Robert Drake

**Robert "Bobby" Louis Drake**, also known as ***Iceman***, is a Class 4 mutant from the United States and one of the original five X-Men. In addition to being one of the X-Men, he is also one of the instructors at the Xavier Institute.

## Biography

Bobby Drake was born in Long Island, New York, to William and Madeline Drake. He first discovered his mutant abilities at a young age when he found himself unable to stop feeling cold and shivering.

At school, a bully named Rocky Beasely had convinced his gang to attack Bobby and Judy Harmon, his girlfriend at the time. Bobby panicked and encased Rocky in ice, saving Judy but revealing his abilities to his peers. Believing Bobby to be dangerous, the people of his town organized a lynch mob. The mob broke into the Drake household and overpowered them. The local sheriff noticed that things were getting out of hand and took Bobby into custody for his own protection. The story eventually made its way to Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men.

Xavier sent Cyclops to recruit Bobby. After Bobby turned him down, the two got into a brief scuffle before the mob caught up to them. The mob was stringing Bobby and Cyclops up to be hanged when Xavier used his telepathic powers to erase their memories. Grateful for saving his life and yearning to be like Cyclops, Bobby enrolled at the Xavier Institute and became the second member of the X-Men.

## Relationships

 Paternal Aunt
 Paternal Cousin(s)

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

**Cryokinesis:** Iceman is a mutant with the ability to lower both his external and internal body temperature, projecting intense coldness from his body. Like any normal human being, the nerve centers for regulating Iceman's body temperature are found in the hypothalamus. However, Iceman can mentally override his hypothalamus to allow his body temperature to be lowered by an unknown internal mechanism. This ability converts the latent thermal energies in and around his body into an unknown form of energy that is efficiently dissipated. As such, Iceman's bodily tissues are unaffected by sub-zero temperatures.

Iceman can consciously and immediately lower his body temperature from its normal 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to absolute zero and lower within the span of a few tenths of a second. Iceman's power to generate coldness is so great that he was able to stop a massive nuclear explosion.

As his body temperature falls, the surrounding moisture in the air that is in contact with his body is similarly lowered. Just as condensed moisture forms frost, this moisture forms an icy covering which encompasses his entire body and obscures his facial features. When Iceman first began to completely lower his body temperature, the covering took on a more snow-like appearance. But as he learned to increase the severity of his coldness, the covering assumed the consistency of crystalline ice that it has today. This ice constantly cracks with any movement of his body and immediately reforms, thus making a crackling sound whenever Iceman moves while he's covered with ice. Through practice, Iceman has learned to control the intensity of his coldness and can selectively lower the temperature of isolated parts of his body.

In addition to projecting coldness, Iceman can generate, manipulate, and fully control ice and snow. He can use his mutant ability to control moisture to freeze any moisture in the air into super-hard ice. This ice can be formed into any object of his choosing, the only limitations being his own imagination and the ambient air temperature which determines how long his ice constructs will stay icy. He does not have to hold the ice physically with his hands to shape it; he can apparently direct the waves of coldness he projects in certain ways so as to create ice in the shape he desires. In the past, Iceman has formed ladders, slides, shields, domes, blasts, and many other constructs out of ice.

Iceman is able to form a rising column of ice beneath his feet that is capable of lifting him off of the ground. The tensile strength of the column is determined by its thickness and its steadiness by how well it has been braced. A well-braced and regular-sized column six feet in diameter at its base is able to support his weight without toppling for about 85 feet in a 40 mile per hour wind. By forming long ice ramps connected either to his ice column or to an existing structure like a building or bridge, Iceman is able to travel above the ground by sliding down the ramp he is creating. Unless he periodically creates supports, the ramp will crack beneath him, unable to support their combined weight.

**Ice Form:** Iceman is not only able to cover his body in ice, but he can actually become organic ice. Though the appearance is similar, Iceman is now actually translucent in his ice form and virtually indestructible, allowing him to reform his body should it somehow be shattered. He has been incinerated while in human form and was able to rebuild himself. In his ice form, he is able to use ambient moisture in the air to form spikes, shields, and attach extra appendages to his body.

### Abilities

* **Accounting:** Iceman is a certified public accountant.
* **Ice Skating:** He is a skilled ice skater.
* **Bilingualism:** He can fluently speak English and Spanish.