With his preppy good looks, Shawn Ashmore set gay hearts aflutter with his depiction of sensitive nice guy Bobby “Iceman” Drake in the ‘X-Men’ movies. Is it a coincidence that the comic book character that inspired him has recently come out of the closet? Well, probably, but should fans expect to see the cinematic Iceman follow suit?
That’s probably easier said than done, as Ashmore himself discussed recently.
“Obviously the comics and movies are separate. I wonder what the transition would be because we’ve sort of established Bobby as having a love interest in Rogue and having a love interest in sort of Kitty Pryde, but I think it’d be really interesting.”
In the comics, original X-Man Bobby Drake recently came out of the closet after a decades-long history in which he’d dated several women including Opal Tanaka, Polaris and Kitty Pryde, with each relationship fizzling out with little fanfare. It was essentially explained that Drake suppressed his sexuality because he was too busy with being a mutant and a hero to dredge up another reason for people to hate him.
Unfortunately, the ‘X-Men’ movies don’t have decades worth of time to tell their stories. There’s only one every couple of years and they’re only two hours long (approximately) and feature ensemble casts, so it isn’t as if they can delve too deeply into each character’s personal life.
But should the powers that be decide to explore this side of Iceman, Ashmore would be game for it.
“I think it’d probably be the most interesting thing that could happen to Bobby in the films. If they decided to take the story that way, it’d be incredibly dramatic, it’d be an interesting storyline, and it would give Bobby a great character arc. I’d definitely be open to that, but again, I’m not sure if they want to take the character in that direction. I have no idea how they would play that out. I think it’d be very interesting.”
From the sound of things, next year’s ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is the final film in this cycle. The majority of original cast members, including Hugh Jackman and even newer additions like Jennifer Lawrence have announced that they will not be returning for future installments. If Iceman has a place in future X-flicks, it’s most likely that the role will be recast. (No version of Iceman appears in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’.)
Does that mean that Ashmore, who has also appeared on the comic-inspired ‘Smallville’, will be avoiding future roles in super hero projects?
“Yeah. I think at a certain point you can be saturated as an actor if you’re playing too many [comic book] characters, but there’s been some really successful people that have done multiple comic book characters, so I’d definitely be open to that, but I think it would have to be the right fit, you know? Especially because I’ve played Iceman for 12 years at this point. I feel like you sort of live in that skin, so would have to be something just perfect to branch out into.”
Who else could you see Ashmore portraying? Or is he strictly Iceman for life? If a new Iceman appears in future films, should he be gay?
Well, gay fans may never get to see Ashmore’s Iceman explore his sexuality, but maybe this image will help ease the pain:
At least you can wipe your tears.
Source: Comic Book Movie
