Cerebra's Files
Iceman
Real Name: Robert Drake
Affiliation: X-Men
Previous Affiliations: X-Factor, Defenders, Champions
Aliases: Drake Roberts
Relatives: William (father), Madeline (mother)
Alternate-X Versions: (Age of Apocalypse), (Earth X), "Shadow" Iceman, Ice-Man (Mutant X), (Ultimate), (X-Men: Evolution), (X-Men: TAS), (Movieverse), (Spider-Friends)
Codename Etymology: Pronounced īs'mən [From Middle English: is + Old English mann]; One who delivers ice.
Powers & History: Iceman has the ability to lower the temperature in his surrounding
area while gathering moisture to form ice into any shape that he wishes. He used
to encase his body in ice and snow, but now he actually transforms into a man
of ice. This allows him to manipulate his body on a molecular level. He can also
perceive the world in terms of temperatures. Bobby was a founding member of the
X-Men, and while due to his youth (he was the youngest of the original class)
he often acted immature, he learned to master his powers just as well as the others.
During that time, Bobby became involved with Lorna Dane, who eventually manfested
powers herself and became Polaris. She also became
involved with Havok, which caused Bobby to storm off
on his own for a short time. After Krakoa, when the
original X-Men left the team, Bobby helped his friend Warren
form the Champions in Los Angeles, and then later joined the Defenders. During
his tenure with X-Factor, Bobby's powers were increased by Loki to the point where
he was freezing everything he touched, so he was given a belt which helped him
control his power. Shortly after he rejoined the X-Men, Iceman confronted Mikhail
Rasputin, who forced Bobby into his full-ice state with his reality-warping
powers. After being shown his true potential, Bobby began to experiment a little,
using ice to bulk himself up, or lift himself high into the air, without the use
of his usual ice slide. Most creatively, he once flattened himself into an ice
slick under a civilian rioter, and then had giant fingers grab the man. The hand
then extended until Iceman completely emerged from the patch of ice. Months later,
Bobby was checking on Emma Frost in the Mansion's infirmary when a power surge caught
the two of them and Emma's mind was transferred to Iceman's body. Emma really
pushed his powers to the limit, using them in incredible ways, until she was coaxed
back into her own body by Professor X. Bobby, however, kept seeing visions of Emma
around him, but when he demanded that she show him how to do what she did with
his powers, she refused, and told him to figure it out himself. Frustrated, Bobby
left, but after the battle with Post left him with a hole
in his chest, Iceman returned to Frost and tried to use some of the new tricks
he'd learned, like freezing the blood in her brain, to get her to help him. Frost
again refused, and telepathically wore Bobby down until he finally turned back
to human form by himself, without any damage. After Onslaught,
Iceman infiltrated Graydon Creed's campaign as Drake
Roberts. Then, when his father was beaten by Creed's men after standing up for
mutant rights, Bobby left the X-Men to help his family as his father healed. When
he heard about the start of Operation: Zero Tolerance, however, Bobby left his
parents and sought out Dr. Cecilia Reyes, a mutant listed
in Xavier's files, and saved her from some Prime Sentinels.
Running for their lives, they (with a little help from Marrow
and Sabra) managed to hold out long enough for S.H.I.E.L.D.
to come and arrest Bastion and shut down OZT. They then returned to the Mansion,
and although Cecilia and Marrow stayed, Bobby left again. He reunited with the
other members of the original class for a while, and was later captured by the
Four Horsemen because he was part of The
Twelve. Following the defeat of Apocalypse, Iceman appeared briefly in Genosha
with Wolverine, where he tried to convince Polaris to leave, and then got caught
up in a N'Garai invasion. Months later, Bobby was one of five people selected
by Prosh to go on a number of time-traveling adventures,
supposedly to discover information vital to saving humanity. During these jaunts,
Prosh pushed Iceman's powers to their ultimate potential, allowing him to quickly
travel great distances through water and to reform himself after being vaporized,
among other things. Bobby was then instrumental in defeating the Stranger, who
had corrupted Prosh's programming and was trying to accelerate humanity's evolution
so he could control eternity. Now with nearly complete control of his powers,
Bobby rejoined the X-Men as a full-time member.
Recently, Bobby was injured, and appeared to undergo a secondary mutation that left him permanently in his ice form, unable to become human. He had difficulty dealing with this for a while, and also with relationships. He flirted with Nurse Annie, Havok's then-girlfriend, and then picked up Lorna on the rebound from Alex's leaving her at the altar. All this while he served on Havok's field team, which made for some uncomfortable situations.
| During the House of M, Iceman worked for Apocalypse in North Africa as a kind of enforcer. Always wanting to be more powerful, Bobby had accepted upgrades to his power in return for his services. He went to Wakanda to assist Apocalypse in killing the Black Panther, but was blasted and melted by Sunfire.
|
After M-Day, Bobby thought he had been de-powered and tried to help the team when the Sentinels arrived and the Sapien League attacked, with little success. However, Emma Frost noticed something different in his mind, and just as the Leper Queen was about to shoot Bobby, Emma managed to re-activate his powers, which he had been subconsciously suppressing. Though Lorna was revealed to be powerless right afterwards, Bobby was ordered to stay in the Mansion for testing, and did not go with her when she left.
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