot of heavy lifting when it came to bringing Gotham to life, being able to introduce four major Batman villains with Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, and Carmine Falcone; five if Barry Keoghan’s Joker cameo is considered.
Reeves is still hard at work with the second movie’s pre-production, but word has gone out that another spinoff could be in the works, and Reeves is attached to the project.
Is a Mr. Freeze Movie in the Works?
According to ComicBookClubLive, there was a listing on Production Weekly for a movie called Mister Freeze, and what’s more, the project is coming from 6th & Idaho, the production company of Matt Reeves, and Reeves, James Gunn, and Peter Safran are all listed as producers, including DC Studios, DC Entertainment, The Safran Company, and WB Television.
No further details have been revealed about the project, but the site also notes that PW does have a tendency not to vet their listings, so it’s advised that fans should take this news with a grain of salt.
Heart of Ice
Ever since it was reported that a sequel to The Batman has been greenlit, multiple fans have been clamoring for a character like Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze. Though his skillset is a bit more on the science-fiction end, his backstory, which involves him trying to save his wife while trying to cope with his disease, is considered one of the all-time best dramatic arcs to ever call itself a Batman story.
Admittedly, the last adaptation of Freeze was back in the 90s with a cartoonish Arnold Schwarzenegger, but seeing as how he’s been repeatedly adapted in series and comics, there’s definitely room for a realistically grounded Freeze in the world of Reeves’ Batman.
Gotham Spinoffs
Just like with House of the Dragon, it does seem like HBO wants to cash in on the spinoffs that they can get from popular existing IP. There were actually two spinoffs being developed based on the world of Reeves’ Gotham City—one focused on the cops of Gotham, and another on the Penguin—and it was only the Penguin series that managed to get the green light.
As of the time of writing of this article, the show has only managed to release one episode, but the series is already a critical hit, with a lot of praise going to the characterization of Colin Farrell’s Penguin and the fleshing out of the Gotham underworld.
Though some were afraid that Batman would need to show up at least once to make it interesting, the Tony Soprano-like charisma of Oz Cobb seems to be enough to have audiences on the edge of their seats; not to mention Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone is also an unhinged delight to behold.
A Mr. Freeze project hasn’t been officially announced, but should DC move forward with it, it’s very likely a lot of fans would be on board. Maybe they can make it a miniseries to just help flesh out Batman villains? Fans will just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, new episodes of The Penguin drop on Max every Sunday.