Back in April, Marvel made headlines when original X-Men member Iceman came out as being gay. Or, to be more specific, when the time-travelling teenage version of Iceman from the past, currently stuck in the present with his fellow founding X-Men, came out as being gay. And now we know what his older self thinks of it, because comics.

Now, it should be noted that the Iceman revelation caused a bit of an uproar with fans. Some longtimers—myself included—have long thought that Bobby Drake was possibly gay, even if all the evidence was circumstantial. Then there were some less open-minded fans, who swore up and down that Iceman simply couldn’t be gay, because the character (or at least the adult version of him) had been in heterosexual relationships for years.

Well, in this week’s Uncanny X-Men #600—the final issue of writer Brian Michael Bendis’ run on the title—the younger Iceman confronts his older self with some back-up from Jean Grey. Within the issue, the older Iceman admits that he is in fact gay but buried that part of himself because he simply couldn’t handle being part of not one, but two, persecuted minorities.

Instead, Bobby chose to hide the part that he could to feel more “normal.” Every time he’d considered letting that part of himself out, he would try dating women for a bit (including Polaris and Kitty Pryde) to see if he was actually straight. Naturally, when all those relationships fizzled out, it only confirmed what he already knew deep down.

So with both Ice-Men now confirmed to be gay, it opens up all new, interesting storylines for both versions of the character. And before someone chimes in and says that Iceman needs to start dating openly gay X-Man Northstar (who was once famously into him) remember: Northstar is married now, so Marvel’s going to have to find Bobby another boyfriend. The adventures of the adult Iceman will continue in the pages of Extraordinary X-Men, and teenage Bobby Drake will be part of the cast of All-New X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men #600 and Extraordinary X-Men #1 are both on sale now. What do you think of the revelation? Let us know in the comments below.

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HT: IGN
Image Credit: Marvel Comics