Robert Drake (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Iceman

Gallery

Real Name

Robert Louis Drake

Current Alias

Iceman

Aliases

Bobby, Rampage (under mental control)^[1], Drake Roberts^[2], Mr. Friese^[3], Frosty (under mental control)^[4]

Identity

Secret

Alignment

Good

Affiliation

X-Men^[5]; former member of the Champions of Los Angeles^[6], the Defenders^[7], X-Factor^[8], formerly Twelve^[9], X-Terminators^[10]

Relatives

William Robert Drake (father), Madeline Beatrice Bass Drake (mother), Mary (cousin), Joel (cousin), Anne (aunt)

Universe

Earth-616

Base Of Operations

Xavier Institute, Salem Center, New York; formerly X-Factor Complex, New York City, New York; Defenders Mansion, Colorado

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

5' 8"

Weight

145 lbs (66 kg)

Eyes

Brown

Hair

Brown

Unusual Features

None

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Adventurer, teacher, accountant, student

Education

College Graduate

Origin

Origin

Bobby Drake is a mutant, born with the potential for super-human powers, which emerged during puberty.

Place of Birth

Fort Washington, Long Island, New York

First appearance

X-Men #1
(September, 1963)

History

Bobby Drake discovered his mutant abilit to create ice while in his early teens, yet kept his condition hidden from everyone but his parents. Initially, Bobby was unable to stop feeling cold and shivering, but soon managed to keep it under control. When a bully named Rocky Beasely and his friends attacked Bobby and his then-girlfriend, Judy Harmon, the youngster panicked. To save Harmon, Bobby temporarily encased Rocky in ice, thus revealing his abilities for all to see.^[11] Believing the boy to be a menace, the townspeople organized a lynch mob. They broke into Bobby's home and overpowered him, but the local sheriff took the teenager into custody for his own protection. Meanwhile, the situation had come to the attention of Professor Charles Xavier, the telepathic mentor of the team of mutant heroes called the X-Men.

Original X-Men

Iceman

Professor X dispatched his first student, Cyclops, to contact Bobby. Cyclops stole into the jail house as planned, but the two began fighting when Bobby refused to accompany him. Caught by the lynch mob, Cyclops and Bobby were about to be hanged when they broke free. Professor X used his mental powers to halt the townspeople in their tracks and erase their memories of Bobby's powers. A grateful Bobby then accepted Xavier's invitation to enroll at his School for Gifted Youngsters^[12]. He took the codename Iceman and served as one of the founding members of the X-Men alongside Cyclops, Angel, Beast, and Marvel Girl. Though initially granting him a snow-like form, Bobby soon learned to increase his degree of cold control resulting in an ice-like, almost transparent form.^[13]

Hated and feared by humanity, the X-Men honed their amazing abilities while standing in defense of a world pushed to the brink of genetic war by a handful of mutant terrorists. Iceman, the team's youngest founding member, became known as the comedian of the group. Regardless, he pulled his weight and worked well with rest of the team.

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol 1) #1

Following a short break-up after believing their mentor was dead^[14], the X-Men disbanded to better fight crime on the FBI's orders.^[15]. A battle with Mesmero and a robot Magneto brought the team together again^[16], during which Bobby had a brief romantic relationship with Lorna Dane, the mutant who would one day be known as Polaris. Shortly thereafter the X-Men discovered Scott Summers' brother, Alex, also called Havok, was a mutant.^[17] Lorna eventually decided that her heart belonged to Havok.^[18] Bobby had trouble accepting her decision, which led to increased tension between himself and Havok. Eventually, Bobby quit the team for a short time to sort out his feelings.^[19]

Life After the X-Men

Later, when the sentient island-being known as Krakoa took Bobby and his team mates captive, Professor X assembled a second team of X-Men to rescue them.^[20] Soon after, most of the founding members left the team and Bobby began attending college^[21] on a scholarship. Eventually, he helped his former teammate Angel form the Champions of Los Angeles.^[22] When the Champions disbanded, Bobby went missing, and Angel teamed up with the costumed adventurer Spider-Man to find him.^[23] Bobby had been hypnotized by the Champions' enemy Rampage into donning his battle suit, and Angel and Spider-Man were forced to battle him. After Rampage was defeated, Bobby quit his life as a costumed adventurer and returned to college full time to study accounting.

Later, Bobby was contacted by Professor X to assist in rescuing friends and family of the X-Men from the assassin known as Arcade.^[24] Along with other former X-Men Banshee, Polaris, and Havok, the ad-hoc team managed to free the hostages and Bobby finally came to accept Polaris' love for Havok.^[25]

During a summer break from college Bobby went to visit his former X-Men team mate the Beast and soon became involved with the loose-knit collection of costumed heroes known as the Defenders.^[26] Along with the Beast and the Angel, Bobby helped reorganize the team into a more formal and cohesive unit. The Defenders eventually disbanded when several of their members appeared to perish during a climactic battle.

X-Factor

Bobby joined the other founding X-Men to form X-Factor^[27], an organization that intended to seek out and aid other mutants under the pretense of hunting down those perceived menaces to society. During his time with the team, the Asgardian trickster god Loki captured Bobby^[28], hoping to use him to gain control over the Frost Giants. Loki enhanced Bobby's powers to such an extent that he was forced to wear a power-dampening belt that was originally created by the subversive organization known as The Right to cancel out his powers.^[29] Once able only to sheathe his own body in a protective coating of ice, Bobby found he could encase the entirety of the Empire State Building. With time, Bobby gained sufficient control over his augmented powers that he was able to stop using the inhibitor belt.^[30] Believing he had achieved his full potential, Bobby never attempted to push himself beyond his perceived limits.

While a member of X-Factor, Bobby started dating Opal Tanaka.^[31]

Returning to the X-Men

When Professor Xavier returned to Earth following an extended absence in outer space, Bobby and the other members of X-Factor rejoined the X-Men.^[32] Shortly thereafter, Bobby confronted former Cosmonaut Mikhail Rasputin^[33], the reality-warping mutant brother of Bobby’s steel-skinned team mate Colossus. Rasputin forced Bobby into a form composed entirely of ice, affording the young mutant a glimpse into his true nature. Subsequently, Bobby began experimenting with his abilities - using ice to add mass to his slight frame, or lift himself high into the air without the benefit of his usual slides.

Months later, the psychically incapacitated mutant telepath Emma Frost took mental possession of Bobby's body.^[34] Frost was able to activate the full extent of his powers, using his powers in ways Bobby had not thought possible until she was coaxed back into her own body by Professor X. With Frost's prodding, Iceman later learned to completely transform his body into its full ice state on his own. Frost later also showed Bobby that he could safely revert back to his human form after his ice form's chest had been shattered in battle.

Shortly after the Onslaught crisis, Bobby Drake and fellow X-Man Cannonball infiltrated the presidential campaign organization of Graydon Creed^[35], the head of the anti-mutant organization Friends of Humanity. After Drake's father spoke out against Creed's bigotry, he was nearly killed by Creed's thugs. Distraught, Bobby Drake left the X-Men for a time to be with his mother and convalescing father.^[36] He returned briefly to the X-Men to rescue mutant doctor Cecilia Reyes during the government-sponsored anti-mutant Operation Zero Tolerance^[37], after which he returned to his father's side.

Iceman

Two subsequent events served to shed further light on Iceman's untapped potential. To secure a new host body, the would-be conqueror Apocalypse sought to siphon the awesome energies of "The Twelve" - mutants of incredible power, destined to alter the course of human history.^[38] Among their number was Iceman, who survived the ordeal thanks only to the apparent sacrifice of Cyclops.

A second defining event occurred when the sentient spaceship Prosh escaped the confines of a Celestial prison, returned to Earth and dispatched a group of disparate beings on a journey through time to uncover the keys to preserving human evolution.^[39] Their mission: Save the human race from a threat that might not manifest itself for millions of years. When Prosh reassembled the members of his team in the present, they fought and defeated the enigmatic alien entity known as the Stranger, who sought to control the natural evolution of humans and mutants.

These experiences forced Iceman into the realization that he no longer need fear the evolution of his abilities, and he returned to the X-Men to explore his mutant powers to the fullest. After suffering a chest injury, Bobby was unable to prevent his body from transforming into solid ice due to the manifestation of a Secondary Mutation.^[40] During this time he had disagreements with Havok, and it seemed Polaris had taken a liking to him.^[41]

Iceman (Robert Drake)

After the events of M-Day, Bobby seemed to be one of the many mutants who had lost their powers.^[42] However, during a confrontation with the Sapien League, Emma Frost detected a mutant signature in the area Bobby was. It was discovered he had been suppressing his powers out of fear.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Iceman is one of the most powerful X-Men and Mutant that has ever lived and an Omega-level mutant. His is one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

Thermokinesis: Iceman is a mutant with the superhuman ability to lower his external and internal body temperature, projecting intense coldness from his body. Like any normal human being's, the nerve centers for regulating the Iceman's body temperature are found in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. However, the Iceman can mentally override his hypothalamus to allow his body temperature to be lowered by an unknown internal mechanism. This ability converts the latent thermal energies in and around his body into an unknown form of energy that is efficiently dissipated. A related mutation has rendered his body tissues unaffected by sub-zero temperatures. The Iceman can consciously, immediately lower his body temperature from its normal 98.6 Fahrenheit to that of -105.7 F within the span of a few tenths of a second.

As his body temperature falls, the surrounding moisture in the air that is in contact with him is similarly lowered. Just as condensed moisture forms frost, this moisture forms an icy covering which encompasses his entire body. It also obscures his facial features. When the Iceman first began to completely lower his body temperature, this covering took on a more snow-like appearance. But as he learned to increase the severity of his coldness, the covering assumed the consistency of crystalline ice that it has today. This ice constantly cracks with any movement of his body, and immediately reforms. (Hence, there is a cracking sound when the Iceman, covered with ice, moves.) Through practice, the Iceman has learned to control the intensity of his coldness, and he can selectively lower the temperature of isolated parts of his body.

Robert Louis Drake -- Iceman

• Thermal Vision: Ability to see beings due to the heat signature that others give off, because of the absence of heat around him

Cryokinesis: The Iceman can use his mutant ability to freeze any local air moisture into super-hard ice. This ice can be formed into any object of his choosing: the only limitations are his own imagination, his skill as a sculptor, the amount of available moisture, and the ambient air temperature which determines how long his ice sculpture will stay icy. He does not have to hold the ice physically with his hands in order lo shape it. Apparently he can simply direct the waves of coldness he projects in certain ways so as to create ice in the shape he desires. In the past, the Iceman has formed ice-ladders, ice-slides, ice-shields, and ice-bats.

The Iceman is able to form a rising column of ice beneath his feet, capable of lifting him off the ground. The tensile strength of the column is determined by its thickness, and its steadiness by how well it has been braced. A well-braced and regular column, 6 feet in diameter at its base, is able to support his weight without toppling for about 85 feet in a 40-mile per hour wind. By forming long ice-ramps connected either to his ice-column or to an existing structure like a building or a bridge, the Iceman is able to travel above the ground by sliding down the ramp he is creating. Unless he creates supports periodically, the ramp will crack beneath him, unable to support their combined weight.

• Organic-Ice Form: ability to not only cover his body with ice, but to actually become organic ice. Though the appearance is similar, Iceman is now actually translucent in his ice form. Iceman is virtually indestructible in this form: he can reform his shattered body, and even if the rest of his body is completely destroyed, his head can form a new body from frozen liquids. In this form he will be able to use the moisture in the air to form spikes, shields and other extra appendages to his body. If this icy form is shattered, he can rebuild himself through the same process. All he needs is a surrounding body of water sufficient for his needs.

Theoretically, the Iceman has an almost unlimited supply of moisture at all times since it is always present in the surrounding air or environment. Even desert air has sufficient moisture content for him to make practical use of. However, the mental effort needed to employ his mutant power can eventually fatigue him and render his freezing ability temporarily dysfunctional.

Hydrokinesis: Most recently Iceman has learned to use surrounding moisture to augment himself, and to function as frozen water will allow him to travel within large bodies of the substance almost instantly. It is accomplished by breaking himself down to his most base levels and reforming at the destination. He will also be able to convert his body to gigantic proportions through absorption of a lake or pond or even a swimming pool. Wherever there is water, Iceman is a threat. Iceman also has the ability to freeze water vapour around him which allows him to grow to gigantic proportions. One side effect of this is he gains superhuman strength to match his superhuman size.

• Molecular Moisture Inversion: ability to freeze all of someone’s water molecules.

• Molecular Moisture Conversion: ability to transform people into moisture molecules and transport them over great distances, this is the equivalent of a form of teleportation. This can also be used as an attack to completely destroy an opponent at a molecular level.
  

Abilities

Bobby is a Certified Practicing Accountant.

Strength level

The Iceman possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Weaknesses

Like that of any trained athlete, the Iceman's ability to perform is directly related to his daily physical health and current mental state. Under normal conditions, he can usually form ice continually for a period of about 5 hours before becoming exhausted.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: Formerly utilized a power belt to keep his powers under control.
Transportation: X-Men Blackbird
Weapons: None known.

Notes

• No special notes.

Trivia

• Once "died" aboard The Conquistador ^[51], but restored himself by absorbing his opponent, Fuego^[52].
  
  

Appearances in Other Media

• Iceman was one of the three leads in the animated television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in which he was voiced by Frank Welker. Very little background is given on the character, though in several episodes he appears with his former teammates, the X-Men. In the episode Vengeance Of Loki, he's revealed to be a government agent; his codename is Windchill Factor Zero. In the episode Mission: Save The Guardstar his half sister Aurora Dante/Lightwave is introduced.

• Iceman has appeared in various video game adaptations, such as X-Men: Children of the Atom, the subsequent Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and the more recent X-Men Legends and its sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. In both of the Legends games, he is one of the quickest characters to become extremely powerful in melee combat. A cursor of his ability to add his icy damage to his melee attacks and to his own defense.

• Iceman is one of the three playable characters in the game X-Men: The Official Movie Game which fills in the gap between X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand.

• In the Capcom games, he is especially notorious for his ability to take little to no blocking damage from projectile and beam attacks, special attacks in general, which combined with his powerful ice beam attacks make him an excellent defensive character. In the competitive scene, he fell out of use as Cable players evolved; Iceman's special attacks are vulnerable to Cable's instant super attacks.
  
  
  

Iceman's Love interests

• Cloud^[43]
• Darkstar^[44]
• Mystique^[45]
• Opal Tanaka^[46]
• Polaris^[47]
• Rogue ^[48]
• Shadowcat ^[49]
• Zelda ^[50]

See Also

• Appearances of Robert Drake (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Robert Drake (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Robert Drake (Earth-616)
• Quotations by Robert Drake (Earth-616)
• Images that include Robert Drake (Earth-616)

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Links and References

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