Real Name: Robert Drake
Occupation: Adventurer
Group Affiliation: X-Men
Base of Operations: Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Westchester County, New York
First Appearance: X-Men (Vol. 1) #1 (1963)
Height: 5'8
Weight: 145 lbs.
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Powers: Iceman is able to lower his external and internal body temperature, thereby radiating intense cold. In addition, he can transform himself into ice at will and freeze any moisture in the air around him -- thus generating slides, shields, bats and other objects. He is immune to subzero temperatures.
History:
Bobby Drake discovered his mutant ability to control ice during his early teens, yet was encouraged to keep his condition hidden by his parents, who believed he would be hated and feared for what he was. But Bobby panicked when confronted by bullies. Revealing his powers for all to see, he temporarily encased the group's ringleader in ice.
News of the incident swept through the small Long Island community. Believing Bobby to be a menace, a mob of enraged townspeople broke into the Drakes’ home. Bobby began using his powers to fight them off, but there were too many opponents for the young mutant to turn back on his own. The local sheriff took the teenager into custody for his own protection.
Learning of Bobby's plight, Professor X dispatched Cyclops to assess the situation. The first X-Man stole into the jail as planned, but Bobby refused to accompany him. Cornered by the mob, the two teens were about to be hanged when Professor X used his psionic powers to halt the townspeople in their tracks and erase their memories of Bobby's abilities. Grateful, Bobby accepted Xavier's invitation to join the fledgling X-Men.
The team's youngest founding member, Bobby at first was unsure of himself and reluctant to use his abilities. Through training and experience, however, he learned to pull his weight in the field. On the surface, the easygoing Iceman appears irresponsible and undisciplined, constantly cracking jokes in the heat of battle. But his bravado masks a deep-seated sense of insecurity born of pain, prejudice and discrimination.
Though Bobby has flirted with normality -- he even left the X-Men briefly to attend college and pursue a career in accounting -- he is moved by a strong sense responsibility to protect the very people who hate and distrust him, just as his parents feared him when he was a youth. Fighting to fulfill the promise of peaceful coexistence between man and mutant, Bobby has also grown to love his life of adventure.
After years as a perceived lightweight, Iceman began experimenting with his abilities -- adding mass to his slight frame and lifting himself high into the air without the aid of his customary ice slides. Once only able to sheathe himself with a protective layer of ice, he can now completely transform his entire body. No longer fearing the evolution of his abilities or intimidated by the enormity of his responsibilities, Bobby continues to explore the mutant experience to the fullest
