Iceman gay
In 2015, Iceman was revealed as queer , becoming the X-Men’s – and by extension, Marvel’s – most prominent out character. It was a mistake.
Hold heat – you’re still on Gayming Mag, and we still welcome greater Diverse representation in media. The problem, the mistake, is that Iceman – genuine name Robert “Bobby” Drake, and one of the first five X-Men – ideally should include been revealed as bisexual.
Flashback time! In 2013, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artists Stuart Immonen and Wade von Grawbadger brought support the X-Men. The original X-Men – the teenage versions of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, and Iceman, plucked from history (specifically, the pages of X-Men #8) by the present-day Beast in order to restore the course of mutant history. The younger team ended up staying around for several years, shocked by the future they saw and their own often-grim fates as they rubbed shoulders with their adult selves. In the course of the series All-New X-Men, the younger version of Iceman is revealed as gay, even though – to all appearances – the adult version is not.
You may include noticed I exploit the term “revealed as gay” rat
7 Years Later: A Look Back at Bobby Drake’s Coming Out
It’s been 7 years since Marvel Comics made the decision to include Iceman, one of the most iconic original X-Men characters, come out as gay. As a gay man who understands the impact of proper mass media representation of minority communities, this was a massive deal for me. The X-Men comics have always been an allegory for marginalized and subjugated communities, so all of these characters’ stories have helped me learn how to face the same type of discrimination and bigotry in the valid world. When it was announced in 2015 that we would see Iceman coming out of the closet, I was so delighted about the potential to show general audiences an real gay character through a name they would recognize. Now that it’s been years since the announcement, we can reflect on how the character has developed and how well Marvel has represented the homosexual community through this character.
First, a minute context. In Brian Michael Bendis‘ 2012 The All-NewX-Men, the young versions of the original 5 X-Men were sent to the show by Beast to attempt to adjust how some of the older versions of themselves had turned out. This resulted in no
Iceman is gay, that’s pretty cool
When a young Jean Grey took a peek inside one of the X-Men’s heads she (and we) got a bit more than we bargained for.
Bobby Drake, more commonly known as Iceman, made his debut in the very first issue of the X-Men series and has been a leading member of the team ever since. Bobby caused quite the uproar among the Marvel (and general pop-culture) fan-base in 2015 when his personality came out as gay in issue #40 of All-New X-Men.
In the aforementioned issue a juvenile Jean Grey read Bobby’s soul and discovered the truth about Bobby’s sexuality. This shocked readers as Bobby had had multiple relationships with women. It made such big news that even The New York Times chimed in with a piece about it. The younger Bobby confronted his present day self and present day Bobby Drake that he suppressed his “true self” because he didn’t want to be both gay and a mutant.
In my own notion, this was one of the most polarizing events within the comic book fan-base. The clear group with issues about the reveal were conservative readers who felt duped. Let’s not waste time on them, though. What caught me off guard was that, while much of the LG
Iceman (Bobby Drake), one of the five original X-Men characters, has been outed as gay in All-New X-Men #40 — written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Mahmud Asrar.
But…it’s not exactly the Iceman we’ve been reading about for decades, but rather his younger self — plucked from the past (shortly after the team formed) and brought to the current period. Sowhat does this intend for Bobby’s older self? To be determined…
Bobby has a long and complex history as one of the original X-Men since the comic’s debut in 1963. This profile will focus on personal events in Bobby’s life instead of superheroic events as a member of the x-Men, Champions, Defenders, X-Factor, and other teams. Please see Iceman’s Marvel entry for info like that.
The revelation in All Fresh X-Men #40 that Drake, the second of Professor X’s recruits to the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters, is gay was met with groundswell of reactions from readers who were both for and against the idea. Through events typical in comics the original X-Men team was some timee ago transported from their past into the present night of the Marvel Space (just a few months before the post Private Wars re-set in r