My Christmas wish for Iceman is to have him Do Something. For some reason, Iceman was always among my favorite X-Men. And yet, what's weird is that, aside from his powers, what really is Iceman all about? What does he actually *do?*
With more complex and rounded characters, you have many diametrical forces working to create interesting stories/conflicts. Take Nightcrawler, another fave, who is torn between the gravity of his soul and the lightheartedness of his whimsy, the sensitive empathy he has and the fearsome appearance he has. Iceman, in contest, has pretty much one side to himself, which is usually his own carefree attitude. At best, this leaves him as pretty much a wisecracking, fun-loving background character. At worst, he comes off as a poor man's Johnny Storm/ Human Torch.
(There are a few message boards that have a running joke (or is it a joke?) that Iceman should become a gay character, which I say is neither here or there. It's irrelevant to the main problem that I want to talk about, and that's besides the fact that I think it would smack of a cheap hack writer tactic.)
The main problem is Iceman doesn't get to have one of those classic "I must but I must not" inherent character dilemma in that Mighty Marvel manner. If I might make a suggestion, I would want to highlight together Iceman's powers and his personality-- what if his bubbly personality was really just an unconscious overcompensation? What if his powers naturally left him numb, the kind of unfeeling numb that makes you feel disconnected to your numby parts? The problem is that, for Iceman, his entire body is becoming numby parts! So that's why he is constantly extroverted-- he is reaching out to make sure he can "touch" the world around him. For lack of a better metaphor, he's a "warmth vampire," both socially and emotionally.
And what would happen when the more he's growing in power, the more he affects others? Remember, cold is not really a force in itself, but merely an absence of heat. Unconsciously, he is leeching heat more and more from the people around him. So the more numb he gets, the more he reaches out-- but the more he reaches out, the more people will pull away for their own safety, leaving him more numb!
Plus, he's got really cool (both literally and figuratively) powers!
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