Bruce Wayne Makes the Case for Mr. Freeze's Innocence In Batman #52

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Batman #52, by Tom King, Lee Weeks, Elizabeth Breitweiser and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

After being left at the altar by Selina Kyle in Batman #50, the man behind the cape and cowl – Bruce Wayne – was forced to shift his attention from the would-be wedding of the century to the current trial of the century: The people of Gotham v. Mr. Freeze.

Three women were found dead, originally believed to be the result of natural causes. However, upon his own independent (and unsanctioned) investigation, the World’s Greatest Detective discovered a pattern among these three seemingly unrelated tragedies, which was that each woman had a temperature drop in their brain stems.

This, of course, put the Dark Knight on a collision course with Freeze, but after taking out his pent-up frustration on the cold criminal, fate decided Batman – or rather Bruce Wayne – wasn’t quite done with Freeze just yet. Much to the surprise of his fellow jurors, though, Batman #51 ended with Bruce raising his hand as the sole proponent of Freeze’s innocence, so naturally, Issue #52 sees the esteemed billionaire pleading his case to his colleagues.

As one of the jurors explains, the near-unanimous guilty verdict was the result of “three basic pieces of evidence”: the aforementioned drops in temperature in the victims’ brain stems; the fact that Freeze was already armed and suited up when he became a suspect; and the fact the Freeze confessed not only to Batman but also to the GCPD. Still, this isn’t enough to sway Bruce.

“I think the question is – why did the GCPD miss something that Batman caught?” Bruce asks his fellow jurors. “These women… what if they died of the causes they died of. Clots. And someone… later… created the remnants of the decrease in temperature.”

Suggesting the possibility that someone planted evidence that would undoubtedly incriminate Freeze is just the first piece of Bruce’s argument, though. Next, he has to convince the jury that there was a good reason a man on house arrest with nothing to hide was wearing a weaponized suit and clutching a freeze gun when he was found.

Speaking from firsthand experience, Bruce explains that, over the course of their shared history, Batman and Mr. Freeze “have been fighting. Not talking. Fighting.” Why, then, would Freeze expect this time to be any different? Why would he think Batman would be willing to hear him out? Even if he did nothing wrong, Freeze was simply preparing for the inevitable.

Finally, Bruce moves on to the most damning piece of evidence, which is Freeze’s confession.

Had he simply confessed to Batman, who was in the process of beating him to a bloody pulp, Freeze’s statement could be seen as being made under extreme duress. However, he also confessed to the GCPD, “without any Batman anywhere threatening him,” one juror notes.

Much like the trauma of his parents’ murder continues to haunt him to this day, Bruce explains that fear isn’t something that goes away once the source of it vanishes. For Freeze, the fear instilled in him thanks to the vicious beating he endured stuck with him long after Batman turned him over to the GCPD. As Bruce puts it, this means Freeze’s “confession doesn’t mean a damn thing.”

Nevertheless, while Bruce makes a solid argument, we’re still left with a hung jury that can seemingly only be convinced Freeze is innocent if Bruce can somehow prove Batman was sloppy with his investigation and rash with his pursuit. Thankfully, though, given Bruce’s “unique relationship” with the Caped Crusader, he can prove that.

Of course, how Bruce plans to do that remains to be seen, but it’s entirely possible we could see Batman (with Dick Grayson under the cowl) taking the stand in Issue #53.

CBR

Batman: Bruce Wayne Makes the Case for Mr. Freeze's Innocence - But Is It Enough?