Sorry Deadpool – X-Men Upgrades an Iconic Mutant With Marvel’s Best Healing Factor Yet

Warning: Spoilers for Astonishing Iceman #5!

X-Men’s Iceman has been at the heart of the Fall of the House of X saga – and the latest issue of his solo series has depicted his most astonishing feat of endurance yet, revealing the extent of his healing abilities to be on the same level, if not surpassing, Marvel icons such as Deadpool.

Astonishing Ice-Man #5 – written by Steve Orlando, with art by Vincenzo Carratù, color by Java Tartaglia, and lettering by VC’s Travis Lanham – confirms that the hero’s current lack of corporeal form is not a weakness, the previous issues have treated it, but is in fact Iceman’s ultimate strength.

As long as there’s some level of moisture nearby, Iceman’s disembodied consciousness can jump into that and live until it is able to refreeze again and rebuild to a more stable form. Despite the incredible extent of their healing abilities, even Deadpool and Wolverine can’t simply hop into the air and reform a new body.

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Astonishing Iceman #1 reveals that after his body’s death at the Hellfire Gala, Bobby’s boyfriend Romeo revived him as a permanently frozen Iceman.

The Upper Limit Of Iceman’s Power Remains Undefined

Believed to have been killed at the Hellfire Gala, Bobby Drake was resurrected by his partner, the Inhuman Romeo. In the previous issues of Astonishing Iceman, holding onto his physical body for a limited amount of time has been a liability for Bobby. However now, it’s shown that not being attached to a corporeal form makes him almost unkillable. In X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1, Iceman was one of the first X-Men that Nimrod took out. At the time, it seemed strange Nimrod considered Iceman “Omega Two” when “Omega One” was Jean Grey, all-powerful wielder of telepathy, telekinesis, flight, and occasionally an intergalactic power capable of destroying the universe. Now, it is clear why.

When Romeo set up a home in Antarctica and brought his partner’s consciousness with him to the ice, Bobby became stuck in his Iceman form. In Astonishing Iceman #5, when the fascist assassin Clean tracks Iceman back to this home and attacked Romeo, Bobby sent Romeo out the escape hatch to save him, and then unleashed his full chilling power. Bobby has only been able to reform with Romeo’s empathetic abilities up to this; here he frees his lover, promising that he needs to work on reforming himself alone. When Clean threatens to destroy them both with the exploding plasma reactor powering him, Bobby cooly responds, “…You think that bothers me?”

Iceman Is Unstoppable With His New Power

In a line that should be remembered alongside Wolverine’s “best at what I do,” Iceman admits that is Clean’s right to catalog him as the fun, goofy guy of the X-Men, but points out the danger in that:

“I’m the what, ‘class clown’? They say it, all of them – not me. Say it like that’s a bad thing. But at the end of the day…clowns terrify people.”

After Iceman going up in flames with Clean, Orchis and Romeo can’t get a read on him. However, notes from within Orchis show that Bobby is still out there, even if not fully formed back into human shape. Even more significsntly, Orchis suggests that even in the split second before they could possibly teleport him into the molten core of the Earth, his consciousness could escape into any atmospheric moisture and he’d be back. In that regard, that means they wouldn’t even be able to cage him – any amount of moisture would allow him to escape and reappear elsewhere. As a result, it is clear X-Men’s Iceman has a healing factor that exceeds even Deadpool’s.

Astonishing Iceman #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.

ASTONISHING ICEMAN #5
	Writer: Steve Orlando Artist: Vincenzo Carratù Colorist: Java Tartaglia Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham Cover Artist: Jesús Saiz