Giancarlo Esposito knows which villain he wants to be cast as in the DCU.
James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU officially kicked off in December 2024 with the animated Creature Commandos series. The first DCU feature film, Gunn’s Superman, will be released in United States theaters this coming July, while Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow follows in 2026.
What villain does Giancarlo Esposito want to play in the DCU?
Esposito recently told IGN at FanExpo Cleveland that he’d be interested in playing the Batman villain Mr. Freeze in the DCU. This comes after Esposito recently played an MCU villain, Seth Voelker/Sidewinder, in Captain America: Brave New World.
Created by Dave Wood, Sheldon Moldoff, and Bob Kane, Mr. Freeze initially debuted in 1959’s Batman #21 as Mr. Zero. He was later renamed Mr. Freeze following an appearance in the 1966 Batman television series; although, it wasn’t until Batman: The Animated Series that the character received a complete creative overhaul and redesign.
Now, Mr. Freeze is known as one of Batman’s more compassionate foes, as his acts of villainy are often due to his attempts to find a cure for his terminally ill wife, Nora. Arnold Schwarzenegger famously played the character in 1997’s Batman & Robin, a film that was not well received.
There’s been no word about if or when Mr. Freeze will appear in the DCU; however, it is worth noting that another Batman villain, Clayface, is getting his own movie that’s being directed by James Watkins, with a script by Mike Flanagan. That film has a 2026 release date and initially wasn’t part of the first wave of DCU movies Gunn originally announced — meaning, if someone were to come up with a good script/pitch for a Mr. Freeze movie, its release wouldn’t necessarily have to wait until all the other DCU movies that are in production.
Andy Muschietti is also working on a The Brave and the Bold DCU movie featuring Batman and no villain has been announced for this project at this time, meaning Mr. Freeze could potentially fit into that movie in some capacity.
