Last month, we reported that House of Cards star Nathan Darrow has signed on to portray the iconic DC Comics character Victor Fries, a.k.a. Mr. Freeze in Season 2 of Gotham. This iconic character will first be introduced in tonight's fall finale, Worse Than a Crime, airing at 8 PM ET on Fox. Before that episode debuts, USA Today has the first photos of Mr. Freeze, brandishing his iconic freeze gun.

Executive producer John Stephens revealed at the WonderCon convention in April that they will introduce DC Comics villains such as Mr. Freeze, Clayface and the Mad Hatter in Gotham Season 2. This is the first character to be cast in that group, who will also return in the 12th and 13th episode of this season, along with Victor's wife Nora (Kristen Hager). When asked what drew him most to this character, Nathan Darrow said it was Victor's connection to his wife.

"Victor has one central intimate human connection, and that's with his wife. There's something really, really interesting and vulnerable and difficult about that. Of course, that is threatened by her illness. In some of the research I did on the character as he has evolved in the comic book, he has a more tenuous connection with humanity and his own humanity, and she's it. He is applying all his talents and skills and energies to maintaining that."

Victor Fries made his DC Comics debut in Batman #121 back in February 1959. His wife Nora, however, was created specifically for Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, before she was brought in to the comics. We won't see Nora until the show returns from its midseason hiatus on February 29. That episode will show how his wife's mysterious illness takes a toll on Victor, and Nathan Darrow revealed that he's glad her exact ailment isn't revealed.

"I really kind of love that it's referred to as a 'mysterious illness.' It's not just comic books, though. Look to Shakespeare and you're going to see things like that. You're going to see where a person has something that's mysterious and it's threatening their life, and it's never refereed to but we just know it. It's almost like it has greater weight because it's not named as like, "Oh, she has this type of cancer."

This iconic villain was also previously portrayed by stars such as George Sanders, Eli Wallach and Otto Preminger during the original Batman TV show's run. He was also played on the big screen by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1997's Batman & Robin, a portrayal that some fans thought "ruined" the character. When asked about Arnold Schwarzenegger's portrayal, Nathan Darrow admitted he never saw Batman & Robin.

"Well, it depends on your definition of the word 'ruined.' I have to plead some ignorance here. I never saw Batman & Robin, and I've seen bits of the old TV show but I don't think I've ever seen anything involving Mr. Freeze. I looked at some artwork and there's these backstories that's written about the character. I grabbed some of that. I find the character to be like a lot of the characters on the show: What becomes interesting is this 'villainy' is really something that is revealed out of a person in some particular circumstances with a particular history and what they care about combined with their own level of fear about being alive and being in the rather difficult world of Gotham."

Take a look at the first photos from Gotham featuring the villainous Mr. Freeze, before tuning into the Gotham fall finale tonight at 8 PM ET. We also reported last week that fans will get a sneak peek at new footage from the highly-anticipated movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice during tonight's episode.

Gotham Season 2 Mr. Freeze Photo 1
Gotham Season 2 Mr. Freeze Photo 2