Robert Drake (Joint Venture)

Iceman is a mutant superhero, and a founding member of the original X-Men. This is the Joint Venture Universe version of the character.

Early life
Bobby Drake's childhood was normal, idyllic, almost boring. Growing up in upstate New York with loving parents and a younger brother, he did not look or act like someone who would become a member of one of the most feared terrorist organizations of all time.

The only thing differentiating him from the rest of humanity was the fact that he always seemed to suffer from a fever, feeling unseasonably hot even in the coldest of climates, even though his skin would be ice cold to the touch. It was a strange phenomenon that nobody could account for, but it did not seem detrimental to his physical health in any way, so he simply learned to live with it, concealing it just as he did his homosexuality.

The Bad Date
Despite a lifelong attraction to men, Bobby lived in a relatively conservative small town, so he hid any 'differences' behind the facade of a class clown. Possessing a witty, if childish, sense of humor, he learned to wear buffoonery and sarcasm like a mask, hiding his true self behind them and glossing over his problems with snarky commentary or slapstick practical jokes.

While this false bravado won him a degree of admiration from other social outcasts, it didn't score him any points with the school bully, Rocky Beasley. Thus, when Bobby was on a movie date with his best friend, Judy Harmon, they were ambushed by Rocky, who tried to force himself on Judy while Bobby was restrained by two flunkies. It was that moment that changed Bobby Drake's life forever.

Before Rocky could touch Judy, a blast of what could only be described as pure cold hit him in the face, encasing his entire head in ice. As Bobby fought off his assailants with fists that had somehow covered themselves in rock-hard ice gloves, he failed to notice as Rocky suffocated to death inside the ice.

Terrified of her former friend after she had witnessed him kill her assailant, Judy fled, and Bobby was forced to run away himself, before the police showed up to investigate what had been deemed a murder.

Ice Burns Bridges
Horrified by what he had done and terrified of himself, Bobby went to his parents for help. While his father blamed him for the freak accident, and his moher railed against Rocky for the attack that had forced Bobby's hand in the first place, Bobby's younger brother Ronnie called the police and told them everything he had heard.

Within minutes, the police had arrived at the Drakes' door -- along with a mob of neighbors, driven into a frenzy by Rocky's grief-stricken parents, desperate to avenge their son's death. Bobby tried to give himself up, but his father positioned himself between the mob and his son, armed with a shotgun. Unfortunately, the police took that as a threat to them, not just the mob, and shot William Drake six times in the chest, killing him. When Ronnie came downstairs at the sound of gunfire and found his father's corpse, he sided with the mob against Bobby, grabbing the shotgun and turning it on his own brother. Bobby retreated back into the house with his mother and created an ice wall a yard thick behind the door. The mob pressed forward, trying to get in, and ended up trampling Ronnie Drake underfoot, killing Bobby's younger brother as well as his father.

Bobby got his mother out of the house through the back and sped off with her, icing the ground so that he could 'skate' along it faster than he could run. He dropped her off at his Uncle George's house, then disappeared into the night, never to be seen by any of his surviving family again.

In The Wilderness
Bobby found himself alone in the world, possessed of powers he couldn't control. He retreated north, into the subarctic northeastern reaches of Canada, the most sparsely populated region in North America. There, surrounded by cold wilderness and little else, he trained himself in the use of his powers well away from any major population centers.

Thanks to an immunity to the cold, Bobby became an adept survivalist. He could easily eat snow to hydrate himself, and the boreal forests of the region provided ample game to hunt -- which he would often kill either with concentrated blasts of cold, flung ice shards that acted like shrapnel, or simple stabbing or bludgeoning weapons made of ice -- and wild fruits and berries in the summer. The annual forest fires were his only concern, and even then his powers protected him from the worst of the heat, enabling him to survive in conditions where few others could.

Weapon X and Exodus
In the boreal forests of Canada, Bobby Drake was safe from humanity...however, he was also alone. He lived on his own for three years -- having fled home at fifteen, he was almost eighteen when he was finally approached by another living being.

Though Bobby had no knowledge of events back in his home country, the world's first mutant terrorist organization, Factor Six, had just been defeated by the joint efforts of Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr, and the organization's own unwilling conscript, Sean Cassidy. The "Mutant Master" of Factor Six, a mutant named Exodus who had been alive since the medieval era, was looking to rebuild the team, create a new alliance of mutants who would forcibly inherit the world from homo sapiens. Simultaneously, an organization called Weapon X had begun operating on Canadian soil. Weapon X was charged with creating living mutant "Weapons" that would be deployed across the entire North American continent, to eliminate threats to human supremacy on a continental scale. The organization's operatives heard the urban legends about the Boreal Iceman -- Bobby -- and sent agents to seek him out.

Fortunately, or perhaps not, Exodus found Bobby Drake first. With honeyed words and suggestions, both psychic and erotic, Exodus told Bobby of his plans for a Brotherhood, where he could feel free to be fully himself, as a gay man and as a mutant, and strike back against the hatred that had killed his father and brother not so very long ago. Bobby accepted, as much out of loneliness as out of anger, and became Iceman, one of the most powerful members of Exodus' Brotherhood of Mutant Liberation, albeit the member of the Brotherhood with the most scruples.

Powers & abilities
Iceman is potentially one of the most powerful mutants on Earth, with powers primarily revolving around the manipulation of ice and water.

Cryokinesis: Iceman's primary mutation revolves around the ability to lower the temperature of his surroundings. Rather than subtract heat from his environment, Bobby creates a kind of "cold energy" that glows blue or white when active. The amount of this "cold energy" he can generate is unknown, but he seems able to generate it based on pure thought and will, with no specific focus, such as Banshee's vocal chords are for his sonic powers.

Ice: Bobby's primary use of his cold powers is in the formation and manipulation of ice by freezing moisture in the air. He uses this in a variety of ways: Ice Form: In battle, Bobby can either sheathe his body in a protective layer of ice, or transform himself completely into it and back again. This ice form is far more durable than his flesh-and-blood body, can be regenerated when damaged, and can be refined to become nearly transparent, rendering Iceman nearly invisible. He can also alter its shape and size, growing ice claws or becoming an ice giant, though he cannot revert to flesh and blood unless he resumes his normal appearance. Initially, this ice form took more of a 'snowman'-like appearance, but over time has become more and more refined, first becoming a smooth humanoid form, then adding finer details like hair and fingernails. Now, under Exodus' tutelage, Bobby is able to ice up without destroying the clothing he is wearing in the process.
 * He can create ice constructs in any shape or size he wishes, from a simple weapon like a sword or dagger, to a protective dome or shield, massive, house-like structure, based solely on his own will and imagination.
 * He can create 'ice slides' which allow him to travel at great speeds and altitudes, provided he remembers to give his ice slides enough support.
 * He can discharge solid ice projectiles from his body in the form of hailstones or sharp-edged shrapnel, all of which travels at roughly the velocity of an average bullet.
 * Finally, he can reshape ice structures that already exist, up to and including animating them. One of his favorite tricks is to create ice doubles of himself to fight alongside.

Hydrokinesis: Though it seems thematically at odds with him, Bobby can in fact control water molecules as well as temperature. This enables him to control liquid water, or water vapor, just as easily as he controls ice. Though he rarely uses hydrokinesis to control water or water vapor, preferring instead to use ice, this ability is cited as the reason for his ability to shape ice constructs according to his will.

Melting: Perhaps the most bizarre of his powers, Iceman can 'melt' if need be, assuming a mobile liquid form. Although the usefulness of this "puddle" ability is frequently questioned, this water-shape can go places he cannot either in human or ice forms. Due to his water-form's mobility, he can hide easily in this form, and of course he can reshape himself into his ice form at will from it.

Cold Immunity: As a direct result of his powers, Iceman is immune to cold. He survived unprotected for years in the Canadian sub-arctic, and can exist comfortably in the Arctic Circle or Antarctica in either human or ice form. He is also immune to freezing chemicals -- for example, immersion in liquid nitrogen will not damage his flesh, though it may immobilize him.

Expert Survivalist: As a result of three years in the Canadian boreal forests, Bobby is an excellent hunter and tracker, and a wilderness survival expert.

Weaknesses
Psychological blocks: While Iceman has the potential to be one of the most powerful mutants on Earth, his insecurity and past trauma limits him, and he subconsciously blocks off access to his full power for fear of causing someone else serious injury. He seldom uses his more powerful abilities because of this, and only then because of an outside force, such as psychic coercion, forcing him past those mental blocks.

Water dependency: Although Iceman's ability to project cold energy is not limited to any factors in his enfironment, his ability to form and create ice depends on the amount of water in the air around him. A humid locale will give him more to work with, but in an area with absolutely no moisture in the air, he can only generate cold, not ice or water.

Physical limitations: Iceman still requires oxygen, food, water, rest, and all of the regular needs of a human being in his human form. While his ice form can survive longer without eating or drinking, he cannot maintain it indefinitely. Likewise, he can only generate so much cold energy before exhausting himself and needing to recharge.