Six Flags St. Louis opened its doors for the first time on June 5, 1971. At the time there was only one roller coaster built called the River King Mind Train, which is still running today. Over the next five decades Six Flags St. Louis would host around seventeen more roller coasters, nine of which are still operating today. Of the nine, Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast is the fastest topping out at 70mph. The popular coaster is named after an icy super villain first appearing in Batman comic books published by DC Comics in 1959.
Created by writer Dave Wood and artists Sheldon Moldoff and Bob Kane, Mr. Freeze (the character) was originally named Mr. Zero, a mad scientist that had a lab accident only allowing him to survive in temperatures below zero. Later he was reinvented in the DC universe as a tragic villain whose wife Nora became terminally ill due to a lab accident he caused. As the story goes, the only way for him to gain control of the situation and fund his never ending research and medical treatment for Nora, was to turn to a life of crime. So, in result, he becomes a prominent icy villain for Batman to fight and entertain many for over six decades.
Mr. Freeze seems to be a popular villain in the DC Universe not only for the epic battles shown on the comic book pages, but because of how easy it is to sympathize with him and his tragic backstory. While Six Flags may have chosen to make a roller coaster after him because of his cool ice powers and theme (which I am sure are a factor), I think it goes deeper than that. In the Batman comics, Mr. Freeze’s end goal is to heal his wife Nora. He feels guilty for the accident and wishes he could go back in time and never let it happen, so he chooses this life of crime in hopes of doing that. If you have not ridden Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast, the ride starts moving backwards, shooting from 0-70 MPH in 3.8 seconds! Then, it twists and turns all the way up to its peak at 218 feet, slows, and rides the same track all the way back into the beginning tunnel, facing forward this time.
Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast is my favorite ride at Six Flags St. Louis not only for the thrill it gives me when I am waiting for the launch, or the feeling in my stomach when I hit the peak, but also the feelings that can be associated with what on the surface is only a bunch of steel bars welded together. The quick launch symbolizes how fast his life turned bad; the peak represents the moment his wife was diagnosed; the twists, turns, and loops represent the obstacles he had to overcome; and returning back to the beginning the same way you came represents him finally curing his wife of her illness where it all began.
Mr. Freeze’s storyline is also written in a way where consumers can find him relatable on a deeper level. While going through this traumatic battle with sickness and loss, he is doing everything in his power to fight for his loved one and gain control of the situation. As humans, we struggle with the idea of not having complete control of every aspect of our lives, especially the hard situations. Although situations like Mr. Freeze’s do not usually end in a fairytale way like his does, it is comfortable to see a character get the happy ending that we, as a society, crave.
Just as Mr. Freeze’s story evokes strong emotions, so do roller coasters as a whole. The difference between the people who love and hate roller coasters is those who seek thrill, and those who avoid it. This is actually due to biology. Naturally, people are born to sensation seek. While non contextually stress and fear may be seen as bad, they are still sensations that release chemicals like endorphins and dopamine into the body. High sensation seeking is linked directly with how the body responds to a risk. Starting in the amygdala the brain measures risk then travels to the hypothalamus where it triggers the release of dopamine. This dopamine travels through the nervous system, the heart starts to beat quickly, and in result puts the body on high alert. This is where the separation between “safe” and “risky” people come in. Those who seek this feeling have lower activation in the amygdala and are shown to be less risk-aware.
Personally I am a little bit of both. While I love roller coasters, I also take notice of a bolt that may look a little loose, or a beam that seems a little rusty. Moving through each line at Six Flags, I will complain about how scared I am, and once it is over be exhilarated. How is that any fun? Psychologist Richard Stephens puts it best, “How, then, can a person simultaneously experience stress and pleasure? The answer is that not all stress is bad. Eustress—from the Greek “eu”, meaning good, as in euphoria—is a positive kind of stress that people actively seek out.” Where humans struggle to differentiate between eustress and stress is within the possibility of the unknown.
When you ride a roller coaster like Mr. Freeze: Reverse blast, there is a certain physical aspect of control you give up to the ride. There is a type of anxiety you can not usually chalk up to being either good or bad. You know your odds, and most people take the risk anyway. For me, it ends up being fun and I want to go again. Many would agree, but for others it may be too extreme and you do not know until after it is over.
My personal experience with anxiety, diagnosed in sixth grade, means I often overthink situations others might easily dismiss, much like Mr. Freeze’s relentless quest to control his fate. Whether it is about my grades teetering on the brink of an A and A-, or fighting with a loved one and not knowing the outcome. This type of anxiety would be the typical stressful kind I cannot control. I could study for a test to hopefully improve said grade, or apologize to my friend for upsetting her, but nonetheless the outcome is out of my control. John Green helps to explain this feeling in his essay Penguins of Madagascar in his book The Anthropocene Reviewed, “I am thoughtful—full of thoughts, all the time, inescapably, exhaustingly.” Fighting this battle with anxiety, I often find myself looking for things I can do in life I can control. I can find a high riding a roller coaster which, internally I think I could plummet to my death from, but ultimately it starts and ends and I am still unharmed. I resonate with Mr. Freeze, not because I am a mad scientist living a life of crime, but because I will also do anything to alter the outcome of a situation that I am desperate to control.
I rate Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast 4 stars.