Respect Iceman (Marvel, 616)

"Chill out!"

-- Iceman

---

Table of Contents

I.    Introduction

II.   Powers

III.  Physicals

IV.  Skill

V.   Death Seed Iceman and Other Versions

VI.  Appendix

 

---

I. Introduction

This is an update of u/FriendlyFapper's original Iceman Respect Thread.

 

A. Bio

Iceman is Robert "Bobby" Drake, one of the original members of the X-Men. He joined the X-Men when he was only 15 and has been on countless adventures with different X-teams over the decades. Iceman always been a bit less mature than his teammates, and his mentality may often limit him from using his powers to their fullest potential.

 

B. Powers

Iceman has the power of cryokinesis, or the power to control ice, snow, and cold temperatures. In a more specific sense, Iceman can control water molecules and lower the temperature in very precise ways and locations. His powers have a variety of applications, but he most often uses them to,

• project large amounts of ice in a variety of formations,

• cause freezing cold in areas of his choosing, and

• alter his physiology.

 

---

II. Powers

A. Ice Projection

Iceman often projects large streams and sheets of ice to incapacitate enemies by encasing or hitting them. He also makes shields, walls, ramps, and other simple structures. More recently, Iceman has begun to create and control independent ice avatars, sometimes many at once.

• Strength/Power of Ice Projection

  • A massive, fusion-powered craft crashes into an island, but Iceman encases the explosion in ice

  • Traps the Mr. Fixit in ice and holds him for a significant period; (Note: Iceman had to maintain the ice otherwise Mr. Fixit would break out see Limits)

  • Destroys part of a sky scraper with rapidly expanding ice

  • Momentarily encases the Hulk in ice, but the Hulk breaks free shortly after

  • Momentarily traps Carnage in ice

  • Sends a sentinel flying with a stream of ice

  • Knocks the Juggernaut back with a stream of ice

  • Impales a powerful species of Brood (Note: these creatures easily withstood Cyclops' and other X-Men attacks in the same fight)

  • Faces a meta-human that can melt thick metal walls and overcomes him after clashing powers; beats a different fire wielder in a fight

  • Destroys a house

  • Destroys a helicopter with an ice pillar

  • Gripped by mechanical arms, but Iceman breaks them by extending his ice

  • Emits a large AoE ice blast

  • Shields himself and others from a super strong hit

  • Shields the X-Men from heavy calibre gunfire

  • Blocks energy weapons

• Quantity/Speed of Ice Projection

  • Encases a massive skyscraper in ice in moments

  • Cuts off Spider-Man's web-line in mid air with an ice stream

  • Creates a large ice-hill over Central Park

  • With little effort, creates a large structure(s)

  • Freezes the entire Louvre Museum in moments

  • His powers flare and freeze a large body of water and surrounding area

  • The Blackbird begins to crash and Iceman makes a ramp and snow bank to safely land the plane

  • Beast falls, but Iceman projects ice past him to create a pillar he can grab

  • Seals the X-Men off from enemies and the public with walls and pillars of ice

  • Creates a massive ice block in time to crush a charging Acolyte

  • Makes a large ice boat very quickly

  • Encases the X-Men in ice to protect them in a crash

• Control over Ice/Constructs

  • Makes a huge Voltron-like ice construct and does battle with living mutant islands

  • Creates a group of icemen to fight Red Hulk

  • Cause a huge ice monster to explode out of the ground as a distraction (Note: Iceman appears exhausted after doing so)

  • Makes a large golem with enough strength to throw a bus

  • Sends a construct to distract and then fight a group of guards while Iceman relaxes in another hallway

  • Turns rain drops hitting Iron Fist into large fists of ice

  • Releases a spray of ice spears and accurately disables enemies and their vehicles

  • Turns a small clump of ice on Beast's shoulder into a fist to punch him

  • Can make a variety of simple objects out of ice (album), including shields, weapons, slides, etc.

  • Makes an ice construct capable of focusing Cyclops' optic beam

  • Entraps several men within columns of ice

• Mobility/Ice Slides

  • Appears nearly as fast as Cannonball when he moves to rescue a hostage from Sabretooth

  • Pulls a man to safety after Mystique throws explosives

  • Appears to be move at speeds comparable to a helicopter

  • Ice slides nearly 1,000 miles over open ocean

  • Keeps pace with a speeding cop car

  • Moves quickly between two enemies and they accidentally shoot each other

  • Catches Lady Mastermind before she falls

  • Moves quickly with ice slide

  • Travels to a significant altitude with his ice stream

• Limits

  Iceman does not have unlimited ability in terms of how much ice he can make, or how strong his ice is

  • His ice is not especially strong (album), and characters with some degree of super strength can often shatter it after a few moments; fiery attacks can also be effective in melting through his ice

  • Passes out after freezing a large area of an extra-dimensional "hell" (Note: this area seemed to lack ambient moisture)

  • After making a large ice construct, Iceman is exhausted

  • Takes an effort to make a large ice golem and he appears mildly exhausted afterwards

 

B. Temperature and Moisture Control

• Targeted Freezing

  • Ends a fight before it starts by giving multiple enemies (and only his enemies) hypothermia

  • Freezes Legion at a molecular level (Note: Iceman was out-of-character after traveling to the past)

  • Drops the temperature around Juggernaut's helmet to absolute zero

  • Stops a bomb from detonating by reducing its temperature to absolute zero

  • Freezes along the ground to encase Apocalypse, who comments on the cold

  • Begins to freeze the flow of blood to Emma Frost's brain

  • Drops the internal temperature of attacking stone golems so that they shatter easily

  • Freezes a gun held to his back

  • Freezes an enemy's weaponized tendrils back to their harness

  • Freezes his chains and easily breaks them, then freezes his enemies' feet

• Other Applications (also see C. Physiology below)

  • Withdraws the moisture from a hostile creature's body and reforms

  • Can control chemical reactions that involve a heat exchange, and blocks Sunfire's powers

  • The Vanisher tries to teleport, but Iceman freezes him in mid-jump

  • Raises an "X" of ice underneath someone's skin

  • Changes a massive structure of ice into water (Note: this may be an outlier given the scarcity of times he's done this)

  • Stops a Celestial ship from self-repairing by freezing it

  • Makes a flash-freeze fog to obscure visibility

  • Lowers the temperature of a room to stop surveillance bugs from functioning

• Senses

  • Has extra-sensory awareness of water (Note: Iceman was out-of-character after traveling to the past)

  • Scans the room for body temperatures, and detects the invisible Onslaught

  • Follows the flow of water in a large root system to locate the main trunk where his teammates are

  • Senses moisture in the air

• Limits

  • Struggles to maintain himself in one of Marvel's hell-like planes that seems to lack atmospheric moisture

  • Fails to freeze the Master Mold sentinel and gets KO'd

 

C. Physiology

Iceman can transform his body into organic ice. Because of his control over water molecules and ice, he can reform his body after it is damaged, or alter his shape.

• Reforming his Body

  • Iceman replaces his entire body with new water molecules to negate a poison

  • Condenses from steam straight to ice (Note: Iceman was incapacitated after doing this for the first time)

  • Gets vaporized and later reforms himself

  • Reforms himself after being shattered

  • Survives after falling into molten metal

  • Gets shredded into pieces, and reforms a bit later

  • Beast shoots sizable holes into Iceman, but he seems okay (Note: he does feel pain)

• Transforming his Body

  • Grows into a giant to fight another huge superhuman

  • Taps the water of a nearby stream and grows to huge size

  • Morphs ice to create large constructs as part of his body

  • Increases his mass and strength by adding ice to his body

  • Drastically alters his appearance

  • Changes his hands into spear points

• Limits

  It often seems like Iceman needs some degree of time or immediately available water to repair or significantly change his body. Furthermore, Iceman still experiences pain in his ice form and can still be stunned despite his organic ice physiology (see Section III. C. Durability). Note that early in Iceman's career, he did not utilize a completely ice form.

  • Iron Fist breaks through several Iceman clones until Iceman runs out of moisture; Iceman only wins when it starts to rain

  • Deathbird cuts him to pieces and he seems unable to reform

  • Gets shattered by Wolverine and can't immediately reform himself

  • Gets blown up and doesn't reform himself until a later comic

  • [Early Iceman] Sustains a hole in his chest and he struggles to return to human form

  • [Early Iceman] Transformed into pure ice for the first time and gets shattered. Iceman survives but he is incapacitated

 

---

III. Physicals

Iceman rarely fights without his ice powers and he doesn't seem particularly strong or durable in his human and early ice forms. Note that Iceman can increase his size, strength and, durability by increasing his mass with ice.

A. Strength

• Throws several men back with ice enhanced strength

• Swings a cyber-samurai's head to smash into a wall

• Sends Masque flying with a punch

• Punches and throws/blasts an armored man into a wall

• Punches Bastion around and holds him down

• Knocks out a criminal and breaks down a door

• Breaks an enemy's harness/chest protection

• Limits

 

B. Speed

• Reacts to a surprise attack with a thrown car and blocks it

• Raises a shield to block gunfire

• Freezes Mystique's hand holding a trigger before she can release it

• Shields Polaris from projectiles

• Freezes an attacker in mid-leap

• Reacts to a burst fire hydrant and freezes the water in mid-motion

• Avoids an attacker and counters

• Avoids an attack from an automated self-defense machine

• Reacts to falling girders and creates a large ice structure to protect himself and his friend

• Limits

  • Spider-Man dodges his ice projectiles and smashes his ice slide

  • Beast razzle-dazzles Iceman

  • Misses Apocalypse with an ice blast

 

C. Durability and Endurance

• Gets shot by Chinese military, and the bullets seem to only inconvenience him; later no-sells automatic gunfire

• Takes some hits from Scorpion and the Beetle

• Unhurt from a truck explosion

• Cyclops blasts him, but he seems fine

• Withstands a punch from and alien mimicking She-Hulk's powers

• Drained by Famine and then he falls from a height, but he is still able to fight

• Seems unaffected by nearby flames

• Gets shot with a weapon and counterattacks

• Limits

  Despite Iceman's ability to repair his ice body and mitigate physical damage, he can still be hurt, stunned, and KO'd, maybe because of his mental hangups.

  • Colossus staggers and stuns Iceman

  • Gets incapacitated by Hellfire members with advanced weaponry

  • Stunned by Mister Sinister and then hurt by Mystique

  • Gets third degree burns from a Nimrod sentinel

  • Gets KO'd by gas

  • Gets hit by an alternate Deadpool's poisonous breath and goes down

  • [Early Iceman] Deathbird, as the horseman War, KO's Iceman with an energy blast

  • [Early Iceman] Apocalypse takes out Iceman with an energy attack

 

---

IV. Skill

Iceman has both training and experience in using his powers and abilities in combat. However, he can be a bit immature or arrogant which can lead to mistakes. He also seems to hold back quite a lot.

A. Combat

• Defeats an energy wielding meta-human in a fight

• Briefly matches an alternate version of Deadpool in a sword fight

• Has a strategy to defeat fire-wielders that he's used more than once

• Fights a cyborg-samurai in H2H

• Fools Bastion with an ice decoy and then gains the upper hand

• Acts quickly to save several police officers

• Works with Cyclops and the X-Men to incapacitate Quicksilver

• Hits flying rockets with snowballs

• Nails a flying insects with an ice spear

• Limits

  • Tries to impress a girl with an acrobatic move and falls

  • Gets duped and captured

 

B. Notable Fights

• Fights Human Torch equally until the X-Men break up the fight

• Beats a younger version of himself in a sparring session

• Tussles with Spider-Man twice over a short period of time; Spider-Man temporarily traps Iceman in webs at the end of the second confrontation

• Fights a tech wielding Purifier

• While mind-controlled, fights Angel and Spider-Man; note that Angel repeatedly warned Spider-Man to hold back

 

---

V. Death Seed Iceman and Other Versions

A. Death Seed Iceman

During one of the X-Men's adventures, Dark Beast embedded a Celestial Death Seed in Iceman's back. He underwent a dramatic change of personality and began to wield his powers on a scale never before seen. While it was implied that Iceman still had the same level of power after the Death Seed was removed, Iceman quickly reverted to more standard uses of his powers in the comics.

• Ice Creation

  • Covers NYC and the surrounding area with ice in moments

  • Grows large enough to smash buildings and steps on Wolverine

  • Creates a giant ice-dragon to grab Thor

  • Raises ice constructs from the icy ground

• Ice/Temperature Control

  • Says he could kill the whole world in a second

  • Encases Thor in ice and drops the temperature

  • Affects temperature on a huge scale

  • Fights the X-Men and Thor at the same time

  • Tries to choke Mystique with water vapors

  • Freezes his father's heart

• Mobility

  He can mimic a form of teleportation by condensing himself in different locations

  • Outside an apartment, Iceman then appears inside

  • Transports people through his ice

  • Takes Mystique high out of the Earth's atmosphere

• Limits

  • Kitty Pryde phases into his body and touches the Death Seed, causing Iceman pain

  • Thor smashes Iceman causing Iceman to lose the Celestial Death Seed

  • His consciousness split into different ice entities that had opposing motivations and worked against one anther. Iceman even ended up fighting an aspect of himself.

 

B. Age of Apocalypse Iceman -- Respect Thread

• Grows several huge ice avatars to freeze Deadpool and then shatters him

• Creates grasping arms of ice out of a nearby body of water

• While a giant, he grows ice constructs on his body to fight Wolverine

• Drops the ambient temperature until oxygen begins to freeze

• Limits

  • Gets beaten and killed when AoA Nightcrawler throws him into a furnace

 

---

VI. Appendix

A. Note on Iceman's power fluctuations

Without question, Iceman is more powerful now than he was when he debuted, both canonically and in terms of feats. However, Iceman is also a victim of the status quo. While writers may hint or even briefly display Iceman's fuller potential, he often ends up using his powers in ways that really aren't that different than they were 20 years ago despite the power ups he's had over the years.

Some phases and power ups he's gown through:

• 1963-1964: Snowman: Iceman initially covered his body in snow. He mostly made smaller objects out of ice rather than large formations.

• 1964-1987: Ice shell: After training, Iceman learned to cover himself with ice rather than snow. This supposedly gave him more protection (although it's hard to tell with the early comics). Iceman also began to use his ice slides to get around and make larger ice formations.

• 1987-1994: After Asgard: Loki captured Iceman and used him to freeze a portion of Asgard. This massive use of Iceman's powers pushed him into another gear. He could now generate massive amounts of ice and swings in temperature. He initially had trouble controlling his new power levels and had to wear a power dampener for a time

• 1994-2002: Organic Ice Body: Iceman first learned he could exist with a body completely made of ice when Mikhail Rasputin transformed him. Later, Emma Frost took control of Iceman's body and used his powers in new ways. When Iceman reclaimed his body, he maintained use of some of the powers Emma Frost exhibited, like his mutable ice body, but not all.

• 2002-present: Expanded Consciousness: Iceman increasingly became aware that his consciousness did not require a particular ice body. He began to be able to reform after his body was damaged or destroyed, and eventually learned he could animate ice constructs and clones.

 

B. Iceman's Jotunheim/Asgard connection

Iceman's ability to generate extreme cold and ice has brought him into contact with beings from the Nine Realms who regard him as related to Frost Giants/Jotunheim.

• In Thor Vol 1. 277-278, Loki captures Iceman and uses a machine to amplify his cold projection. Iceman's cold closes the space between Asgard and Jotunheim and empowers Frost giants, making them larger.

• In X-Men: First Class, a retelling of the original X-Men's formative years, we gets a few more glimpses of Iceman's connection to Jotunheim. First, in X-Men: First Class Vol. 1, #5, Iceman encounters several beings from the Nine Realms, including Thor and Ymir. Thor compares Iceman's elemental power to Ymir, and several other individuals seek to nurture Iceman into a new frost giant. Ymir himself takes note of Iceman's powers.

• Then, in X-Men: First Class Vol. 2, #8, Bobby catches a glimpse of an alternate future courtesy of Swamp Thing. In that future, Bobby refers to himself as a Frost Giant and is seen doing battle with Thor while the world is covered in ice.

• In Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 3 #62-65, we see Iceman reach new levels of power after being implanted with a Celestial Death Seed. Before transforming however, Thor has a vision of Iceman, and refers to "Fimbulvetr" which is the "great winter" that proceeds Ragnarok.

  Thor then proceeds to have a showdown with Iceman over a frozen city, a scene not too different from Iceman's vision in X-Men: First Class.