| “ | Right, I'm the queen of letting these people down. But you know what? They're still here. No matter how much I disappoint them, they still show up for me. I don't really understand it, but I think that's part of this whole friends thing. So, unless you do something worse than kidnap and stab them, I think you're gonna be just fine. | „ |
| ~ Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost to Ralph Dibny |
Killer Frost, originally known as Caitlin Snow, is a meta-human who appears in the Arrowverse series, The Flash. As Caitlin, she appeared in the first two seasons as one of the main protagonists, with her Killer Frost persona serving as the secondary antagonist, but later redeem herself in Season 3.
The first Killer Frost was a meta-human criminal from Earth-2 who was in league with the evil speedster Zoom. After betraying him, she was imprisoned and kept in a cage by Zoom. When Zoom eventually captured her Earth-1 counterpart, with whom Zoom was in love, Killer Frost realized that Zoom only kept her because she reminded him of her Earth-1 version. Thus, Killer Frost decided to murder her counterpart but before she could do so, she was killed by Zoom.
However, seeing her evil counterpart in the flesh changed Caitlin, who constantly lived in fear of turning into Killer Frost as well. However, exactly this fear led to her slowly turning into Killer Frost. Although she obtained an amulet which contained her meta-human powers, the amulet was taken from her neck in order to unleash her regenerative powers when she almost died. This, in turn, fully unleashed her inner villain, turning her into the second version of Killer Frost and unleashing her onto Central City.
She is portrayed by Danielle Panabaker, who also portrayed Layla Williams in Sky High, Jacey Jeffries in Mom at Sixteen, and Jenna in 2009s Friday the 13th.
Personality
As Caitlin Snow
Originally, Caitlin Snow was known for her optimism in the face of danger. She was known among the original employees at S.T.A.R. Labs for her passionate approach to science. After losing Ronnie Raymond when the Particle Accelerator went off in 2013, she went into a state of depression and became cold and detached; however, her time with Barry Allen led her to realizing that she can move on and live her life. She felt very concerned for Barry's well-being during his early days as the Flash, initially being against him using his powers for superheroics.
She was close with Cisco, who described her as "guarded" due to her losing Ronnie. That, combined with all her anger towards her mother, didn't seem to phase her, however. Leonard Snart described her as "uptight". Cisco's constant nicknaming of various meta-humans initially annoyed Caitlin, but she eventually ended up naming some herself. After being reunited with Ronnie, now as Firestorm, Caitlin became overjoyed and brought her figurative walls down. After losing him again, this time for real, she returned to her state of depression and blames herself for his demise. She eventually realized that she can still be happy, and proceeds to return to her previous light after reuniting with the rest of "Team Flash".
Caitlin also has a tendency to flirt with people, which is more evident when she is intoxicated. At one point while at a dive bar with Barry, she tried to do karaoke, and ends up dropping several hints and statements that she was attracted to him. He later took her home and changed her into her sleepwear, and since she was still drunk, she asked him if he "took a peek" at her naked body. After meeting Hunter Zolomon, masquerading as Jay Garrick, they quickly became infatuated, leading to her wanting to find treatment for his case of cellular degeneration that threatened to kill him. However, after discovering that he was really Zoom, she tried to prevent her emotions from clouding her judgement. After her imprisonment on Earth-2 and being kept around as Zoom's captive, she seemed to develop PTSD, occasionally seeing visions of him around when he's not anywhere near there.
As Killer Frost
As Killer Frost, Caitlin became more vindictive, worried about her powers taking over. Having already met her Earth-2 self, who represented everything she didn't want to be (cold, double-sided, sadistic and unloved), she was worried even more that Team Flash would reject her if they knew about her post-Flashpoint powers. After becoming Killer Frost, her fears, insecurities and bitterness towards Barry for his creation of Flashpoint took over, thus making Killer Frost an entirely separate entity from the Caitlin that Team Flash knew and loved. She started mocking people more for their perceived weakness, mocking Cisco for fearing that he had to hurt her at all to save Barry, whom she regarded as selfish for tampering with time to give himself a happy ending and showing no regard for the consequences of his actions.
Caitlin was more fearful now that Killer Frost would take over completely, confiding in Julian Albert about her fear. As Killer Frost, however, she mocked Julian for thinking that there was a way to bring Caitlin back fully. She had a tendency to talk long sentences, going on rants about her superiority to Caitlin, whom she perceived as weak and pitiful. Desperate to show her loyalty to Savitar, she jumped at the chance to kill Tracy Brand, who would become a problem for Savitar in the future, but was insulted by the armored speedster for failing to kill her, mocking her decision to call herself "Killer Frost" when she hasn't actually killed anyone yet.
Powers and abilities
- Meta-human physiology: Prior to the Flashpoint event, Caitlin displayed no meta-human potential after being subjected to tests by several different sources. After the events of Flashpoint her powers developed, however, it is implied that her meta-human gene could have simply been dormant before. Caitlin recalled an incident from childhood in which she became Killer Frost, indicating that she was a meta-human prior the particle accelerator explosion.
- Transformation: After Caitlin and Killer Frost decided to be just one, Caitlin became able to transform into Killer Frost and vice-versa. She broke a bottle and cut her hand (which healed immediately) to turn into Killer Frost when Ralph needed a pep talk.
- Energy absorption/Cryokinesis: Caitlin's powers work by absorbing all existing heat around her, thereby reducing the temperature and to freeze targets well-below negative 370 degrees, even shattering beings as powerful as the Black Flash. Furthermore, her powers can reach such low levels that they can completely negate a speedster's healing powers and alternatively neutralize accelerated decomposing. Caitlin can create various ice structures with ease, even creating large bullet proof shields that can with standing point blank automatic rifle rounds, as well as launching upon manifestation sharp projectiles in rapid succession, creating an icy blade around her arm or as means of transportation, by producing icy waves of such propulsive strength, with one hand behind her, to propel herself forth across an ice slide she forms before her with her other hand, similar to Firestorm's fire-based propulsion ability. Her powers can also affect the weather around her, dropping the climate of the area and cause it to snow. She can also freeze objects without direct contact shown when she froze H.R's coffee from afar. A tell-tale sign of her accessing her powers is producing icy mist from her hands. As displayed by DeVoe, however, it would appear her ability to absorb energy may have been a power that developed as a result of her exposure to dark matter from the particle accelerator.
Killer Frost Kisses Flash
- Freezing kiss: Caitlin is able to freeze people through a kiss, as shown when she went up against Barry but was stopped by Cisco. Her Earth Two doppelganger showed the same skill when she killed a goon.
- Freezing breath: Caitlin is able to create a fog with her breath. Around six months following the defeat of Savitar, Caitlin, as Killer Frost, grew powerful enough to orally produce cold mists with enough momentum to knock several people backwards and off their feet.
- Cold immunity: An added benefit to her powers, Caitlin also exhibits a high resistance to frigid temperatures. She is shown to be able to hold the ice constructs she manifests with little trouble. She was also seen unaffected by a snowstorm she created after escaping S.T.A.R. Labs.
- Accelerated healing factor: While accessing her powers, Caitlin's metabolic rate is augmented to offset cold tissue destruction, allowing her endure more grievous injuries and likewise heal much faster than even a speedster, though foreign matter must first be taken out to not impede the healing. After clinically dying from a combination of a seizure and her reopened impalement wound, she was immediately resuscitated into a stable and cognitive state while her wound seamlessly healed completely in seconds. However, her healing powers only work when her Killer Frost side takes over, as wounds inflicted by Amunet left bruising and required stitches. Interestingly enough, Caitlin's Earth Two doppelganger seemed to lack this aspect of their near-similar meta-human powers, which was what led to Earth Two Killer Frost's death at Zoom's hand.
Caitlin's Ice Monster
- Cryokinetic Creature Creation:Caitlin is able to create beings of ice or shape existing ice into wanted shapes and purposes.
Trivia
- In the episode "I Know Who You Are", Killer Frost used her powers to generate an ice bridge that she would slip along with her feet, similarly to Iceman, a Marvel Comics-based superhero with the same powers as Killer Frost.
- Many villains in the series seemed to hold Caitlin in high regard:
- Eobard Thawne liked how passionate she was for her science.
- Hunter Zolomon fell in love with her, but didn't care when she found that he was actually quite abusive as Zoom.
- Grodd seemed to show gratitude for her due to her decision to not harm him.
- Savitar treated Killer Frost like a child of his, albeit in a Zoom-like manner.