Personally I think him being gay kinda makes sense, he hasn't really been able to fully hold a relationship with a girl and even in them he has always acted more like their friend than anything else. Therefore it makes sense that this would be due to closeted gay feelings, and it is possible to closet them there's a name for it, denial. Think about: Iceman joined the x-men when he was already being persecuted for being a mutant so wouldn't want to further that persecution by coming out. At that young age it becomes very easy for a person to go into denial which can stay as there view for the rest of there life. So maybe we all shouldn't jump to conclusions about older Iceman being full straight and having always been.

@sammo21: I think they come from the same point, but they took different paths, or our redhead is playing with his mind hahahaha

I really don't get what everyone thinks is so shocking about this revelation. X-men readers have speculated that Iceman has repressed homosexual feelings for at least the last 20 years (I remember reading it in the letters columns in the 90's).

It's not like every real person's sexuality is necessarily black and white: being attracted either men or women is equally natural, so being attracted to both must be as well. From that perspective, the fact that he's been in relationships with women does nothing to prove that he was ever not attracted to men as well, whether he was willing to admit it or not.

Lots of real people never acknowledge their attraction to certain people because of social norms; if you're already attracted to the body-type that society expects, it's easier for most to just never question that as their sexual identity. For a character with Iceman's fragile superego, openly admitting that he has those feelings would be more out of character than him actually having them.

If fluid sexuality is real, and it is, then there's nothing to make it out of character for any character, really.

I just don't see what the big deal is.

1. pretty much.

2. that was one of the first things I thought too, and I can see how that's a slippery line here. But lots of people have homosexual feelings and never admit it, even to themselves, which seems to be more what's going on here.

Yea, it is possible that Jean has just decided he'd be happier being gay and adjusted his mind.

didn't Bobby date the Japanese girl in X-Factor? How is he gay?

There's no way Iceman is gay. Although he did seem to give Firestar the cold shoulder.

@oldnightcrawler: I agree

agreed.

Why will making him gay make him less relatable? You can still relate to people with a different sexual orientation.

Thought it was gonna be Hank if I'm completely honest.

Eh I can believe the repressed thing, ALL of bobby's gay friends have had to deal with bullying and harsh words and the like, and as bobby said, in the time that he grew up, being mutant and gay were both frowned upon, the only one he could hide was his sexuality, give him less to deal with.

kind of related, I find it funny that Jean Grey (who was always the saintly victim according to everyone) is becoming more and more like the version of Jean that Emma Frost and the cuckoos have hated for all these years lol.

He's always been the jokster because of his insecurities, and being with women could be him trying to trick himself into thinking he is straight. Now that he is "retconned" as gay, we pretty much have the same story (besides the mutant stuff of course), I'm 21 and have only been with 1 guy secretly, whereas I've got stories that my family recalls at reunions of me and my shenanigans with women.

I wasn't happy with how Jean did it, but at the same time, with what she said after made me think she could have said it to him was to stop him from repressing it, if Adult Bobby Is or was really gay, wouldn't it be better to prevent ALL of those years of repressing an important part of himself?

I only hope that they don't turn him into a stereotype, I loved hearing that Ultimate Colossus was gay because it would have been amazing if he was characteristized as his 616 version but just gay, instead of what they did "I like your boots" -lights comic on fire-

I'm all for being tolerant and accepting but I feel the same as you concerning the media. For example, I sympathize with transgender people but we're now at a point where we criticize any woman as intolerant and bad if they feel uncomfortable with having a person who externally looks like a male in their gym dressing/showering room. Hey, this person claims they are really a woman so we must accept this.

Does this mean we must also accept a 60 year old man claiming he feels like a teenager inside despite looking like an old man on the outside and that he should be allowed to pursue junior high girls?

@caseyjustice: We don't know yet if the older Bobby is gay

Well I checked a few sights and the news and it's being noticed. I think Bendis got what he wanted with this, he got the notoriety, he got the chatter, he got the anger and he'll get the hate. I don't think there's a writer in comics today who can equal what he can do with a character in terms of generating anger and controversy among that characters fans.

I'll wager that he sold this to the editor as 'hey, we'll split the fans and get them screaming at each other again."

In each of the other instances, those were new characters, with unique origins, who took up the mantle.
Without reading this issue, it smacks of wishful retconning...or jean trolling him.

All of this. Brilliantly summarized.

I still cannot comprehend how it's possible that Bendis manages to write some pretty great issues in UXM and here in All-New X-Men - he is doing the biggest clusterf**k ever.

dumbest move ever

This might actually be cool (ha) if it were anyone other than Bendis...

@wilbertus: No one is 'shocked'. People are annoyed because it's utter nonsense.

In my opinion the problem it isn't the sexuality of Bobby. The problem is how Bendis told this change in the sexuality of the character: there were some properly ways to tell that and some wrong ways to tell that. But I think Bendis choose the worst.

@caseyjustice:

Yeah, absolutely. But sadly gay characters are defined by their sexuality so much of the time. They become caricatures.

@idontlikebirds: I see what ur saying, I meant it as the characters mantle I guess now that I read ur post. I completely forgot about the previous Hispanic ghost rider. I'm also not digging marvels new changes, like the whole scarlet witch /quicksilver deal with magneto is not there father now.

Jean:Bobby your gay

Bobby:And your a bitch

At least Jean didn't put him in front of everyone else I guess lol

I don't get it... I mean the present Iceman isn't gay but the time-displaced Iceman is gay. So does that mean the present day Iceman is closeted and has been for the last 50 some years? I know it wasn't hip to be out and gay in the 60s, so maybe he was and just oppressed those feelings??

@ostyo: Your face is both those things now.

@zackattack93: Too true. I'm getting tired of these shitty retcons.

This is f-ed up you dont do that to someone i get that its a comic but this isn't bendis being progressive its him being ignorant of what progressive is

I sense a plot to destroy titles for don't have film rights to.

@amazingwebhead: agreed

Family Guy called it years ago lol

I think it is stupid to have this two issues before the end. Either there is a rushed character arc or none at all. The whole adult isn't, teen is, is pretty weird and is as far as bad implications go just slightly behind Prodigys bisexuality by superpower.

Marvel already has enough gay Teenagers some with particularly big fanbases, they should just use them properly. Marvel needs older gay characters, and no not sexuality changes of existing characters.

The idea that anyone would be fine with a psychic searching through your mind like she pleases is ridiculous. The way to reveal it was bad and felt unnatural and again he should have called her up on intruding in his privacy instead of discussing his sexuallity with her.

@humanrocket: Nooooooooo, anything but black! D:

@gotham331: How, would X-men of all titles possibly be destroyed by a guy character?

Its becoming difficult to remember a time when the phrase: "Written by Brian Michael Bendis" didn't make me audibly groan and roll my eyes. Bendis has become a total hack, only interested in making stories that fit the "6-issue outline" to fit in trades. Every story he writes seems to be five issues of conversations before he figures out he has to wrap the story in one issue and throws something out of left field. Nothing really happens in the X-books as everything is just wheel spinning until the next event.

I really like this actually

I think it's a good thing but would far prefer publishers made more interesting new gay characters as opposed to changing the sexuality of existing ones with reams of backstory. Bunker dressing all in pink for example made me face palm hard

I say this as a happy gay man

Looking forward to the new Midnighter book though!

@idontlikebirds: Plus the Ghost Rider is more like a mantle that is passed from one person to another through history so it makes sense for there to be different Ghost Riders. And a person taking on the name of a dead character is reasonable,too. The problem I have is existing characters being changed simply to change them. That's wrong,if Bobby was or is gay,make him from the get go,but this second thought treatment of well known characters is getting/has gotten ridiculous.

@andyphifer: can totally see your point and of course what your saying does happen regularly but if another writer comes along and changes this in a few months it will irritate me.

@stahlflamme:

Let's see what happens with Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver no longer being mutants. From my understanding the new line on them is that they're inhumans. Thus, making them eligible to be used by Marvel Studios. I'm wondering if this is going to permeate through some other well known mutants in order for Marvel to capitalize on their film usage. Now Iceman being gay, could be bad writing, bad timing, poor planning, or whatever. I'm just curious to see what's happening with X-men as a title considering what happened to the Fantastic Four.

Cool now Kitty Pryde and Magik can be a couple. Maybe a double date.

@hexthis: My thoughts exactly. Posted something similar myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NUw2PYUDxo Family Guy called this a while ago haha

Casual reminder that Bendis has done nothing but absolutely ruin X-Men since he started the book. Horrendous and insulting characterisations, terrible storylines. Pretty much utter and complete shit.

He is largely responsible for me completely dropping all Marvel titles. Like a malignant tumour spreading all over the X-books and Marvel in general.

Sure let's casually change someone's sexual orientation. Because why put actual effort into this stuff right? Why even try to actually create believable characters when you can get by just throwing shit at a wall and hoping something sticks? The fanboys/girls will eat it up anyway. It's so quirky you guys! Teehee!

Here is a writer who should NEVER be allowed to write in a shared universe. He just can't do it. Leave him alone in a separate universe where he can change anything on a whim all he wants without anyone else being inconvenienced by it.

Seriously, fuck Bendis. I used to have at least some respect for him based on a few of his earlier titles but he's only gotten lazier and worse with time. For everyone's sake I hope he's off any and all major titles when Marvel reboots.

-This has been a public service announcement for people who actually care about characterisation and good writing.-

Sincerely,

Someone who read X-men for many years and wishes he got out sooner than he did. What has been read can't be unread.

@gotham331: The fantastic four did not sell as well as they used to, the characters are still around as well and are apparently gonna be important in secret wars. Changing a character now, will not change anything about the movie rights, not without a lawsuit anyways, otherwise Wolverine would have been altered ages ago.

Secondary mutation!

One question: Why gay? Bisexual would probably make a lot more sense. True, it's normal for someone who's spent most of their life being of the heterosexual proclivity to find out later in life that they've always been attracted to people of the same sex. That being said, what does this say for the current Iceman? I guess I'm one of the only people who doesn't see what kind of doors this opens up for Iceman that could expand his character for the definitive better.

Also, why is it that no telepath in Marvel knows what the word "privacy" means, and also gets to do whatever they want?

Right? What the fuck! Logically there shouldn't even have been talk about his sexuality, because he should have been to angry about the invasion of his privacy.