Top 5 ‘Coolest’ Super Heroes

On this wintery, snowy day in London, it got us thinking here at GG HQ about the ‘coolest’ super heroes – i.e: ones that use snow and/or ice as their major weapon in battle / super power.

Below are our top 5:

1. Storm
One of our favourite superheroes of all time, Storm comes out on top in this ranking. First appearing in the Marvel series in 1975, she’s one of the most powerful mutants on Earth and now a long standing member of the X-Men. She can manipulate the weather creating tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards and hurricanes, along with the ability to flash freeze objects and create wind tunnels strong enough to elevate herself and others. Born as Ororo Iqadi T'Challa, she is the princess of a tribe in Kenya, descended from a line of witch-priestesses that have natural gifts for sorcery. 
We love this quote from her: “I am a woman, a mutant, a thief, an X-Men, a lover, a wife, a queen. I am all these things. I am Storm, and for me, there are no such things as limits".

2. Mr Freeze
Created in 1959 as a super villain in the DC comics, Mr Freeze mainly serves as an enemy of Batman. He is a scientist who discovered a way of cryogenically freezing his terminally ill wife hoping to sustain her until a cure was found. A fight breaks out in the lab he’s working in one night and he becomes engulfed in cryogenic coolants. Consequently he is dependent on sub zero conditions and has to wear a cryogenic suit to keep him alive. He commits crimes in order to fund his research and becomes more and more sadistic as time goes on. We remember him best in Batman & Robin (1997), played by pun loving Arnie, with such quotes as: “Ice to see you”, “chill out” (etc). Brilliant.

3. Iceman
I know, another X-Men, but we couldn’t leave out one of the founding members. Created in 1963, he has the ability to freeze everything around him and can also turn himself into ice. Portrayed by Shawn Ashmore in the X-Men movies, we’re sure that we haven’t seen all of the Ice Man’s capabilities as yet. He is thought to have not reached his full potential. Born as Robert Louis ‘Bobby’ Drake, he first uses his powers by turning a bully into a block of ice after the bully tries to take his date away from him. He ends up in Professor Charles Xavier’s care and becomes a fully fledged member of the X-Men.

4. Jack Frost
Not to be confused with the kid’s movie, or the dodgy ‘thriller’, the Jack Frost that makes the grade here is one of the first creations of Stan Lee in 1941. Jack Frost has the ability to create snow, sleet and ice. Either fashioning sheets of ice into simple structures such as walls etc, or creating snow flurries to disarm his enemies. So far as he can recall he originated in the Arctic with no memory of his past. He later took on the name Blizzard, and in modern Marvel is introduced as an enemy of Iron Man.

 

5. Sub-Zero
It might seem strange to add in a video game character to this top 5, but we think it’s appropriate given the nature of this ranking. One of the original characters in the video game Mortal Kombat in 1992, Sub-Zero has the ability to generate and control ice. He was called Ninja to begin with, but was changed after a member of the design team watched The Running Man where the first villain that Arnie fought was called subzero (not hyphenated). 1995 saw the movie Mortal Kombat, where Sub-Zero was played by a French martial artist.

Those that didn’t quite make the cut:
Thor 

Although we would love to put Thor in all our of top 5 listings, unfortunately he doesn’t quite make this one. He has a strong affinity with the weather (lightning primarily) and his enemies do live on the ice planet (Jötunheim), but Thor has many more powers that would sit above this one.
Superman  

Superman creates the Ice Palace as his temple to Krypton on Earth, but this is just too tenuous for our top 5. He can also breathe freezing air to put out fires and can cool objects to sub-zero temperatures, but again he has many more powers to add to the mix so doesn’t make the cut this time.