Marvel Comics' Iconic X-Men Character Revealed to Be Gay

Are we gonna see gay Iceman in the movies now? Please!

Uh-oh. I'm not looking forward to the next round of contract negotiations.

This is going to backfire. I support it but folks are gonna pisssed.

So we need to see Iceman hooking up with Wolverine in the next movie; Rogue and Kitty can console each other over their loss.

Change for the sake of change.

Still a pretty big abuse of power for Jean Grey to scan his mind and then confront him about this.

Backfire is the wrong word to use. I wish we could edit our comments.

Can Iceman have an evil/straight twin brother?

Casting would be a cinch

So, is Shawn Ashmore going to be "Gay4Pay" on the next Xmen movie? Who will he leave Rogue for? I knew something was up, when he was attracted to Ellen Page.

I knew Bobby was gay, just the way he looked at Wolverine from time to time.

You do realize that these are cartoons we're discussing, don't you?

so if there were zero gay superhero/cartoon characters, I'd be very happy.

Shut up R10.

Not sure if this will be good, they have already tried to have gay mutants.

He's not gay. He's bi. Remember when he was in that three way relationship for a while? With Spider Man and Firestar?

So it seems like they're implying Iceman (the "real" one in modern times) is gay as well, just really closeted and repressed, perhaps so much he wouldn't acknowledge it even to himself?

I see some subtle influences from Japanese Manga in the drawing style. Generally, I don't like them, but this time the blending looks good. I would get rid of colour and would make it more like manga (black&white).

Regarding that character being homosexual, great, I hope they will portray same-sex relationships in the future (both, gay and lesbian) and I hope they will not try to apply heterosexual conpcets to homosexual love relationships (who's the man in the relationship and stuff like that)

I hope they get Oliver Frey to draw the story where Cyclops schools Iceman on the hotness of gay sex.

R15, I don't follow comics much anymore, but I think in the late 90's / early 2000's (around the time manga and anime exploded in popularity in the US), there was a huge shift in comic book art-styles from the "realistic" super-hero styles to more cartoony / manga styles. Even individual artists started shifting their technique.

I think the influence has lessened somewhat, but it's still noticeable.

Beast is a woman trapped in a man's body.

Midnighter is getting his own DC comic book series. Midnighter is gay and has a boyfriend. He talks about asses in it too. He's hugely popular. The comic book community is extremely pro-gay.

R10 is correct. According to Datalounge wisdom, superheroes are "shit straight people like."

We only want gay visibility and acceptance within stereotypically gay parameters. God forbid we should branch out beyond hair salons and flower shops.

God, I'm surprised VOTN hasn't swooped down to weigh in and puff himself as DL's Only True Comics Fan.

This is not shocking since Marvel has been teasing Iceman as gay for many, many years, even when he was dating women. What's shocking is that they let Bendis finally drop the dime. Good for them. Remember Bobby's road trip with Rogue in the '90s, where they somehow *didn't* fuck? That should have been the last tip-off. Then there's weird shit like his switching bodies with Emma Frost or whatever.

[quote]Change for the sake of change.

Agreed. Bobby is one of my favourite X-Men. I love that they have recently given him his due as an omega level mutant. They have really begun to explore his huge potential. But this? Bobby has been in many serious relationships with women. Even if they made him bi, which they have done with other long-standing straight characters like Rictor, Shatterstar and Prodigy. Making him homosexual after all this time doesn't make any sense. There is just too much history with this character.

But all of these characters are gay aren't they? I mean no straight guy would dress up in costumes unless they were being paid to do it.

Fifty years of romancing women, and NOW they call him 100% gay?

This is why I can't get serious about comic books. No fucking continuity.

Look at how Alan Scott has taken the world by storm his he was reconceived as being gay, to huge fanfare...

Marvel is essentially rebooting their continuity. The original X-Men, from the initial Kirby/Lee to the Neal Adams petered out in the late 60s, and it was the Wein/Cockrum/Claremont/Byrne team that took the world by Storm.

I've seen some of this work - love Stuart Immonen's artwork. Essentially, there are middle-aged original Five (Scott Summers killed Charles Xavier, Jean Grey is dead, there daughter, time displaced from the future is there, Angel is .?, Beast is furry, and Bobby Drake is Bobby)

These are teenaged versions of the original 5, time displaced from the past, so it's (now) Clinton era Bobby living in 2015 who'll be gay.

Marvel/Disney seem to be marginalizing the Fantastic Four and X-Men, since their film rights are with Fox and...Paramount? Emphasizing the Avengers and Inhumans.

Anyway, the reconceived-as-gay Batwoman and Alan Scott/Green Lantern have been mostly duds, because GAY! became a PR gimmick that "flooded the engine", defining them so overwhelmingly.

I think it'd be bolder to reconceive Luke Cage, or Magneto, or Steve Rogers as gay men. Or Ben Grimm! Bobby Drake seems like a "safe", inoffensive, indifferent choice. Filler.

R24 Keep in mind that the people who built Marvel Comics are all gone. Now it's owned by Disney, and storylines are subcontracted to the star-du-jour creators.

Honestly, if you want entertainment, read Sean Howe's history of Marvel, from the go-go 60s to the stoner 79s and more. More fun than most Marvel production in decades

Isn't the whole Marvel Universe getting rebooted New 52 style soon anyway? Will probably change in a couple of months.

Bobby's "ladies man" image has been mocked by the writers for decades.

This is far from the first time his being gay has come up, it's just the first time they've admitted the truth.

[quote]Isn't the whole Marvel Universe getting rebooted New 52 style soon anyway?

Nope.

R29 Fair enough, I thought that's what was going to happen after Time Runs Out ends in May, guess it was just speculation. Kind of a shame, I think X-Men needs a reboot.

R30 We don't know.They're smooshing continuites in their Secret Wars/Battleworld, and what comes after is a new start. Maybe not tabula rasa, like Crisis or New 52, but a relaunch.

[quote] Despite Iceman's often well-liked personality, he has always seemed unable to maintain any sort of long-time relationships, with one exception being Opal, although that too ended. Iceman also had strong feelings for his fellow X-Man Polaris, but she did not return those feelings, due to her feelings towards Havok instead. Northstar formed an unrequited crush for Iceman during their time on the same team, though Iceman never did find out about Northstar's feelings. Iceman also began a brief relationship with the Xavier School's nurse, Annie, however she ended up leaving him for Havok, who had just left Polaris at the altar. When Iceman attempted to rekindle his relationship with Polaris, that too ended abruptly and Polaris returned to Havok. Iceman's latest attempt at romance was with the X-Men's enemy Mystique, who later betrayed him. Oddly enough, she still seemed fixated on him, stating that she will either kill him or cure him of his personal uncertainty. Iceman began a relationship with Kitty Pryde. However, Kitty breaks up with him after the Battle of the Atom. After reading the younger Iceman's mind, the younger Jean Grey claims that Iceman is actually gay, prompting Bobby to speculate that his future self either 'repressed' or 'got over' that part of his identity in the years between him and the future Iceman, although he still speculates that he may just be bisexual despite Jean's statement that he is fully gay.

Ever wonder why none of his relationships worked out and all the girls left him for Havok? Maybe there was a reason. Bobby couldn't hit it right.

[quote] Fifty years of romancing women, and NOW they call him 100% gay? This is why I can't get serious about comic books. No fucking continuity.

Because no gay man has ever come out of the closet later in life.

Just look at all the still closeted daddies on DL.

WW for R20. Not every gay guy is a florist or stylist or make-up artist or interior decorator just because you are.

Some of us don't even do drugs or go to sex parties and don't have any communicable diseases.

Good for you if that's your thing but don't impute it to all of us.

r33 I agree. And people have been thinking he's gay even though he's been women. Pretty much like a lot of men in Hollywood lol.

Family Guy outed him years ago.

Right. Just like there is no way Hugh Jackman could be gay because he's married, right?

*been with women

Time for Beast Boy in the Titans to come clean.

Family Guy called it years ago.

Poor quality but you get the idea.

[quote] So we need to see Iceman hooking up with Wolverine in the next movie

Wolverine hooked up with Hercules in the comics.

[quote] Still a pretty big abuse of power for Jean Grey to scan his mind and then confront him about this.

Young Jean has had a problem with this throughout Bendis' entire run. The Stepford Cuckoos were especially pissed about it and tried to teach her a lesson if you haven't been reading.

[quote]After reading the younger Iceman's mind, the younger Jean Grey claims that Iceman is actually gay, prompting Bobby to speculate that his future self either 'repressed' or 'got over' that part of his identity in the years between him and the future Iceman, although he still speculates that he may just be bisexual despite Jean's statement that he is fully gay.

'Got over'? Is homosexuality now akin to a bad cold?

R42 No. Not a bad cold. The seem to be implying that homosexuality is a choice and that you can freely move between various sexualities like changing clothes.

[quote]We don't know.They're smooshing continuites in their Secret Wars/Battleworld, and what comes after is a new start. Maybe not tabula rasa, like Crisis or New 52, but a relaunch.

We do know. It's just a glorified numbering change for marketing. The active Marvel history and universe is not being erased like the horrible shit DC does, but they will be adding some characters from other universes (Ultimate Spidey, etc) into the "prime" universe. That will be the major extent of the 'change'.

R43 Marvel are only doing this for publicity, they don't care about sending a message to gay kids and teens who read their comics'. Hope this backfires horribly.

Test

Way back in 1984, The Defenders book dropped hints about Bobby's sexuality. He joked about being Beast's bf (cockblocking Beast from some female groupies) and then was *really* conflicted over his attraction to the gender switching character Cloud, who also hit on Moondragon. By the way, this comic was way ahead of its time in discussing how young people back then had really nowhere to turn when they realized their sexuality. The panel where Cloud calls herself a "sicko" in a bout of emotional torment still gets to me.

r45 = bitter elder-queen.

After "House of M" Bobby was able to repress his mutant powers so deeply that he, and others, thought he was depowered.

Emma Frost used his powers like an Omega level when she was in his body, but even today he rarely seems capable of "letting loose" unless under some influence.

He's an accountant for God's sake!

He's so deep in the closet, he can't see the truth.

BTW, it seems like Bendis thinks these particular "O5" are from the 1960s- their reaction to Times Square was very anachronistic. Other hints are there too.

Well Didn't Shawn Ashmore live with Bryan Singer for awhile?

I FUCKING KNEW IT.

This is such vindicating, exciting news for me. I saw X2 as a teen when it first came out, and left the theater with my friends arguing the whole way home that yes, Bobby's gay, and yes, St. John is too, and they should probably make out heavily in the sequel, or at least have some very heady and obvious subtext.

Ok, sure, it was Word of God that Iceman and Rogue were the B-couple version of Scott and Jean, but did anyone really buy that? The fight at the end of X3 basically confirmed my original theory--the two boys got their powers (dicks) out to see who was the strongest, and flamed/iced at each other while staring intensely into each others' eyes. In the book of the film Iceman even carries Pyro to safety away from the final battleground, bridal style. No lie.

Oh, and Bryan Singer wrote and directed X2 with direct reference to how the struggle for mutant identity and acceptance parallels that of gay kids, so.

(Anyone know if Aaron Stanford is one of us? I know Anna Paquin is openly bi, and Shawn and his twin are comfortable hinting at ambivalence, but nothing giving clues on Stanford as far as I know? I remember hearing somewhere he partied at gay clubs with Shawn and James Marsden when X2 wrapped).

R22 Am 22 dumbass. How old are you ancient queen?

Sorry R22 meant R48

r51, get a grip. Iceman and Pyro only read as gay in X2 because Singer lusted after the twinks he cast. This has nothing to do with that mediocre movie.

The comic book Iceman coming out now has more roots in his portrayal for years both before and after that movie was made. Comic Book Bobby has always been presented as overcompensating with women, scoring hot chicks only to have the relationships fail, and building close relationships with other beautiful women (Rogue) but not consummating it, while also building very heartfelt and curious relationships with men, including the openly gay Northstar.

During the terrible Chuck Austen run of Uncanny X-Men run Bobby was asked point blank if he was into Northstar and masking it with a flirtation with the school nurse, and he freaked out. That wasn't the first time either.

This has been lurking in the character's makeup through many writers. The writers in the 90s admitted they played with the idea but were never able to get it past Marvel's editorial department, so instead it became a running subliminal joke, hinted at over and over.

Are you seriously 22 R53? Because the vast majority who post here are between the ages of 39-49. A tiny fraction of 25 and younger post here. There was a poll conducted here months back.

Not denying you're not 22 though. It's just interesting and peculiar to read that age here.

What poll? I'm early 30s and I've been here since I was in college.

Hmm, I once bought Batman and Spiderman comics, read them but I got bored. It could be that I am used to reading manga more, but the speed at the chapters progressed was a bit slow and tedious, it felt like I was watching a TV episode but on paper.

I always thought Bobby was gay, now they should add that to the stupid movie so it at least has one interesting thing going for it.

I bet you Bi-ceman will be hooking up with Ben "Morph" Deeds, Deeds is an awesome character but has done nothing in a year but get a stiffy over Tony Stark.

Sex goddess Emma Frost used to get on Iceman about this too, back in the day. They switched bodies briefly and Emma and Bobby had this weird relationship that never really turned romantic. Emma used to taunt him about hiding parts of himself. I think it was the writers at the time who said that was them playing with the hidden subtext of Bobby's character: that he was gay.

That was also around the time he went off on a road trip with Rogue, sex bomb of the X-Men, and somehow didn't fuck her.

4chan leaked the comic already.

[quote] Comic-book Bobby has always been presented as overcompensating with women, scoring hot chicks only to have the relationships fail, and building close relationships with other beautiful women (Rogue) but not consummating it, while also building very heartfelt and curious relationships with men. [/]

If that's the case, Robert Drake of the comics does not differ overmuch from his 20th C. Fox counterpart, R54. I came up with a few supporting notions.

Bobby's first scene in the trilogy of films was with St.John/Pyro rather than Rogue, Bobby's designated paramour, and the first sequence between Iceman and Pyro showed the two rivals wordlessly playing with their powers behind their desks in a dull lecture theatre and showing off for their classmates/one another. I urge you to watch it again and read it differently, as it very clearly spells out their dynamic as a tense and escalating passion, and an overriding compulsion. If that's not sexual I don't know what is.

In the second movie, Bobby's dialogue with other characters saw him getting defensive about his burgeoning but frankly near-stalled sex life with Rogue (he got sharp with fucking WOLVERINE about this very topic). By X3, Robert chose to hold hands and settle with chastely liplocking his best galpal and sister figure Kitty Pryde (another highly 'queer' X-men mutant) rather than continue his frustrated advances to the 'hot chick' of the film and, let's reiterate, his designated canonical love interest. Rogue did have her hangups, yes, especially when it came to physical intimacy, but let's be real---if you were a horny and hard-up teenage het male protagonist (which Bobby is intended to represent) and you had the most beautiful het girl protagonist in your vicinity willing if not entirely able to bang you, you'd make it work....unless, of course, you had no desire to bang (chicks) at all.

Bobby gets Rogue in the movie, sure...but he doesn't get far with her, and they mutually separate by the trilogy's end, having kissed only once and with ugly consequences. That is not the consummate! consummate! consummate! formula used for Hetero romances in summer blockbusters. If Bobby was really, truly a typical straight boy, and if this were a typical straight film, this would not have happened. The message is clear, I think.

As for the 'heartfelt and curious relationships with men', if you don't think Shawn Ashmore's Bobby flirted with Stanford's Pyro throughout (hard to see how you'd miss that), how about examining his relationship with Scott Summers? Both X1 and X2 showed Bobby following Scott like a lovesick puppy in at least one scene, and it is implied that Bobby is being groomed to take Scott's place. There's something quite like erotic fascination in Bobby's desperation to resemble and get close to macho, handsome, fit and courageous Cyclops.

I will, however, concede that movie-Bobby is written as a more secure young man than comic-Bobby, who tries too hard to impress both women and men, but I think this stems in part from Shawn Ashmore's own self-confidence bleeding into the role, rather than a deliberate attempt by writers to pin Bobby down to a 'straighter' identity. I also concur that Singer had a huge hand in unearthing deeper subtext within these character arcs, and in making obvious what may have slipped by as nuance or alt interpretations in other retellings.

But, does that make it non-canon, and does that mean we can't accept certain aspects of movie-Bobby as true to the character.....? Until Stan Lee explicitly says X2 was horseshit, then I'm keeping my interpretation of Iceman as a blend of comic book and film portrayals. Both are gay gay gay, to my (gay) nerd brain.

I don't think either of the young men in X2 were terribly deep. They were there to be Singer's homoerotic twink objects and were probably fucking him at the time IRL. The film was a satisfactory effort at the time but iis not exactly full of deep characterization. It wasn't until X-Men First Class and DOFP that anyone gave a shit about making the X-Men films as layered with character narrative as the main line Marvel movies.

I'm not denying there was plenty of subtext in Iceman and Pyro's interactions in that film, but that was for Singer's titillation. To me Iceman in the movies was about as shallow as a kiddie pool. Iceman in the comics, OTOH, has been a neurotic mess for decades with very tangled relationships with both men and with powerful women who would control their rapport, and so this was a long time coming.

I respect that the movie means a lot to you, but those first 3 X-Men movies mean nothing to me and I frankly think they have aged horribly as well as bein very weak portrayals of the X-Men universe at large. It's only the last two films that have begun getting it right. And while you can read plenty into Singer's fetishes and you're right, some of it is there offscreen - none of that has to do with why the comic book Iceman is gay. He's been gay-gay-gay since at least the early 90s for entirely different reasons, it was not inspired by those films.

Hey, good to discuss this with you, R54. I haven't been part of such a good convo on DL for a long time! So cool to talk to someone that's not made of pure rage and snark. I think you and I are setting the Gold Standard for healthy, respectful debate dynamics!

It's true, those (less than stellar) Fox movies do mean a lot to me (obvious from the fanwank I posted), but I agree that they fall flat in many respects. For those who haven't seen them, they're filler fluff, written for the bored teenage summer crowd, and to lift fanboy morale following Phantom Menace a few years prior. X1 and 3 in particular were horribly scripted and contained little in the way of chara development. Iceman barely featured in either movie, neither did fan favourites Scott, Nightcrawler, or Beast. It was essentially the Wolverine Trilogy ft. Storm..not what anyone was hoping to see. I almost skipped X2 altogether after seeing X1, but a friend got me to suck it up and see it once, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was struggling with my sexuality at the time, and the story spoke to my insecurity, I guess. I liked FC for the same reason.

You're on the money, Iceman's preference has been up for discussion long before X1/2/3, and the movies didn't add much fresh evidence, apart from suggesting Bobby's parents were ashamed of their 'mutie' (read: gay) son. Still, for someone like me, who was first introduced to Iceman through routes other than the comics (I did my wider reading later on), those first films, no matter how bad, set up my first feelings and expectations. And I came away from X2 thinking beyond shadow of doubt that both Bobby and John were coded gay.

X2 colours the way I see Pyro of the comics, too. St.John in the books is characterised as an offbeat Australian sidekick joker, mildly insane, and inept as villains go, but on account of Stanford's movie portrayal, I always look for hints of steely and vicious competence and ambition beneath the exterior (and, yes, hints that he might be less than straight).

I have no doubt Singer wanted to slam any gay subtext home. But, do you really think IRL dicking went down between Shawn, Aaron, and Bryan? Shawn and Aaron look good together. Shawn is getting a fair few twitter asks on this topic, too, (I posted in the link) and he's being characteristically sweet and enthusiastic about it. He seems like a caring, chatty, lovely guy. He's clearly read or is aware of fanfic. I wonder if he's read any....and liked it?

checked out the 4chan for the 'Iceman is gay!!' panels last night, and whoa buddy, is there uproar. I think fans are right to complain. Yeah, it may be amazing to have a major X-Man come out, but not this way. It's offhand, irrelevant, and a surprise to Bobby himself. Where's the questioning? The realisation? The, you know, PLOT usually accompanying such reveals? Bendis just retcons his sexuality, the Reveal coming without warning in a single page, ...and THEN he has the audacity to suggest Iceman's heteronormativity comes roaring back at some future unspecified date, so the point is moot.

Uh, what?

We're to swallow that Bobby is gay as a teenager, only to drop this identity later for...some undisclosed but no doubt offensive reason? Why not just call him bi?

There was no point in Bobby being told this information out of nowhere, and by a power-drunk Jean Grey, no less. It serves no purpose, and smacks of a weak attempt to drum up a bit of attention from the community, with no thought to implication. Bendis should be called out, no matter how well-intentioned.

I think Iceman/Bobby, anyone who's ever played/voiced him, and Morrison and Lee deserved better. This gives readers yet another reason to hate Iceman.

Homophobes, because of their aggressive nature (don't forget most homopobes are actually repressed gay and bisexual men) will complain about these things, but in the long term, being inclusive is going to be beneficial for these comics companies. More people will feel interested in reading them and, unless you come with weapons just like ISIS, you cannot stop society from being more accepting and understading of things like homosexuality.

Let homophobes complain because they are losing the battle.

He doesn't "drop the identity". What Teen Jean (who has been established as being a jerk) is suggesting, and what is probably correct, is that the adult Bobby is deeply closeted and has suppressed his true orientation. Which is what fans and writers alike have been playing with since the 1980s. The writer has suggested this will be revealed shortly.

I think the scene was awkward, partly intentionally so because the writing has gone out of its way to portray this young Jean as a dangerous meddler over the last couple years. But no, they are not saying Iceman doesn't know he was gay/is not gay in the future.

One good thing about this is that, compared to manga, at least, comics in the US seem to go for more realistic views on homosexuality. Manga, on the other hand, fetisihzes homosexuality and portrays it through heteronormative roles, you know, one is the man and the other is the woman in the relationship instead of portraying the relashipnship as two men who are in love.

I haven't read the issue, but according to this article, Iceman, even the adult one is going to come out and be gay going forward.

There might be some unanswered questions now about but they will be dealt with in future issues.

Thanks, R69, great article, it cleared a lot of fears and concerns up. I have more confidence in this decision now than I did on first hearing the news. This is Bobby's orientation now for good, they state it outright. Good.

This just hit me, though.. a similar Reveal came about for the character Jinks on Warehouse 13 a few years back...who happens to be the character played by none other than Shawn Ashmore's twin brother Aaron. Odd how that works.

Now if DC Joker Jared Leto would be gay...

Wow. I have never seen Shawn in such HD before. He is a stunner, no wonder they wanted to put him on a giant screen in leather and get him into fights. Is his eye colour even real?

Maybe he's a little too sugary for some, but isn't that Bobby Drake all over...?

Where can I have access to the full edition for free?

When Iceman turns to ice, does his dick turn to ice too? Would it melt and get smaller in a hot mouth? Would it break off while fucking?

R74, nope. Drake's an Endotherm, he makes ice AROUND him, and anything he touches or focuses on, from H2O. He can, at a stretch, turn the water molecules of anything to ice, so the times he frosted midjizz were pretty funny.

Bitch gave great head, actually. Never said shit about being gay, though.

R39, poor hapless Gar Logan fell in love Tara Markov/'Terra' and Rachel Roth/'Raven', both female (and neither of them particularly stable). It was messy as hell because both women hated each other and had psychotic father figures, as well as their own emotional volatility issues.

Do you think that Shawn and Aaron have comparable careers or is Shawn's better?

Idk. Which of them has the lead in a series currently airing (2nd season), a Golden Satellite nom, and a magna cum laude from Purchase State?

Predict Singer will tease and tease at this with little or no payoff. The man's bread and butter is homoerotic subtext.

It'll be more interesting to see what they do if they ever get their X-Factor movie made. You have two characters (who are a couple) who haven't been established as straight in the movie universe.

r80

who/what are you talking about?

Fox is plotting an X-Factor movie (or possible TV show, depending on how well, they can kiss and make up with Marvel). Rictor and Shatterstar are a couple. The former is flat out gay, the latter is bi/pansexual (the inspiration for same being Jack Harkness), and to the best of my knowledge, neither has been depicted in any of the films. It's not like Bobby, who we've seen with a romantic interest in a woman (however homoerotic he is with men).

Marvel has always kind of flitted around the idea that Kitty Pryde is bi as well, and with Ellen Page now finally out, it might be interesting for them to explore that.

R72 it wasn't widely thought his appeal would go this far distance, he's doing alright. Shawn is a hard worker and a pro, ofc, but he still gets roles with batting his pretty eyes and flashing his sweet smile at times. How very Bobby Drake...

I'm fond of Shawn's Iceman and hope he reprises the role, but admittedly his version is nothing like the original character. Bobby of the books is a slacker jerk who chases a lot of tail and clowns around during missions (a lot like Beast Boy of DC), whereas Bobby of the Fox films is a conscientious student and a gentleman (like Hank or Scott).

R82 Never picked up on the bisexual stuff for Kitty, that's interesting. It would cast a strange but realistic light on DOFP if they did take both Bobby and Kit down the LGB path - kids questioning their sexuality are often drawn to each other.

X-Statix would be more fun than X-Force, imo. They have nuanced gay characters in nebbish werewolf Myles (Vivisector) and growth-mutant Billy-Bob (Phat), who discover their sexuality together and fall in and out of love with each other.

[quote][R82] Never picked up on the bisexual stuff for Kitty, that's interesting. It would cast a strange but realistic light on DOFP if they did take both Bobby and Kit down the LGB path - kids questioning their sexuality are often drawn to each other.

They always teased that her feelings for Rachel Grey might not have been entirely platonic. And I think she's been flirty with Karma from time to time, plus when Warren Ellis was writing Excaliber, he intimated that she had interest in...I don't remember who it was, but it was his typical psychosexual weirdness.

The best outcome of this would be Movie Iceman macking on another hot dude. Mutant, human, it's all good.

X-Men (2000) was on TV today, and damn but I'd forgotten what a bitch-on-wheels Ashmore's Bobby Drake was in it. Not only when Mystique was pretending to be him, but the entire way through. Sure, he makes Marie (Rogue) a rose out of Ice and sits next to her at lunch, but you just know he's doing it to keep her away from Logan & Scott. Underneath the glacial civility and preppy charm he's clearly a mess of jealous gay hormones, a real shady princess. He was a total pricktease too, showing John (Pyro) up in class and getting away with it because he's Cyclop's class pet, and then later flirting outrageously with Wolvy in front of the Professor. It's flagrant.

Ashmore gradually butched Bobby up in the sequels and especially in the reboots, contrary to what should have happened to the character as we now realise. Wonder if Shawn would do it over differently?

It's also easy to forget how X1 dropped the ball. The cinematography/FX holds up beautifully but the plot is haywire and the characterisation is all wrong. Rogue's character got shafted, utterly. Where was her spunk? Her charm? It's impossible to blame Paquin for such unfortunate script. Remy (Gambit) should have been around, too.

Did anyone mentioned how Aaron Ashmore wants to play a gay Iceman

I don't think 'iconic' is the right word to use for Iceman.

Ask any non-fan to name any three of the X-Men, they'll likely name Wolverine, Prof. X, & Nightcrawler. Or Storm, Cyclops, Beast & Gambit if they ever watched the animated series as kids/with their kids.

People who never read the comics and don't keep up with the movies likely don't know who Iceman is, nor Jean Grey or Kitty Pryde or Mystique any of the other core X-Men that get left by the wayside.

[quote] Get a grip. Iceman and Pyro only read as gay in X2 because Singer lusted after the twinks he cast. This has nothing to do with that mediocre movie.

Oof, R54, hate to say Atodaso but....

Young Iceman to go back in the closet in order to preserve the timeline.

As long as they never feature young Ice Man again in the comics, it shouldn't matter too much.