Mr. Freeze is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Dave Wood and artist Sheldon Moldoff, he first appeared in Batman #121 (February 1959) as the ice-based criminal Mr. Zero, but he was soon renamed "Mr. Freeze".Years later, the character's origin story was revamped to match the one conceived by writer Paul Dini for Batman: The Animated Series, in which Dr. Victor Fries was a cryogenics expert in Gotham City who was caught in a laboratory mishap while attempting to cure his terminally ill wife, Nora; the accident drastically lowered his body temperature to sub-zero levels, forcing him to wear a cryogenic suit in order to survive. Freeze's main goal remains to find a cure for his wife's illness, though his methods often bring him into conflict with Batman. This depiction of Mr. Freeze has since endured as one of the superhero Batman's most recurring enemies. He belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's central rogues gallery.