While many superhero fans understandably like to treat the comic books as the highest standard for how certain characters should be portrayed, there are plenty of instances in which adaptations are even more character-defining than the source material. Sometimes, fresh creative minds given access to these characters see potential the original creators simply didn't, redefining them and taking their stories to new heights in a way that actually inspires the comics and subsequent adaptations to follow suit. As far as DC is concerned, more specifically the Batman mythos, arguably no character represents this phenomenon better than Mr. Freeze.

Originally introduced as Mr. Zero in 1959's Batman #121, Mr. Freeze was the epitome of a joke villain. A scientist whose malfunctioning ice gun made it so he could only survive at subzero temperatures, Mr. Zero was the kind of villain who had already lost before his battle against the hero even began -- no more intimidating than the likes of Polka-Dot Man, Kite Man or Killer Moth. The 1966 Batman television show did redefine the character somewhat -- renaming him Mr. Freeze and giving him the alter-ego of Dr. Art Schivel -- but he was no more threatening or complex than he was before. For decades, it appeared as though Mr. Freeze was a character who no one, not even the creators, would ever take seriously.  That was, of course, until Paul Dini and Bruce Timm completely flipped the script in the 1990s.

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Sept. 7, 1992 changed how DC fans viewed Mr. Freeze forever, as that date saw the release of "Heart of Ice," the third episode of Batman: The Animated Series. "Heart of Ice" gave the character a full overhaul. Gone was Dr. Art Schivel and in was Dr. Victor Fries, one of the most sympathetic villains in Batman's entire rogues gallery. The Animated Series told a genuinely heartbreaking tale of a scientist driven to madness and cursed with the ability to only survive in the coldest of temperatures after doing everything in his power to save his terminally ill wife, Nora Fries, keeping her cryogenically frozen until a cure for her disease could be found.

"Heart of Ice" not only changed the game for Mr. Freeze -- with the episode going on to inspire a similar overhaul for the comic book version of the character -- but also changed the game for Batman: The Animated Series as a whole. After winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program, the episode helped put the series on the map. Simply put, the show may not have become the beloved gold standard for Batman stories it is in the eyes of so many fans had it not been for Mr. Freeze. Dini and Timm not only expertly redefined what was once a throwaway character, but also helped mainstream audiences start to take superhero stories more seriously. Come 1997, however, a good chunk of that progress would be undone in the space of about two hours.

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1997 saw the release of Batman & Robin, which,  in contrast to Batman: The Animated Series, was not only a low point for its lead character, but a low point for superheroes in general. The film felt like a massive step backwards, both in terms of its own series -- following Tim Burton's two excellent Batman films and Schumacher's silly-but-still-serviceable Batman Forever -- and the franchise as a whole. The film was so campy that if the '66 Batman TV series was a sentient being that could scoff, it would.

No character escaped that movie without suffering a devastating blow to their credibility. Not Batman, not Robin, not Batgirl, not Poison Ivy, not Bane. However, arguably the film's biggest crime is the way in which it returned Mr. Freeze to his roots in the worst way possible. While the film did portray him as Victor Fries and give him Nora's illness as a motivation, it stripped away the gravity his story had in The Animated Series. Rather than a tortured, sympathetic villain, Batman & Robin made Mr. Freeze a dispensary for awful ice-related puns who, in his downtime, wore a bathrobe with polar bear slippers and tried to make his henchman sing songs from The Year Without a Santa Claus. In other words, Mr. Freeze was a joke villain once again.

RELATED: Birds of Prey Proves How Important Batman: The Animated Series Still Is

With Victor Fries' credibility as a serious villain severely damaged, it only makes sense that the universe that gave the character of Mr. Freeze a new lease on life would return to make things right a second time. The second film based on The Animated Series (following Batman: Mask of the Phantasm), Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero was released as a direct-to-video feature in 1998.

SubZero was originally conceptualized as a companion piece to 1997's Batman & Robin, though had its release pushed back to 1998 after the live-action film was met with harsh criticism. When the film finally did see the light of day, however, it once again proved how great an effective Mr. Freeze can be when treated with the proper respect.

RELATED: Batman: The Animated Series Hid a DARK Secret About Nora Fries

Picking up sometime after the events of The Animated Series, SubZero provides a conclusion to Mr. Freeze's story. After departing the city to live a new life in the Arctic, Victor returns to Gotham in one final bid to save Nora's life. His plan to kidnap Barbara Gordon and harvest a key organ Nora needs to survive falls through. Despite being defeated and (reluctantly) left for dead, however, the film concludes with one last appeal to the villain's humanity.

Hearing word that Nora survived and regained consciousness in a Gotham City that believes him to be dead, the sympathetic rogue finally gets the heartfelt ending he deserves, walking off into the sunset with his mission accomplished. While this ending is a point of contention, it's the one the character deserved after all he'd been through. After all, superhero cinema took some time to fully recover following the critical disaster of Batman & Robin. But thanks to SubZero finishing what Batman: The Animated Series started, Batfans can at least take solace knowing that one of the Dark Knight's best villains still managed end that troubled era on a high note.

KEEP READING: Mr Freeze Is Batman's Worst Movie Villain Who Deserves Another Role