Killer Frost

Killer Frost
File:Killer Frost (Crystal Frost).jpg Crystal Frost as Killer Frost. Interior artwork from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe vol. 1, 12 (February, 1986 DC Comics) Art by Al Milgrom
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Crystal Frost) Firestorm #3 (June 1978) (Louise Lincoln) Firestorm (vol. 2) # 21 (March 1984) (Caitlin Snow) Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #19 (June 2013)
Created by	Gerry Conway Al Milgrom
In-story information
Alter ego	Crystal Frost Louise Lincoln Caitlin Snow
Team affiliations	(Crystal Frost) Secret Society of Super Villains Hudson University Black Lantern Corps (Louise Lincoln) Suicide Squad Injustice League Secret Society of Super Villains (Caitlin Snow) S.T.A.R. Labs Secret Society of Super Villains Suicide Squad Justice League of America
Abilities	(All) Cold and Ice manipulation

Killer Frost is a name used by several fictional supervillainesses appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character has appeared in various incarnations, with several different individuals in the DC Universe assuming the Killer Frost persona. Killer Frost appears mainly as an adversary of the superhero Firestorm.

Fictional character biographies

Crystal Frost

Crystal Frost was the first incarnation, appearing in Firestorm #3 (June 1978). While Frost was studying to be a scientist in Hudson University, she fell in love with her teacher, Martin Stein. While working on a project in the Arctic, Frost was upset to learn that Stein did not reciprocate her feelings (for his part, Stein told a fellow researcher that he had noticed that Crystal was a withdrawn student of his and he merely tried to draw her out of her shell, which Crystal completely misinterpreted). Frost accidentally locked herself in a thermafrost chamber but survived, being transformed in a way in which she was able to absorb heat from a living being and project cold and ice. Calling herself "Killer Frost", she began her murderous crusade against men and clashed with Firestorm on many occasions. Killer Frost eventually died after she absorbed too much energy from Firestorm. Crystal has been identified as one of the deceased entombed below the Hall of Justice. Her body was reanimated as a Black Lantern.

Louise Lincoln

File:Killer Frost (Louise Lincoln).jpg

Louise Lincoln as Killer Frost preparing to attack Firestorm and Lorraine Reilly. Art by Jamal Igle.

Dr. Louise Lincoln is the second incarnation; she first appeared in Firestorm (vol. 2) #21 (March 1984) and used the "Killer Frost" name in Firestorm (vol. 2) #34 (April 1985). Lincoln was a colleague and friend to Crystal Frost. After her friend's death, she decided to repeat the experiment as a last respect to her former mentor, and became the new Killer Frost. She became just as ruthless as her predecessor and began her own personal vendetta against Firestorm, whom she blamed for Frost's death. She briefly served as a member of the Suicide Squad and sold her soul to Neron for more power.

During the Underworld Unleashed event, Killer Frost attacked Hawaii, freezing part of the islands before being stopped by Superboy and Knockout.

After a group of mobsters put out a hit on Lois Lane, Killer Frost rescued her from Solomon Grundy, only to then leave the reporter bound and gagged on a set of train tracks, hoping to take the credit and reward for Lane's death. Her plan was foiled by Superman who rescued Lois before the train could hit her.

Killer Frost was later freed when the DEO refrigeration truck transporting her crashed. Effigy happened upon the crash and she discovered the heat from his pyrokinetic abilities enabled her to kiss him without freezing him over. The two had a brief flirtatious partnership that dissolved when Effigy lost patience with her lecturing him on how to defeat Green Lantern. After Green Lantern buried them both under a mountain of snow, Effigy escaped and abandoned her to be apprehended again.

In the Superman/Batman "Public Enemies" arc, Killer Frost was one of many supervillains seeking to earn a $1 billion reward offered by President Lex Luthor to sanction Superman and Batman, whom he considered treasonous. She teamed with Mister Freeze, Icicle (Cameron Mahkent) and Captain Cold in an attempt to ambush the two heroes in Washington D.C., but all four were defeated. They attacked in a second wave, along with more villains such as Giganta and Gorilla Grodd, but a similar backup of superheroes battered them all into submission. It was later discovered in Superman/Batman #3 that this ice-themed team of villains was being mind controlled by Grodd.

Dr. Light hired Killer Frost and Mirror Master to attack Green Arrow and Black Lightning at a hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where Kimiyo Hoshi was being held. Green Arrow stopped Killer Frost by firing an arrow filled with Greek fire into her thigh. Unable to absorb the heat from the arrow, she was defeated in Green Arrow (Volume 3) #54-55.

Around this time, Lincoln discovered that she had contracted cancer, and tricked Jason Rusch, the new Firestorm, into curing her. With her health and powers restored Killer Frost went on a rampage, only to be defeated when Jason used his abilities to reverse his alterations to Lincoln's body, returning her cancer.

Killer Frost returned during the events of One Year Later, where she had apparently entered into a relationship with Mr. Freeze. Together, the two villains went on a killing spree in Manhattan, hoping to draw Firestorm into an elaborate trap. Once the hero arrived, Killer Frost used a device to send both of them into space, where she sought to absorb the heat energy of the sun. Firestorm narrowly managed to stop her plan, and both Killer Frost and Mister Freeze were taken into custody by Batman. As they were being sent away, Killer Frost angrily revealed to Mister Freeze that she had only been using him as a pawn, and had no romantic interest in him.

Killer Frost was later seen battling Firestorm in the Justice League of America Wedding Special until Lex Luthor, Joker and Cheetah arrived, subdued Firestorm, and invited Killer Frost to join the new Injustice League. She then appeared in Salvation Run, where she was sent to the Prison Planet after having been defeated and captured by the Suicide Squad.

In DC Universe #0, she was seen as the member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains. She is later seen as one of the villains sent to retrieve the Get Out of Hell Free card from the Secret Six, and ultimately helped deal the killing blow to the crazed supervillain Junior and the troubled vigilante known as the Tarantula. A short time after this encounter with the Secret Six, Killer Frost appeared as one of the participants in a metahuman fighting tournament in Tokyo. She was defeated by Wonder Woman and Black Canary, who had disguised themselves as villains in order to take down the tournament from the inside.

Caitlin Snow

Caitlin Snow as Killer Frost. Artwork for the cover of Justice League of America vol. 3, 7.2 (September 2013 DC Comics) 
Art by Matt Banning and Tony S. Daniel

In September 2013, as the "Villains Month" part of the Forever Evil storyline during The New 52, Killer Frost was featured in the one-shot Justice League of America #7.2, also titled Killer Frost #1. She can also be seen on the cover of Forever Evil #1, which hints at her involvement in that series. The issue revealed this is yet another version of Killer Frost, Dr. Caitlin Snow, a scientist sent to S.T.A.R. Labs Outpost #72 in the Arctic to work on a thermodynamic engine whose creator had committed suicide. Snow soon discovered the place had been infiltrated by H.I.V.E. agents. When they tried to kill her inside the engine, Snow frantically ripped off the coolant system, merging her body with ice. Transformed into a heat vampire, she killed the H.I.V.E. agents out of revenge. She then wandered out into the cold until she came across a Norwegian camp and took their heat too. Hijacking a helicopter, she made it back to her hometown Pittsburgh. She even created a suit that helped her retain heat for longer. She later encountered the superhero Firestorm and discovered that his powers could temporarily heal her mutation. She tried recreating the Firestorm Nuclear Matrix several times only to fail with each attempt. When Firestorm and the Justice League were declared dead by the Crime Syndicate, she lost hope for a cure to her condition.

Killer Frost later has a scientist named Byte track down Martin Stein, the original creator of the Firestorm Matrix, to his secluded cabin while he had gone into hiding during the Crime Syndicate's takeover of Earth. She encountered Steve Trevor who was sent there on a mission to try to find the Justice League who were imprisoned inside Firestorm. Learning he was alive, Snow allied herself with the two men to find them. Soon they were attacked by supervillains Multiplex, Black Bison, Hyena, Tempest and Plastique for betraying the Syndicate. While fighting them off, Stein, Trevor and Frost teleported to another A.R.G.U.S. base where they learned that to free the Justice League, they needed Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. Discovering Cheetah was keeping it as a trophy, they found her and her Menagerie but were subdued. Doctor Light (Arthur Light) suddenly appeared and blasted everyone except Frost and Trevor unconscious. After defeating him, they managed to deliver the Lasso of Truth to Cyborg who successfully used it to free his teammates.

DC Rebirth

In DC Rebirth, Caitlin Snow is taken to Belle Reve Penitentiary where she is introduced to the Suicide Squad and offered a place on the team by Amanda Waller. She accepts and joins the team. She helps the Suicide Squad in their fight against the Justice League, but subsequently assists them against Maxwell Lord when he is possessed by Eclipso, whose attempt to tap into her 'darkest desire' only unlocks her desire to make a difference. Afterwards, Waller is forced to release Snow into Batman's custody. She then joined the new Justice League of America made up of Batman, the Atom, Lobo, Black Canary, Vixen, and the Ray.

Powers and abilities

All versions have shown the ability to absorb heat from external sources and transmute it into waves of cold. Using these powers, Killer Frost can create an ice-sheen across her entire body that grants her increased durability, cause intense blizzards that can instantly freeze the target and generate objects composed completely of ice, such as projectiles in the form of ice shards and defensive walls or shields. She can also instantly freeze animate matter through physical contact, and is unable to touch a normal person without freezing them.

Her weakness is the need to absorb external heat sources to generate ice: although heat based weapons such as flamethrowers only make her stronger, she can be imprisoned in cold surroundings such as being locked in a refrigeration truck or buried under a mountain of snow. The Caitlin Snow version of Killer Frost is constantly plagued by a hunger for heat which can only be sated by absorbing the heat from a living being, a process which inevitably kills the victim. However, in recent stories she seems to have finally gotten it under control by only absorbing a tiny amount of heat from every person she touches, sparing them and leaving them otherwise unharmed.

While the exact limits of her abilities have yet to be established, how much power Frost can channel at once seems to depend on how much heat she has absorbed and stored in her body. For example, when she absorbed all the heat from Superman (whose body is supercharged by yellow solar energy) during a stand-off between the Justice League and the Suicide Squad, she was able to flash-freeze the entire league in a single blast.

It also seems that using up all the heat energy she has stored up at once can put Frost's life in danger. If she doesn't feed in time, she even risks dying of "starvation".

The Caitlin Snow version of Killer Frost also boasts a genius-level intellect, being S.T.A.R. Labs' youngest and brightest scientist prior to her transformation. She could solve complexe equations easily, operate heavy energy generating machinery and appeared particularly skilled in the field of physics and research about energy. She once managed to create an ice prism with her powers that converted Superman's heat vision into a bright burst of sunlight to defeat Eclipso.

Other versions

DC Super Friends

Killer Frost appeared in the DC Super Friends comic as part of a group of ice-themed villains called the "Ice Pack" that encased a city in ice and snow.

Justice League Adventures

The Crystal Frost version of Killer Frost appeared along with Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold, Minister Blizzard, Cryonic Man, Icicle, Polar Lord and Snowman in the Justice League Adventures comic.

Justice League Unlimited

Killer Frost appeared in the Justice League Unlimited spin-off comic book along with her Secret Society teammate (and current romantic interest) Heat Wave.

DC Bombshells

Killer Frost appears in the DC Bombshells continuity, which takes place during World War II. She serves Hugo Strange of the Nazi Regime alongside Penguin and a brainwashed Harvey Dent (who is eventually rescued by the Batgirls). While Penguin is in love with her, it's unknown if she truly reciprocates the same feeling. This version is Louise L'inconnue, who is of French and German descent. In 1870, her mother is killed by angry villagers for conceiving a child with a German man and was thrown into an ice-cold well to die with her child. Louise emerges from the well with blue skin and freezes all the villagers to death. She is later adopted by the Joker's Daughter, who trained her in magic and controlling her powers (while also giving her the chance to kill her father). After clashing with Baroness Paula Von Gunther, she expresses her desire to have the world filled with superhumans like her.

DC Super Hero Girls

Killer Frost appeared in the DC Super Hero Girls by the name of "Frost". In the series, she is shown to be a superhero, instead of a super villain. She has her own separate bio with her powers and personality listed. She is shown to be very smart too. There she lives with Lady Shiva, Miss Martian and Star Sapphire. She has her own bedroom with: a nightstand, a king sized bed, a desk and other decorations. Her appearance is also different: she has long hair made into a ponytail. She has blue eyes, white skin and all of her outfits have something to do with ice and snow.

Injustice: Gods Among Us comics

Killer Frost made an appearance in the comic book prequel to Injustice: Gods Among Us.

In other media

Television

• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost appears in the Justice League animated series and Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Jennifer Hale. She is motivated by a base desire to kill people and does not seem to care who she serves so long as she is afforded the opportunity to do so. In the former series, she joins Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society, relishing the chance to freeze Morgan Edge when the rest of the team is distracted with Clayface's release. They were eventually defeated by the Justice League. In the latter series, Killer Frost rejoins Grodd's Secret Society and was sent with Giganta, Heat Wave and Devil Ray to a mountain to steal a Viking ship frozen in a glacier. The ship held the remains of a Viking prince believed to hold the key to invincibility. When an avalanche threatened a nearby lodge, Killer Frost was forced by the Martian Manhunter to save the people there. Later, when the Secret Society mutinied on the way to Brainiac's former lair, she joined Grodd's faction but was defeated by Toyman. After the mutiny was defeated, Killer Frost impressed Lex Luthor with her powers. She subsequently appears as one of the Legion members who survive Darkseid's resurrection and ends up fighting alongside the Justice League in their struggle against Darkseid's forces.

Crystal Frost as Killer Frost in Young Justice.

• The Crystal Frost version of Killer Frost appears in Young Justice, voiced by Sarah Shahi. In the episode "Independence Day", she appears briefly at the beginning of the episode, where she attacks Pearl Harbor and is defeated by Aquaman and Aqualad. In the episode "Terrors", Killer Frost is seen as an inmate at Belle Reve. She is part of the breakout attempt alongside Captain Cold, Mister Freeze and both versions of Icicle. She freezes an undercover Miss Martian for stopping Killer Frost from finishing off a guard, but is stopped by Superboy. In the episode "Coldhearted", Killer Frost and the other ice-based villains were suspected of being behind the ice fortresses that attacked the United States. Hugo Strange told Batman and the Flash that neither of the ice-based villains left their cells.
• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jennifer Hale (for the fourth time). This version is portrayed as Ronnie Raymond's vengeful ex-girlfriend. In the teaser of the episode "Darkseid Descending!", she crashes Raymond's class and attempts to kill Ronnie until Batman interferes. She battles Batman and Firestorm. They managed to defeat her and she is taken into custody by S.T.A.R. Labs vowing revenge on Firestorm.
• The Caitlin Snow version of Killer Frost (or in series had the name 'Frost') appears in the web series DC Super Hero Girls (voiced by Danica McKellar) as a student at Super Hero High.

Killer Frost, portrayed by Danielle Panabaker in The Flash.

• Danielle Panabaker portrays Dr. Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost, a series regular on The Flash TV series, set within The CW's Arrowverse family of related shows. Caitlin debuted on Arrow and makes occasional guest appearances in that series and as well as Legends of Tomorrow. In season one, she and Cisco Ramon are part of the Central City-based S.T.A.R. Labs team which supports Barry Allen as the Flash. In season one, she struggles with her fiancee Ronnie Raymond's apparent death in the particle accelerator blast which created the Flash and other meta-humans, but later discovers Ronnie survived and became part of the powerful fire-based superhero Firestorm. Caitlin and Ronnie marry in season one's finale, but Ronnie apparently dies shortly after in the season two premiere, helping close a destructive singularity over Central City. During season two, Caitlin grieves for Ronnie a second time and grows closer to the Flash of Earth-Two, Jay Garrick, before the later revelation that he is in fact the evil Earth-2 speedster Zoom posing as the real Jay Garrick. She also meets her Earth-Two doppelganger, an ice-based supervillain named Killer Frost who is later killed by Zoom, and wonders at what this means for her own capacity to do evil. In the "Flashpoint" timeline of the Season 3 opening episode, Caitlin is a children's eye doctor with no connections to Team Flash. Barry restores the original timeline but with subtle variations and Caitlin appears to be the least affected. However, she is revealed to be developing cryokinetic abilities that she is keeping secret from the team, and subsequent episodes reveal that she also is developing a dissociative identity. In the episode "The New Rogues", she uses her powers for the first time to free Barry after he is trapped in a mirror by Mirror Master. By the end of the episode, Caitlin begins to physically transform into Killer Frost. She goes to see her mother, Dr. Carla Tannhauser, who studies her powers, but is attacked by a crazed scientist and briefly assumes her Killer Frost persona while defending herself. Later, her mother advises her not to use her powers or her transformation will become irreversible. She eventually reveals her powers to Cisco, who uses his powers and sees the two of them fighting each other in the future as Vibe and Killer Frost. Cisco forces her to reveal her powers to the rest of Team Flash to avoid hiding it until the time comes. Barry tells Caitlin that her powers are a result of the changed timeline, which angers her. In "Killer Frost", Caitlin nearly gives into her Killer Frost persona and threatens the lives of Barry, Cisco, and multiple others in order to find Doctor Alchemy, hoping he can take away her powers, culminating in a confrontation with Julian Albert before Barry captures her. After imprisoning her, Barry tells Caitlin she can leave only if she kills him, knowing that the real Caitlin is underneath the cold exterior. Caitlin returns to normal self and puts herself in the meta-human cuffs to restrain her evil side from coming out. Barry sacrifices his job as a forensic scientist in order to keep her secret from the police, but he eventually gets his job back after they learn about Julian Albert's split-personality identity as Doctor Alchemy. When Barry takes a look six months into the future to learn more about Iris's death at the hands of speedster devil Savitar, he witnesses a headline that states 'Killer Frost still at large', reinforcing the team's goal of changing the future they witnessed. In the season 3 episode "Abra Kadabra", Catlin becomes a fully powered Killer Frost at the end of the episode While trying to save her life, Julian takes the power-suppressing necklace he gave her off her body, triggering the transformation. In episode 19, Savitar reveals who he is to Killer Frost, and once she sees his true face, she immediately becomes willing to listen to his offer. Also Killer Frost in the future tells Barry of this meeting. In the episode "I know who you are", Killer Frost displays a new ability to form an ice ramp, and attacks both Tracy Brand and Joe West's girlfriend to help Savitar. She also wounds The Flash but had to be saved by Savitar. . When Team Flash try to stop Barry from making new memories it affects Savitar as well. Killer Frost goes to help the team get his memories back. She does help Barry gets his memories back and feels something of a change of heart as Killer Frost leaves Star Labs In the season finale, Killer Frost battles the team again alongside Savitar, but in the end, turns against him rather than allow him to kill her former teammates. After Savitar is defeated, she tells the others that she is not Killer Frost, but is also no longer the Caitlin she was before, and is not yet ready to return to the team, leaving to rediscover herself.
• The Caitlin Snow version of Killer Frost appears in the animated series Justice League Action, voiced by Mena Suvari. Here, Caitlin was presented as being caught in a freak accident involving thermafrost turning into Killer Frost. In "Freezer Burn," Killer Frost is hired by Mr. Freeze who she is a fan of. While going to his hideout in Gotham City, she is pursued by Firestorm who she knocks out upon him developing a crush on her at the same time. Killer Frost than arrives at the hideout where she defeats Batman. Mr. Freeze betrays her and uses her to power an aircraft designed to freeze Gotham with it's freeze ray. Firestorm frees her, and Killer Frost stops the crashing aircraft. She freezes Mr. Freeze in a block of ice when he tries to kill her, Firestorm, and Batman. After knocking out Firestorm again, Killer Frost escapes.

Film

• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost appears in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, with Jennifer Hale reprising her role (albeit uncredited) for the third time. In this film, she teams up with fellow cold-based villains Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold and Icicle to capture Superman due to a bounty placed by President Lex Luthor. After a brief fight with Batman, they are defeated by Superman.
• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost appears in Batman: Assault on Arkham, voiced again by Jennifer Hale (for the sixth time). She appears as a member of the Suicide Squad, given by Amanda Waller the secret mission of killing the Riddler. During the infiltration of Arkham Asylum, Killer Frost locates the Riddler, but decides not to kill him when she learns the reason she was sent to assassinate him: Riddler knows how to disable the bombs implanted in the Suicide Squad members. She also finds Mister Freeze's gun and uses it briefly to fight Batman, but has trouble lifting it and ends up leaving it behind after the fight. Later, Killer Frost is one of the Suicide Squad members who has her bomb defused by the Riddler. Only King Shark (who Frost formed a relationship with) and Black Spider (who wasn't with the Squad because of Batman) are killed by Waller, when she learns what they've done. After the "Black Spider" with the Squad is exposed as Batman, and after the Joker breaks free and sets all the inmates of Arkham loose, Frost tries to escape from Arkham by stealing a police car. However, Bane grabs and throws the car, apparently killing Frost.

Video games

• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost is featured as an antagonist and playable character in the video game Justice League Heroes, voiced by Nika Futterman.
• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost is also an outdoor raid boss in the MMORPG DC Universe Online, voiced by Christina J. Moore.
• The Crystal Frost version of Killer Frost appears as an unlockable character in the portable version of Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes.
• The Crystal Frost version of Killer Frost appears as a boss in the video game Young Justice: Legacy, voiced by Vanessa Marshall.
• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost appears in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced again by Jennifer Hale. In the alternate reality, she is a member of Superman's Regime and is shown to have her hair in a mohawk style. She fights Green Arrow at Wayne Manor (alongside Solomon Grundy) and Deathstroke at the Ferris Aircraft facility (alongside Wonder Woman). After the alternate Superman is defeated by Superman, Killer Frost is among the Regime members to be rounded up by the Justice League. In Killer Frost's ending, she becomes overconfident after her defeat of Superman and S.T.A.R. Labs scientists manage to apprehend her with the intent of using her ability to fortify the polar ice caps. They underestimate her, however, and she turns on them, eventually freezing the entire western hemisphere. The survivors of the incident currently struggle to overthrow the self-proclaimed "Ice Queen".
• The Caitlin Snow version of Killer Frost appears as a downloadable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
• The Louise Lincoln version of Killer Frost is mentioned in Injustice 2 by Captain Cold and Green Arrow, the latter of whom remarks on how similar Frost, Cold, Icicle and Mr. Freeze are.