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 character came out as gay in issue #40 of All-New X-Men.
In the aforementioned issue a young Jean Grey read Bobby’s mind 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 opinion, this was one of the most polarizing events within the comic book fan-base. The obvious 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 LGBT community gratefully accepted this newcomer, many other LGBT readers posted in forums saying that this was a negative thing. The issue these readers had was that they felt slighted by the comic because it wasn’t the “real” Iceman; it was just an alternate younger version of him. They felt this cheapened the coming out because it could easily be written off as just a one-shot story and then left in the dust. While I do not necessarily agree with that critique, I definitely understand it.
In an interview with IGN at the 2015 Game Awards, Shawn Ashmore, the actor who portrays Iceman in the X-Men films, stated that he’d “definitely be open” to playing Bobby as a gay man and his coming out character arc. With the actor who portrays him readily accepting his character’s new identity, it would be wonderful to see that portrayed in theaters.
While we have a decent amount of LGBT characters in our comic universes, only Negasonic Teenage Warhead (portrayed by Brianna Hildebrand in Deadpool 2 this year) has been openly LGBT on the silver screen. With any hope, she’ll usher in a bevy of new LGBT faces in future films.
Whatever your feelings about Iceman’s coming out, every gay man on this planet worth his salt can tell you how sexually charged the scene in 2003’s “X2” was when Iceman “cooled off” Wolverine’s soda.
Dan (who plays Yardak on Masks and Mayhem) is an opinionated horror movie buff with an associate degree in social science. His interests range from arguing on the internet with strangers about pointless topics to where to find the best burrito in town and what wine pairs best with it.