Captain Cold

Revision as of 07:11, 23 September 2023

Captain Cold in The Flash v5 #37.

Captain Cold is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Flash and Elongated Man vs. Captain Cold in Flash v1 #134.

Leonard Snart

His father was once in the police force but during one day at a routine traffic stop a mishap happened causing his partner to die with him being shot in the arm. He had a history of being drunk leading to him being kicked out of the police leading to him getting support through disability payments. His payment he regularly physically abused with him violently hitting her to the point that she had black eyes and her becoming angry in their marriage. Leonard and his sister grew up during this time in a trailer outside of Central City. Their father was equally abusive to his children where he beat them for showing signs of emotions such as love as he saw it as weakness. The beatings led to his mother running away frequently but she always returned. The only source of stability in the Snart household was from Leonard's grandfather who would knock his son out to protect his grandchildren. Leonard and Lisa's grandfather delivered ice where he took them out regularly to places as well as treated them kindly. Their grandfather later died just before Leonard turned twelve. (Flash v2 #182)

A year after his mother died, Leonard decided to leave home and escape his still living abusive father. Despite the pleas of his sister, he left her at the home and began associating himself with criminals. (Flash v2 #182)

Desperate to find a way of overcoming the Flash, he learnt of a magazine that compiled scientific information on the superhero. He broke into the offices of the magazine and stole the material that spoke about a Cyclotron and its capacity to perhaps interfere with the Flash's speed. Thus, Len Snart broke into the research laboratory containing a Cyclotron that accidently irradiated his gun. When a night watchman confronted him, Snart fired and he learnt that his gun had the ability to freeze objects it hit. With this weapon, he fashioned a costume of his own design and took the name Captain Cold with him targeting a bank that he had frozen. With its occupants frozen, he stole the money whilst the people were thawing when he was confronted by the Flash. His cold-gun was ineffective against the heroes super-speed but his quick thinking saw him freeze the ground causing the Flash to loose his grip allowing Captain Cold to flee. He then sought to study his gun to change its effects in order for it to be more useful against the Flash where he ambushed he superhero only to be defeated by him. (Showcase v1 #8)

Later on, the Getaway Master helped his criminal compatriots Captain Cold, King Clock, Professor Menace, Electric Man and Puppet Master escape prison using a shrink ray. After shrinking his crew they escaped prison on a matchbook tied to a helium balloon. They planned to destroy the Justice League of America, and issued a challenge to the heroes. Professor Menace built robots of himself King Clock and Captain Cold that were rigged to explode after being touched and fought Green Arrow, Flash and Wonder Woman of the JLofA. The heroes escaped Clock's quicksand clock trap, but as the heroes approached Arrow realized they were robots and detonated them with arrows from a distance. Getaway Master, Electric Man and Puppet Master attacked Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern with deadly weather attacks, but failed to kill the heroes. The heroes approached the Master's ship, which was protected by an explosive force field, but Green Arrow activated the field from a distance to save his teammates. The League thought Green Arrow was a traitor, but he exonerated himself by explaining the villains’ traps and capturing the lot of them. (Justice League of America v1 #5)

Rogues

Leonard Snart in his gear in Flash v2 #182.

Inertia reunited Cold and the rest of the Rogues, claiming that he could build a device that could stop time, allowing them to do whatever they wanted. (The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive v1 #11) However, the machine's actual use was to transfer the Speed Force from the new Flash to himself. When the Flash arrived to stop them, the machine rendered him powerless. However, the Rogues soon realized that someone was helping the speedster, and it was possible that his powers could be returned. Not wanting this to happen, Cold, along with Heat Wave and Weather Wizard, shot the powerless Flash in the back, resulting in his death. (The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive v1 #13)

Cold and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game. Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #1) Meanwhile, an unidentified black human male came to be provided an old version of the cold gun by the Penguin along with the Captain Cold themed costume where he took the name Chill. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #2) He along with others supplied by weapons where they came to refer to themselves as the New Rogues. (Gotham Underground v1 #6) Cold and his group are challenged by a new set of Rogues, formed by Libra to be their replacements. The new group, having kidnapped Cold's father, challenge the Rogues, and are defeated and killed. Cold goes to his father, talking to him about the abuse he suffered, and the fate of his sister. After the elder Snart insults him and his mother, calling them weak, Cold punches him, but finds himself unable to kill him, instead getting Heat Wave to do it. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #2) The Rogues have their confrontation with Inertia, despite interference by Zoom and Libra, and kill Inertia. Libra then reveals that he needs the Rogues because Barry Allen has returned from the dead, and the Flashes are potential threats to him and Darkseid. Though shocked by the news that Allen is alive, Cold still rejects his offer of membership. After regrouping, Cold and the other Rogues agree not to retire, claiming that the game is back on. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #3)

Afterwards, Snart kept a low profile in Keystone City where he watched the occasional hockey game. (The Flash v2 #170)

Captain Cold then helped Jared Morillo and Fed Chyre free the KCPD and Cyborg from the Mirror dimension in Central City. Snart reversed the image then broke it thus restoring the captive people back to normal. Before departing, Leonard provided the police with Hunter Zolomon's stolen documents that had been taken by the new Rogues. (The Flash v2 #186)

Cold and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game. Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #1) Cold and his group are challenged by a new set of Rogues, formed by Libra to be their replacements. The new group, having kidnapped Cold's father, challenge the Rogues, and are defeated and killed. Cold goes to his father, talking to him about the abuse he suffered, and the fate of his sister. After the elder Snart insults him and his mother, calling them weak, Cold punches him, but finds himself unable to kill him, instead getting Heat Wave to do it. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #2) The Rogues have their confrontation with Inertia, despite interference by Zoom and Libra, and kill Inertia. Libra then reveals that he needs the Rogues because Barry Allen has returned from the dead, and the Flashes are potential threats to him and Darkseid. Though shocked by the news that Allen is alive, Cold still rejects his offer of membership. After regrouping, Cold and the other Rogues agree not to retire, claiming that the game was back on. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #3)

Afterwards, Captain Cold was seen with the other Rogues when they read about the return of Barry Allen claiming that they would need more of the Rogues. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #1)

The Rogues are still debating Allen's return, with Cold saying it's time to pull out their contingency plan that Scudder came up with, stating "In case The Flash returns, break glass." (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #6)

Post-Flashpoint

Flash vs. Captain Cold in Flash v4 #6.

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Leonard Snart

After freeing the Trickster and attending the meeting at the Justice League Watchtower, the Rogues return to Central and Keystone City, only to see that both have been destroyed by Gorilla Grodd. Grodd returns to Central City during the eclipse, while a ceremony commemorating Flash between the humans and gorillas is occurring. Grodd proceeds to take control of Central City as its king and renames it Gorilla City. Captain Cold sees the city's cops tied up from Grodd, and proceeds to free them. He then asks Mirror Master to help him get to the hospital where his sister is being held to check on her. While there, the Crime Syndicate send Black Bison, Hyena, Multiplex, Plastique and Typhoon to finish Grodd's work and destroy the hospital. The Rogues are able to hold them off, only to be interrupted by Deathstorm and Power Ring, who were sent by Ultraman to deal with the Rogues for resisting the Crime Syndicate's offer to join them. After battling Deathstorm and Power Ring, Deathstorm attacks Captain Cold and is able to extract his freezing powers from his DNA. Mirror Master attempts to get the Rogues out through the Mirror World, but Power Ring destroys the mirror causing the Rogues to be separated. Captain Cold ends up at Luthor and his Kryptonian clone's location where they are also joined by Black Manta, who has retrieved Black Adam from the ocean. (Forever Evil v1 #3) Luthor realizes that, with the help of his clone, Black Adam, Black Manta, and Captain Cold, he may be able to stop the Crime Syndicate. Captain Cold and the rest of the squad, now joined by Batman, Catwoman, Sinestro and Deathstroke, infiltrate the fallen Watchtower, where Black Manta kills the Outsider and Cold proceeds to shatter Johnny Quick's right leg after having frozen the molecules in it with his cold gun. He then unmasks the hooded prisoner brought over from Earth-3, revealing it to be Alexander Luthor, who is their version of Shazam, Mazahs, who states he will kill them all. (Forever Evil v1 #6)

In the aftermath, Snart took his role as the head of security for LexCorp. (Justice League v2 #35)

Whilst in Iron Heights, he and the Rogues used duplicates of themselves to appear as if they were in their prison cells whilst they went underground the prison. From there, Snart established a criminal empire with Iron Heights serving as his secret base of operations. He quickly moved to establish himself as the crime lord of Central City bringing him into a clash with Copperhead whose operations suffered as the result of Snart. This caused her to ultimately decide to form an alliance with him and him sending her a peace offering. The Rogues then decided to admit Godspeed into their ranks if he helped in capturing the Flash with him luring the speedster into a trap. (The Flash v5 #37) They managed to lure the Flash into an Absolute Zero field where the cold caused his him to become sluggish and slow enough for Captain Cold to fight. During the fight, August Heart betrayed the Rogues and switched off the energy field after learning of Snart having sabotaged a shipment of cold weapons to Copperhead. Once free, the Flash managed to capture all the Rogues and exposed them due to the testimony of August Heart. It was also discovered that Captain Cold was responsible for the murder of Turbine. As a result, he was transferred out of Iron Heights and given over to Belle Reve under the care of Amanda Waller. (The Flash v5 #38) Whilst there, he was forced to work as part of Task Force X's Suicide Squad where he was involved in many missions that saw the death of his team mates. This mentally broke Snart who was more content to survive until his cell was broken into by a drone that had an offer from Lex Luthor. (The Flash v5 #75)

The Flash manage to undo the world that encased Central City but King Cold refused to be defeated by his nemesis. However, the Flash was affected by a surge in the Speed Force that caused him to act of control and he nearly beat Snart to death. The Scarlet Speedster was only stopped by Golden Glider who was desperate to save her brother with the wounded Leonard being taken away by the authorities. (The Flash v5 #86)

Overview

Personality and attributes

He was also known as Len Snart and the self-styled Master of Cold. (Showcase v1 #8) After mastering his absolute zero technology, he came to call himself King Cold. (The Flash v5 #86)

As a crook, he was noted for his ambition. (Showcase v1 #8)

He vandalised, assaulted and stole as part of his acts. He sometimes killed but only did so in two circumstances, either; where it was killed or be killed and the other was when he wanted revenge. (Flash v2 #182) Upon becoming a supervillain, he stated that there were only three things he liked; money, women and getting a victory over the Flash. (The Flash v5 #37) Despite this being the case, he said that he hated the term 'supervillain' and considered himself a 'rogue'. (The Flash v2 #186) He said that he did not believe in 'evil' and that in reality morality was different shades of 'gray'. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #3)

Leonard believed that forgiveness was a fool's game with people never changing as they stayed the same from birth until the day they died. (The Flash v5 #38)

Snart fondly remembered his grandfather who protected him and his sister from their father. A regret he had was not being able to properly remember him as he was a child at the time and by the time he grew older his grandfather had passed away. Upon his death, the Snart siblings came to believe that all the good things in their lives died with their grandfather. After his death, the brother and sister learnt never to shed a single tear again with Leonard never crying again for anything. (Flash v2 #182)

Powers and abilities

King Cold in The Flash v5 #82.

Snart was shown to be intelligent enough to understand scientific articles though was unable to work more complex equipment. He was able to experiment on his own equipment in order to study it and mix it with other elements. (Showcase v1 #8)

Captain Cold wore a special suit that was of his own design and he wore special ground glasses that could see through his own mirages. (Showcase v1 #8) The glasses protected the eyes from the flare of gunfire and had a police band receive in them allowing him to hear the communications of the police force. (Flash v2 #182)

He was armed with a Cold-Gun that emitted energy that shot out absolute zero cold which was minus 460 degree Fahrenheit and capable of freezing targets solid. After mixing with liquid helium, the gun had the effect of causing strange mirages similar to those generated by intense heat. Cold based mirages were even more fantastic with Snart's gun able to create illusions of animals that faded away after sometime. (Showcase v1 #8) It could generate a cold field that slowed projectiles in the air like bullets causing them to fall harmlessly on the ground. (Flash v2 #182)

Snart would upgrade his signature weapon using Speed Force moderating technology created by the Black Hole Organization that he had stolen from S.T.A.R. Labs. (The Flash v5 #16)

Through his equipment, he could generate a cold-field whereby the air was so frigid that it slowed anything through it including bullets. (Justice League v2 #38)

He later lost his powers when Deathstorm ripped them from his DNA. Snart returned to using his Cold Gun soon after. (Forever Evil v1 #6)

Lex Luthor later provided him with his technology allowing Snart to master his absolute zero science. This saw him use implants to make the technology part of his body allowing him to fire his absolute zero blasts from his hands. As King Cold, he had the means of generating the absolute zero field around him to the point that it could slow a speedster. (The Flash v5 #86)

Notes

• Captain Cold was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino where he first appeared in Showcase v1 #8 (June, 1957).

Alternate Versions

• In Old Lady Harley v1 #3 (2018), an alternate version of the character appeared as General Cold who was shown to had operated in a post-apocalyptic future where the villains ruled the world.

In other media

Television

Leonard Snart in the Arrowverse.

Captain Cold in Injustice 2.

• In Challenge of the Super Friends, Captain Cold appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Dick Ryal.
• In The Flash, Captain Cold appeared as an antagonist in the 1990s live-action television series in the episode "Captain Cold" where he was portrayed by actor Michael Champion. This version was named Leonard Wynters who was an infamous albino hitman who was dressed in a trenchcoat and was armed with a nuclear-powered freeze weapon that killed his victims. He was hired by the Central City crime boss Jimmy Swain and sent on a hit to kill local mob bosses and also the Flash who eventually managed to defeat Captain Cold.
• In Justice League Unlimited. Captain Cold appeared as an antagonist in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "Flash and Substance" where he was voiced by actor Lex Lang.
• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Captain Cold appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Steven Blum.
• In Young Justice, Captain Cold made a number of appearances in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Alan Tudyk.
• In the Arrowverse, Captain Cold made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In The Flash, Leonard Snart appeared as an antagonist in the 2014 live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Wentworth Miller.
  • In Legends of Tomorrow, Leonard Snart appeared as part of the cast of characters on the live-action television series where he was once again portrayed by actor Wentworth Miller.

Films

• In Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Captain Cold made a minor appearance in the animated film where he was voiced by uncredited actor Michael Gough.
• In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Captain Cold appeared briefly in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Danny Jacobs.
• In JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, Captain Cold appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Corey Burton.

Video games

• In DC Universe Online, Captain Cold appeared in the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Ryan Wickerham.
• In Injustice 2, Captain Cold appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor C. Thomas Howell. He became a member of Grodd's Society after the Rogues and his sister Golden Glider were executed by Superman's One Earth Regime. As a result, he became more ruthless and sought revenge against the planet's superheroes.
• In DC Legends, Captain Cold appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
• In DC: Unchained, Captain Cold appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Showcase v1: (1957)
• The Flash v2:
• Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge v1:
• The Flash: Rebirth v1:
• Blackest Night: The Flash:
• Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1:
• Flash v4:
• Justice League v2:
• The Flash v5:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvne Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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