Warning: spoilers for Marvel’s Voices: Iceman #3 are ahead!
One of the X-Men’s iconic original team members, the Omega-level Iceman, was recently given a truly legendary God-Tier costume upgrade, courtesy of Bobby Drake’s unlikely ally, the Asgardian God of Mischief, Loki. While Bobby’s new Asgardian Ice Armor may have just been temporary, it is a wonderful representation of the growth he has down throughout Luciano Vecchio’s Iceman, establishing Drake as a complex queer mutant legend who continues to aspire to be the best hero he can be.
The first two issues of the Marvel’s Voices: Iceman Infinity comic have focused on Bobby Drake continuing to come to terms with his sexuality, and how that fits into Krakoa’s new incredibly queer society, as well as his place as a mutant hero who is not currently on any team. Bobby has rekindled a romance with his time-displaced ex-boyfriend Romeo, continued to rely on his maybe-not-so-healthy relationship with Christian Frost, and most recently discovered his anti-gay, anti-mutant father had passed away after refusing to use lifesaving Krakoan medicine.
As Bobby is discussing his recent growth, and the death of his father, with Christian in his apartment he is suddenly spirited away to a dungeon, where he finds Loki in chains and a young mage attempting to cast a powerful spell. Iceman teams up with Loki, Marvel’s resident bisexual God of Mischief, to try and take down the mage, but the powerful wizard casts a spell to send the unlikely duo to an icy mirage of Jotunheim, Loki’s home realm. Suddenly, a terrifying mirage of Laufey, Loki’s Frost Giant father who he killed back in War of the Realms appears, and as Bobby goes to attack the massive ice being it suddenly grows the face of his recently deceased father much to his dismay. With Loki’s powers blocked by the magical handcuffs places on him, he instead places his horned crown upon Iceman’s head, telling him this will give the Omega-level mutant a “Frost Giant boost,” and the “wizard’s staff” to help him with focus. With Loki’s blessing Iceman goes to face the Laufey/William Brake hybrid monster, decked out in a simply iconic new Asgardian Ice God Armor.
Iceman is one of the original X-Men, one of Marvel Comics’ first ever superheroes, and this costume upgrade even if temporary is a truly deserved power-up for such a classic character. Godhood is an extremely “hot topic” within Krakoan society right now, with Immortal X-Men, Legion of X, and X-Men Red all intimately dealing with different gods and deities in their own ways, so Bobby’s God-level upgrade is perfectly in line with the X-Office’s current philosophical exploration of what makes a god in the Marvel Universe. Iceman’s Asgardian outfit is reminiscent of a rugged Thor, complete with the circular markings on his torso that Thor’s beloved costume has, and the new look immediately creates an aura of respect and experience around Bobby. Bobby Drake is not the first X-Men mutant to get an Asgardian upgrade, with Storm at times using Stormbreaker a hammer created by Loki himself, which imbues her with the powers of an Asgardian and gives her a classic Asgard costume, as well as the New Mutant Dani Moonstar, who has taken on the powers and visage of an Asgardian Valkyrie since the 1980s. Additionally, back in the 2013 Battle of the Atom event a future Iceman with a Wizard visage and powerful ice staff was part of the attacking Future X-Men, and had full control over his impressive Omega-level abilities.
Iceman is, and always will be, an Omega-level elemental being, and with Loki revealing at the end of Marvel’s Voices: Iceman #3 that he never actually gave Bobby a power-up and the upgrade all came from his own confidence, Luciano Vecchio’s future-defining take on Iceman will hopefully give Bobby the self-assurance he needs to be the cosmically important hero he has always known he was inside.
Marvel’s Voices: Iceman #3 is available now on Marvel Unlimited.
