Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
04-21-15, 02:09 PM
#1
DVD Talk Legend & 2021 TOTY Winner
Thread Starter
Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Family Guy was right!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/ice...et#.bi7nlblXgz
More panels from the comic at the link.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/ice...et#.bi7nlblXgz
Iceman, one of the founding members of the X-Men, is out of the closet.
In a few leaked pages from All-New X-Men #40, in stores on Wednesday, the teenage superhero is outed by his psychic teammate Jean Grey, who calls him out for saying inappropriately sexual things about their teacher, Magik.
The Iceman who is outed here is the teenage version of the character, who has been living in the present day with his time-traveling teammates. The older present-day Iceman we’ve known for years has been living as a straight man.
But young Iceman has a pretty good idea of why the older version of himself never came out of the closet.
“Maybe he couldn’t handle being a mutant and gay in a society that had issues with both?”
There’s been a lot of fan speculation over the years about Iceman’s sexuality, and several writers have hinted at this in print, but author Brian Michael Bendis has made this canon.
And suddenly Iceman – who has appeared in most of the X-Men movies and animated series – is the most famous LGBT superhero.
Hopefully this will push present-day Iceman out of the closet too, since the time-displaced X-Men are likely to go back to their era at the end of Bendis' run on the X-Men.
Bendis wasn’t thrilled to have the pages from All-New X-Men #40 leak in advance.
But he’s already getting praise from grateful fans who’ve been hoping to see more diversity in superhero comics.
Marvel issued this statement from Brian Michael Bendis about his decision to explore this aspect of Iceman in All-New X-Men.
"There are thousands if not millions of stories of people who, for many different reasons, felt the need to hide their sexuality. The X-Men, with the conceit of time travel, give us a fascinating platform in which to examine such personal journeys. This is just the first little chapter of a much larger story that will be told."
In a few leaked pages from All-New X-Men #40, in stores on Wednesday, the teenage superhero is outed by his psychic teammate Jean Grey, who calls him out for saying inappropriately sexual things about their teacher, Magik.
The Iceman who is outed here is the teenage version of the character, who has been living in the present day with his time-traveling teammates. The older present-day Iceman we’ve known for years has been living as a straight man.
But young Iceman has a pretty good idea of why the older version of himself never came out of the closet.
“Maybe he couldn’t handle being a mutant and gay in a society that had issues with both?”
There’s been a lot of fan speculation over the years about Iceman’s sexuality, and several writers have hinted at this in print, but author Brian Michael Bendis has made this canon.
And suddenly Iceman – who has appeared in most of the X-Men movies and animated series – is the most famous LGBT superhero.
Hopefully this will push present-day Iceman out of the closet too, since the time-displaced X-Men are likely to go back to their era at the end of Bendis' run on the X-Men.
Bendis wasn’t thrilled to have the pages from All-New X-Men #40 leak in advance.
But he’s already getting praise from grateful fans who’ve been hoping to see more diversity in superhero comics.
Marvel issued this statement from Brian Michael Bendis about his decision to explore this aspect of Iceman in All-New X-Men.
"There are thousands if not millions of stories of people who, for many different reasons, felt the need to hide their sexuality. The X-Men, with the conceit of time travel, give us a fascinating platform in which to examine such personal journeys. This is just the first little chapter of a much larger story that will be told."
04-21-15, 02:25 PM
#2
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Marvel is so utterly predictable. Do these announcements really drive sales? I guess it's the only way to get Iceman in the news.
04-21-15, 02:54 PM
#3
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Please enlighten me on who these X-Men are. I have no clue what's happening in the comics. Is there some cliff notes I can read online? I remember the teenage version I was reading back when was into Polaris until Havok complicated things.
04-21-15, 03:01 PM
#4
DVD Talk Legend & 2021 TOTY Winner
Thread Starter
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
It says it in the article, but they're a time displaced version of the original X-men, currently in the modern timeline. What they seem to be trying to get at is that our Bobby Drake has been in the closet all this time, and the younger version of himself, now that Jean has exposed him, is going to ask him about it. I really don't have that much of a problem with Iceman coming out, but the question to me is, if it was so easy for young Jean to pull this from young Bobby's mind and confront him about it, why didn't it ever happen in the original continuity?
04-21-15, 03:09 PM
#5
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
It says it in the article, but they're a time displaced version of the original X-men, currently in the modern timeline. What they seem to be trying to get at is that our Bobby Drake has been in the closet all this time, and the younger version of himself, now that Jean has exposed him, is going to ask him about it. I really don't have that much of a problem with Iceman coming out, but the question to me is, if it was so easy for young Jean to pull this from young Bobby's mind and confront him about it, why didn't it ever happen in the original continuity?
Time travel gives me a headache.
04-21-15, 03:28 PM
#7
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Not really a fan of retroactively making existing characters gay, but then again I understand that it's also a common thing for people to deny things to themselves for some time and in this case it brings up a good relation as far as dealing with being a mutant as well as your sexuality at the same time so i'm impressed at the angle they took with it.
04-21-15, 03:51 PM
#8
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Isn't the idea that the older Iceman chooses not to be gay because he "couldn't handle" it so is really just straight ultimately more offensive? [...especially to GLBT people]
Also with Marvel's whole "Secret Wars" continuity destruction it's hardly cutting edge to take chances with characters on the eve of destruction (assuming such destruction will occur; even so retro X-men in present are stretching things as is)...
Also with Marvel's whole "Secret Wars" continuity destruction it's hardly cutting edge to take chances with characters on the eve of destruction (assuming such destruction will occur; even so retro X-men in present are stretching things as is)...
Last edited by Undeadcow; 04-21-15 at 04:33 PM.
04-21-15, 03:57 PM
#9
Banned
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Yeah, remember Superman denounced his American citizenship and the uproar it caused in the media. Then like half a year later DC announces Flashpoint is rebooting everything. So that whole citizenship thing went nowhere and was completely forgotten.
04-21-15, 04:03 PM
#10
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
I assume he'll be gay in name only, but never actually touch another guy. Or if he does, certainly not a hairy guy with muscular legs and a beard.
As for Jean Gray not outing him decades ago, a telepath has to be polite about knowing everyone's deepest, most embarrassing secrets. She knows a lot of stuff about everyone that she isn't talking about.
[Edit: I just clicked on the link and saw the Disney Princess line. Yep, he'll go for the non-threatening David Bowie looking guys.]
As for Jean Gray not outing him decades ago, a telepath has to be polite about knowing everyone's deepest, most embarrassing secrets. She knows a lot of stuff about everyone that she isn't talking about.
[Edit: I just clicked on the link and saw the Disney Princess line. Yep, he'll go for the non-threatening David Bowie looking guys.]
Last edited by Nick Danger; 04-21-15 at 04:20 PM.
04-21-15, 04:15 PM
#11
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Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Yeah. Bobby has always been pretty much a ladies man. Guy loves the pussy..
I think it is.
I wouldn't mind it if this young Iceman WENT gay cuz of his experiences in the modern or whatever. THAT would be interesting. But hiding it for all this time? Our Bobby being gay and being in closet after EVERYTHING we've seen them experience? That pisses me off.
I wouldn't mind it if this young Iceman WENT gay cuz of his experiences in the modern or whatever. THAT would be interesting. But hiding it for all this time? Our Bobby being gay and being in closet after EVERYTHING we've seen them experience? That pisses me off.
04-21-15, 04:42 PM
#12
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Not to speak for anyone as i'm not gay myself, but I don't really see what's offensive about that (and the reactions mentioned in the article seem to be positive). I mentioned it in my post, but it seems pretty common for people to have trouble coming out. I don't see why it would be different for Iceman.
04-21-15, 04:58 PM
#13
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
The first time I heard that Iceman might be gay was at the CBR forums and it was because of a cover where Mystique is kissing him and she's on top and people were saying that his pose was too passive and his hand was doing the stereotype gay gesture thing. I don't remember if they brought up anything else as evidence that he was gay.
I never grew up reading an X-Men comic that really featured Iceman so I don't have an opinion on it really.
Marvel's trying to make the X-Men more contemporary for modern readers and since there's still a fight over gay rights it makes sense. If you're not aware of editorial mandates, commercial considerations, and publicity necessity, you are more likely to accept these changes or revelations.
I never grew up reading an X-Men comic that really featured Iceman so I don't have an opinion on it really.
Marvel's trying to make the X-Men more contemporary for modern readers and since there's still a fight over gay rights it makes sense. If you're not aware of editorial mandates, commercial considerations, and publicity necessity, you are more likely to accept these changes or revelations.
Last edited by brayzie; 04-21-15 at 05:10 PM.
04-21-15, 05:03 PM
#14
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Not to speak for anyone as i'm not gay myself, but I don't really see what's offensive about that (and the reactions mentioned in the article seem to be positive). I mentioned it in my post, but it seems pretty common for people to have trouble coming out. I don't see why it would be different for Iceman.
04-21-15, 05:06 PM
#15
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Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
The problem with that is the X Freaks have been pretty welcoming to whomever. They're probably the MOST understanding. ESPECIALLY in the past 7 years or so.
04-21-15, 05:30 PM
#17
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Which is fine, but that's not what I was addressing. And as I said initially, I'm not a fan of retroactively changing a character's sexuality either largely for that reason.
04-21-15, 06:00 PM
#18
Senior Member
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
What is bizarre is Marvel doubling down on him being full on gay. In those panels they vaguely referenced the Kinsey Scale, which would have worked with Bobby being some level of bisexual. But nope. He's just full on gay apparently.
04-21-15, 06:23 PM
#19
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
When I first saw this thread I thought we were revisiting Morrison's run and the Beast thing again. Like Emma wouldn't have revealed Bobby to the world much earlier. Heck she debunked Hank's claims by invading his mind even as she was setting off to ruin Scott's marriage.
04-21-15, 09:22 PM
#20
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Last edited by Undeadcow; 04-21-15 at 09:28 PM.
04-21-15, 09:32 PM
#21
DVD Talk Legend & 2021 TOTY Winner
Thread Starter
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Maybe I'm looking too directly at what is written but my understanding is that ONLY time traveling teenage Iceman is somehow gay and that the modern incarnation we have known over the years is still straight. I find this to be silly and even insulting in it's approach to sexuality (suggesting old Iceman just chose to be straight because of the stigma... and so is actually not gay). Also it seems obvious that the time traveling teenage X-men are fading away back to the past where Iceman will seemingly 'un-gay' himself into the Iceman we have come to know over the years; it's a sort of pointless basically non-canon (or if canon still moot) wink at diversity... Or am I overlooking something?
04-21-15, 09:38 PM
#22
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
Is he going to change his name to Assman?
04-21-15, 09:51 PM
#24
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Founding Member of the X-Men comes out of the closet
*Yawn* Next comic 'controversy'
04-21-15, 10:08 PM
#25
Banned by request
