Warning! Spoilers for Savage Avengers #19!
As the King in Black continues to rain gooey symbiote dragons down on the Marvel universe in his attempt to conquer all of creation, original X-Men member Iceman aka Bobby Drake, just found a way to exploit a new kink in the King in Black army’s armor. Obviously not utilizing the go-to tactics of overly extreme heat and sound waves cranked way past eleven to annihilate these Venom-dragons, Iceman falls back on his tried and true (and titular) mutant powers of making everything really, really cold instead.
Seen in the newest tie-in issue to the sweeping King in Black event, Savage Avengers #19 by Gerry Duggan and Kev Walker picks up with the ragtag group of Conan the Barbarian’s Avengers clashing with the Bishop-led Marauders as they try to plunder some loot from the swanky Hellfire Club mansion. Soon realizing they can all work towards the same goal, Bishop strikes up a deal with Conan, Deadpool and Night Flyer to help find a way to bring the King in Black controlled Storm and Cyclops out from under their enemy’s influence and back into the fight – this time for the good guys.
Failing almost immediately to help Cyclops break free from his thrall, our heroes are backed into a corner with very little room to maneuver and very little hope to even make it out alive, especially with a corrupted Storm patrolling the skies above. And it’s here where Conan – after shattering Iceman in their meet-up only minutes before – gives Bobby the push he needs to expose a new weakness in an army that has proven to be a bit more resilient to the usual symbiote killing ways. Telling Bobby that he’s not a man but a Frost Giant instead (Conan sees ice so Bobby must be a Frost Giant, right?), Iceman realizes that the only way he can help his friends escape is to unleash his full power.
As Iceman bravely dives into the fray, the narration explains, “For the first time in recorded history, New York became the coldest place on the planet,” a feat that immediately shows just how powerful Iceman can be as an Omega-level mutant, and how effective literal sub-zero temperatures can be against the King in Black’s army. Bobby not only lowers NYC to temperatures that would make Antarctica – the coldest place on Earth that hits temperatures below -100°F (-80°C) – blush, but blows past any defenses the symbiote dragons have as the intense cold and his accompanying giant ice crystals do their job in destroying them right off the bat.
Now it’s been clear throughout this event that while fire and sound both still affect this army like they would any “normal” symbiote, the level needed from either to truly make a dent in them needs to be so high that only a select few heroes can actually pull off such an act. Furthermore, Iceman doubles the pain inflicted on these dragons because he not only uses temperatures that could quite literally freeze anything in an instant, but the sheer force of the ice crystals he forms gives an added amount of bodily damage that clearly helps in beating back these foes, too.
So while Iceman is able to tap into his insanely powerful mutant abilities to help his friends fight another day, the King in Black is still in control of Earth and many of the heroes left still on it. The Marvel universe is in more danger the longer this struggle goes on, but this new weakness is one that should help turn the tides of battle in the right direction.
