Follow

    Nora Fields

    Character » Nora Fields appears in 94 issues.

    Originally created for the Batman animated series, Nora Fries was the cryogenically frozen wife of Mr. Freeze. His obsession to find a cure for her illness turned him to a life of crime. She also briefly became a supervillain named Lazara.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Nora Fields last edited by KillerZ on 01/01/24 06:12AM View full history

    Origin

    Not long after the marriage to her husband, Victor Fries (Mr. Freeze) who worked for the cryogenics department for GothCorp, they were a very happily married couple until she was diagnosed with a life threatening disease. Fries froze her until a cure could be found for her. Later on Ferris Boyle, the CEO of GothCorp, cuts all funding on Victor's work.

    By the time Victor had become Mr. Freeze, he now kept his wife alive in his personal laboratory, she was however slowly breaking apart. Freeze would find away to fix her.

    Creation

    Nora Fries was created for Batman: The Animated Series by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.

    Major Story Arcs

    Lazara

    Lazara
    Lazara

    In the Batgirl series, Freeze decided to help Nyssa Al Ghul in the making of a machine for the Society so that it could be used to capture Batgirl. In return for his help she would allow him to use one of the League's Lazarus Pit's to restore his wife. Instead of waiting for assistance however , Mr. Freeze took it upon himself to place Nora into the pit. Her frail and broken stasis had allowed her body to fully absorb all of the alchemy that laid within the pit driving her beyond any state of madness, and giving her the ability of fire manipulation, and to raise the dead. Calling herself Lazara, she became a supervillainess as the wife Mr. Freeze had kept so long to restore he will no longer ever be able to touch again.

    New 52: Post-Flashpoint

    Nora's history was radically altered in the New 52 continuity were she was renamed Nora Fields. She was no longer the frozen wife of Victor Fries', but had been frozen back in 1943 by her parents wishing a cure for her heart disease. When the case was taken on by Wayne Enterprises, Fries fell in love with her, believing her to be his wife. Like the initial origin, the experiment was terminated causing Fries to become enraged which lead to his accident.

    Other Appearances

    In Batman Gotham Adventures #51 and Batman Adventures #15 Nora is established as being a scientist herself. Nora's personality and reason for her devotion to Victor is further developed. Nora felt guilty over the fact that Victor neglects his condition while tending to her own, which results in his body deteriorating to only a head.

    Nora's new husband, Francis D'Anjou, is jealous of the love Nora still has for Victor and hides all of the letters that Victor sends to her. Once Nora finds out that Victor still cares, after finding one of the letters, she tries to pursue him. Nora is shown to be extremely in love with Victor and she very quickly sees past the fact that Victor is only a head and tries to make things work out, but Victor's past as Freeze keeps it from happening.

    During a later appearance, Francis D'Anjou was abducted by Grant Walker- a man who had forced Freeze to subject him to the same treatments as he had undergone - to research a cure for his condition, forcing Nightwing and Batgirl to team up with Mr. Freeze to stop Walker after Batman was incapacitated (Walker had frozen Bruce Wayne's head in ice during his attack, forcing Bruce to go to the hospital even after Tim Drake managed to free him), Freeze simply stating that all that mattered was saving Nora's husband.

    After Walker was defeated, although Nightwing and Batgirl remotely deactivated Freeze's body to stop him killing Walker, Freeze simply ejected his head and left, Francis D'Anjou saying that it would be better to let Freeze go, reflecting how Nora still loved Victor.

    Other Media

    Animated

    Batman (1992)

    Nora Fries in Batman - TAS
    Nora Fries in Batman - TAS

    After marrying Victor Fries, a cryogenics researcher working for GothCorp, the couple lives happily until Nora is diagnosed with a terminal illness . Fries uses the company's equipment to cryogenically freeze his wife until a cure can be found. GothCorp CEO Ferris Boyle cuts the funding and later goes into Fries's laboratory to shut down the project personally with some security guards.

    According to "Heart of Ice" and "The Batman Adventures Holiday Special", Nora is presumed dead after the resulting scuffle which destroys the lab. In "Deep Freeze" it was revealed that Nora is still alive within her chamber by billionaire Grant Walker, who used the chamber as leverage on Mr. Freeze to do his evil bidding.

    Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero (1998)

    After Mr. Freeze retrieved Nora's chamber, he keeps it in his Arctic hideout until the chamber is broken. No longer frozen, Nora does not have long to live. In desperation, Freeze bribes an old colleague into helping her. This leads to Freeze hunting down Barbara Gordon, one of the few women on hospital records with Nora's rare blood type.

    Freeze plans to use Barbara for a fatal organ transplant to save Nora, but Batman intervenes. Nora is ultimately cured by Dr. Francis D'Anjou of Wayne Enterprises.

    The New Batman Adventures (1999)

    In an episode called "Cold Comfort", Nora waits for the missing and presumed dead Freeze for some time before she decides to remarry her doctor. This subplot is expanded in Batman Adventures, a comic series based on Batman: The Animated Series

    Gotham Girls (2002)

    Dora Smithy (Nora's sister)
    Dora Smithy (Nora's sister)

    Nora has a younger sister named Dora. Dora is very close to Nora and hates Victor Fries for keeping her sister in a coma. Dora's campaign against costumed vigilantes and villains results in her becoming one herself in the series finale.

    Batman Beyond (2001)

    Nora is not seen; however, when Mr. Freeze (whose frozen body slows his aging to an almost immortal level) returns to his normal human self of Victor Fries in the episode "Meltdown", he starts a Nora Fries Foundation in memory of his wife

    The Batman (2004)

    Nora also appears in the episode entitled "The Big Chill". In the episode, she is briefly shown in pictures in her husband's car before the accident that turns him into Mr. Freeze.

    Live Action

    Batman and Robin (1997)

    Nora Fries is played by supermodel Vendela Kirseborn Thomessen. She is cryogenically frozen throughout the movie, and the only lines she has are in her and Mr. Freeze's wedding video. In this film, her disease is the fictional MacGregor's Syndrome.

    Batman reveals that she has the most advanced stages of this disease, for which Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has yet to find a cure, although he has managed to cure the first few stages of the disease where nobody else is even close. At one point in the movie, Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), who is infatuated with Mr. Freeze and his powers, pulls the plug on Nora’s machine in an attempt to kill her and have Freeze to herself.

    She fails, as Nora lives, and Batman has her sent to Arkham Asylum so that Mr. Freeze can continue his research for a cure during his imprisonment there, simultaneously convincing Freeze to give him the cure for Stage One MacGregor's Syndrome - Alfred is currently dying of the disease, reminding him that anyone can take life but only a few people can give it. Freeze also uses this opportunity to exact his revenge on Ivy for trying to kill his wife.

    Video Games

    Batman: Arkham City (2011)

    Nora is seen once again in cryostasis. Mr. Freeze asks Batman to find her location in Arkham City, in exchange for developing a cure for the poison The Joker infected Batman with. The player can find Nora and relay her location to Mr. Freeze in a side mission, aptly named "Heart of Ice". Nora's biography states that she was a gifted dancer. Mr. Freeze's interview tapes recount him first meeting Nora at a reform school and marrying her soon after, only to realize Nora was terminally ill.

    While Batman stops him from killing Boyle, Freeze thanks the Dark Knight for reuniting him with Nora, and for exposing Boyle. Dr. Hugo Strange, Arkham City's warden, reveals Nora is being delivered to the Joker. Freeze flies into a rage and vows to kill Strange and rescue Nora. She is last seen reunited with Freeze, who thanks Batman for finding her.

    Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

    Nora Fries appears again in cryostasis. In this game her terminal disease is Huntington's Chorea. Victor Fries made a deal with Ferris Boyle, secretly developing weapons for Gothcorp in exchange for Boyle devoting his company's resources to finding a cure. However, when Fries discovered that Boyle never intended to uphold his end of the deal, Boyle removed Nora from his lab to another section. The struggle that followed resulted in the accident that transformed Victor into Mister Freeze.

    Freeze kidnaps Boyle to force him to release Nora. When Nora's chamber begins to lose power, Boyle tries to stop Freeze from saving her, intent on forcing Freeze to watch his wife die. Batman intervenes, however, and saves Nora while subduing Boyle.

    Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)

    Nora appears in the December "Season of Infamy" downloadable content (DLC) pack in the side mission "In From the Cold". Members of Arkham Knight's militia steal Nora's cryogenics chamber to try to force Mr. Freeze to kill Batman for them. Batman helps Freeze track down the chamber. When he finds it, he is forced to release Nora. She tells him that she no longer wants him to try and save her. Freeze sacrifices his equipment to stop the militia, and he is reunited with Nora. He removes his helmet, and informs his wife that they have mere days to live. They then sail away together. She was voiced by Cissy Jones.

    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.