ICEMAN (“BOBBY” DRAKE) is a superhero who first appeared in American comic books published by Marvel Comics on this date. He is a founding member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #1. Iceman is a mutant born with superhuman abilities. He has the ability to manipulate ice and cold by freezing water vapor around him. This allows him to freeze objects, as well as cover his body with ice.

Iceman has a relatively high profile among X-Men characters due to being frequently adapted into X-Men and Spider-Man-related media, including video games, animated series, and films. The character later received widespread media attention when a storyline retroactively revealed the original version of the character was a closeted gay man, in All-New X-Men #40 (April 2015), leading to his coming out.

Following the publication of this storyline, Iceman has been described as one of the most notable and powerful gay characters in comic books.

In All-New X-Men #40, the time-displaced Iceman is revealed to be gay, which eventually forces the youth to confront the adult version of himself about the matter. As both speak, the adult Iceman confirms the fact and that he had put all his energy into just being an X-Man as he couldn’t cope with being a mutant and gay simultaneously. With the help of his younger self and Jean Grey, however, he finally comes to terms with his own sexuality, and comes out to fellow gay X-Man Anole in Extraordinary X-Men #6. The end of the Extermination X-Men event saw the redirecting of the time displaced version of Bobby back into the “closet” when he returned to his original timeline alongside the other X-Men, due to a mind lock by Jean Grey. In the present day, the current version retains both sets of memories and remains an out gay man.

From 2000 to 2014, Shawn Ashmore portrayed Iceman in the 20th Century Fox X-Men films and voiced the character in The Super Hero Squad Show.