| “ | And here I thought I was going to have a problem explaining what happened in your lab. I mean, the police are never going to look at me after what you did! And with this bat-freak dead, there won't be anyone left to say otherwise. | „ |
| ~ Boyle gloating over a defeated Mr. Freeze and revealing his true colors. |
| “ | Freeze: Please, you can save her. You just have to bypass- Ferris: No, Victor! She dies! But I'll keep you alive long enough to see her go! |
„ |
| ~ Ferris declaring that he will let Nora die out of spite before sadistically beating Freeze within an inch of his life. |
Ferris Boyle is the main antagonist of Batman: Arkham Origins' sequel DLC story Cold, Cold Heart.
He is the CEO of GothCorp, a philanthropic corporation that would be referred as "The People Company". At first, Boyle appeared to be a kind and altruistic humanitarian. In reality, however, he is a cold, greedy mercenary who profits from in illegal weapons manufacturing. Because of this, Ferris is guilty (at least in some way) of numerous crimes: including extortion, embezzlement, blackmailing, abduction, unethical experimentation, and even murder. Through his greed, he is also responsible for Mr. Freeze's condition.
He was voiced by Stephen Tobolowsky, who also played Christopher Maynard in The Glimmer Man, Happy Chapman in Garfield: The Movie, Uncle Ubb in The Lorax, Ronald Tompkins in Toy Story of Terror!, and Jerry Barkley in Justified.
History[]
Before the beginning of Cold, Cold Heart, Ferris Boyle secretly planned on researching highly illegal and dangerous cryogenic weaponry, without having any of his staff members finding out his true intentions. Boyle eventually found out that one of GothCorp's scientists, Dr. Victor Fries, managed to place his wife, Nora Fries, into cryostasis. Inspired of the scientist's work, Boyle offered a deal to Fries to work on his cryogenic weapons program, while stating that he will find the cure for the terminal illness Huntington's Chorea, which Nora was afflicted with.
Fries initially agrees to the deal, while he was desperate of saving his wife. But Boyle truly had no intention of keeping his word. When Fries discovered his intentions, he decided to secretly begin his research on the cure for Huntington's Chorea himself. Boyle, refusing to accept that action, brought his security guards to the lab, confiscated Nora's capsule, and beats Fries up. As he kicked Fries into a cryogenic cannon, an explosion occurred, trapping Fries and a security guard. Boyle managed to escape from the lab after dropping his weapon, leaving the lab staff for dead and having the place quarantined to cover up the incident.
Boyle is stopped by Batman
The DLC began on New Year's Eve, when Ferris Boyle was accepting the award for "Humanitarian of the Year" at the Wayne Foundation. The ceremony was later interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Freeze and some of the Penguin's henchmen, intending to abduct Boyle for the security codes to access Nora's capsule and get her out of GothCorp. After being successfully captured, Boyle was dragged to the lower level of GothCorp and later taken hostage by the Penguin. Batman tried to save Boyle from the quarrel between Mr. Freeze and the Penguin, but Mr. Freeze once again captures him and brought him to the Propellant Research Wing. Boyle refused to give Freeze the security codes and taunts him, making the latter threaten to freeze him to face the same experience Nora suffered from.
Batman eventually caught up with them and revealed that he knows about the truth about the incident. Boyle falsely stated that it was an accident, enraging Freeze and threw him into a containment field. After Batman defeated Freeze, Boyle revealed his true nature by "thanking" Batman and aimed a cryogenic jet-stream at Freeze. Batman pushed Freeze out of the way and got himself frozen. With that, Boyle decided to leave Batman for dead to make sure that any other witnesses would never find out about the discovery.
He took a pipe from a helpless and pleading Freeze's cannon and sadistically beats him, while taunting the scientist to let him live long enough to watch Nora die. Batman broke free from the ice with his XE suit, punches him into unconsciousness, and tells him in disgust, "Take a seat, Humanitarian." With the incident exposed by Batman, Boyle was arrested alongside Freeze and Penguin.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ferris Boyle first appeared in the critically acclaimed episode of Batman: The Animated Series "Heart of Ice", which Cold, Cold Heart is based on. He is voiced by Mark Hamill, who later went on to voice The Joker in the series, as well as many other Batman media, including the Arkham games.
- Boyle looks also much older here than his animated counterpart.
- Ferris is much more despicable and villainous here than he was in the animated series. While Ferris was definitely corrupt and callous to Victor's plight and Nora's fate, even willing to kill the latter, he was at least correct in the fact that Freeze was using his company's technology for his research without authorization and was probably close to bankrupting Gothcorp with his unauthorized research, although he probably would have never had Boyle's authorization even if it was for a good cause and in good faith. Here, however, Boyle was secretly having Victor develop a stockpile of cryogenic weapons for unclear reasons in exchange for helping Victor find a cure for Nora's Huntington's disease, a deal he had no intention of following through on. Boyle would then assault and pistol whip Mr. Freeze and leaving him to die in his lab while taking Nora away to experiment on her to learn about the process Victor used to freeze her. He also showed a willingness to murder Batman himself to cover up his actions before sadistically trying to beat Freeze to death while vowing to make him watch Nora die before killing him out of pure spite.
External Links[]
- Ferris Boyle on the Arkhamverse Wiki
- Ferris Boyle on the Batman Wiki
