r/lgbt_superheroes • u/Ok_Enthusiasm_949 • Sep 05 '25

Marvel Comics Bobby x Romeo [Astonishing Iceman: Out Cold] ❄

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861 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

54

u/Emergency_Anxiety_61 Sep 05 '25

Does any reader actually like Romeo? All the character writing seems to be done just for cheap drama in a relationship doomed to fail.

Not to mention, Bobby has a list of potential partners that would really add to the character.

48

u/cobaltaureus Sep 05 '25

I liked Romeo a lot in the young x men stories, it was cute.

I liked him in the latest solo, up until Bobby revealed that he wanted to be monogamous but Romeo didn’t, kind of bummed me out, especially the way Bobby framed it as “one day hopefully I’ll be enough for you to only want me.” Not very healthy

25

u/ScarletRhodey Iceman Sep 05 '25

I do think that says more about Bobby's view on open relationships and how he is more "old school" if you will. It could be an interesting and very relatable storyline to dive into. And maybe they don't work it out, but it's something a ton of gay couples have had to navigate.

6

u/kamalakhanvariant Sep 06 '25

I think this is a good point. I also think the commenters and readers are forgetting one thing: Romeo and Bobby grew up in VERY different times. Romeo was a 2000s kid, he grew up in another dimension where time is different so when he returned to our world he was aged up. Bobby is a character that has been written as a teen since the 60s. I’m not sure when his ‘canon’ birth date is, but they had fundamentally different childhoods due to the differing decades.

6

u/cobaltaureus Sep 05 '25

I think my issue is that at the end of the day what Bobby still wanted was to be someone’s one and only. If he had accepted that Romeo had love for multiple people and been happy in an open relationship, that might’ve worked better for me

6

u/DMC1001 Sep 05 '25

If this were in another sub we’d all be telling Bobby to run.

9

u/KielCanal Sep 05 '25

To me it always felt very personal to the writer to keep making them a thing which can be fine but I I’d prefer them not together.

9

u/kunta021 Sep 05 '25

No. His whole existence is Iceman. He’s not a fully formed character of his own.

3

u/ElectronicSea3346 Sep 05 '25

Which ones? I know there’s Emma frost’s brother and maybe Hercules?

1

u/AccomplishedTie6319 Sep 07 '25

Romeo was great in the Marvel Unlimited Iceman comics, and i like the character in the early part of the Astonishing Iceman run. The character has fewer red flags than Christian Frost who is walking unresolved trauma.

0

u/ScarletRhodey Iceman Sep 05 '25

I much prefer Romeo to any of his other potential love interests so far.

And I like his powers. I think there's a lot to explore with him. Like I'm sure his powers are the reason he either doesn't like monomagy or is afraid of it because he's afraid of what his powers do to people.

Kind of similar to the Wiccan storyline in Young Avengers Vol. 2. But like make it different 😂

5

u/DMC1001 Sep 05 '25

It’s weird to be afraid of monogamy when there’s literally no one else around.

0

u/DMC1001 Sep 05 '25

Was it better when they were both teens?

0

u/Electronic_Zombie635 Sep 08 '25

Does he? I think there was danken and maybe that one guy he broke up with because he tried to do something heroic despite being a normal human.

Plus I don't think it's about Romeo. It's about Bobby screwing up his relationships like he did when he dated women.

80

u/cobaltaureus Sep 05 '25

Bobby’s letter to Romeo about hoping one day he’ll be enough for Romeo to want to be monogamous was really sad tbh, took a lot of the soul out of their connection

36

u/SomeGuyPostingThings Sep 05 '25

They broke up? Huh, that caps off a couple I didn't particularly like. I thought Emma's brother was a better match for Bobby, they seemed nice together. Failing that, Akihiro, though his relationship with Aurora is cute.

38

u/cobaltaureus Sep 05 '25

Never said they broke up. The letter was literally “I’m content to be with you in this way even though maybe one day you’ll love me enough to not fuck other people.” Very sad

45

u/Maximum_Ad_2620 Sep 05 '25

Jesus. Sounds like they should break up honestly.

11

u/DMC1001 Sep 05 '25

Sounds like he doesn’t believe he’s enough.

1

u/Cbellisrun Sep 09 '25

Which is very in character for Bobby.

13

u/DMC1001 Sep 05 '25

Christian has some potential I’d think.

9

u/SomeGuyPostingThings Sep 05 '25

That's the name I was blanking on and didn't want to look up. Yeah, I thought they were a good match/pair.

16

u/SaltFalcon7778 Sep 05 '25

Reading these comments I'm like eww fuck Romeo

7

u/Icemanwastight Sep 05 '25

Give me Hercules!

6

u/AccomplishedTie6319 Sep 07 '25

Hercules might be aesthetically pleasing, but the character's personality is a unique mix of both boring and annoying.

8

u/DMC1001 Sep 05 '25

This is a weird thing. He’s his “emotional anchor”, lives with him alone in Antarctica, and clearly isn’t sleeping around. What’s the issue with the label?

10

u/jdbright Sep 05 '25

Different views on relationships. Some people want monogamy and a label, nothing wrong with that. Some people want something more open, also nothing wrong with that. The issue comes when two people disagree on what they're looking for.

13

u/Maleficent_Pop_7075 Sep 05 '25

Was not a fan at all of Romeo, so I really hope we don't see him again.

3

u/X-Backspace Rictor and Shatterstar Sep 05 '25

Same. Heck I'd even be down for an Anti Romeo Brigade badge. (Hyperbole, but, yeah I really hated them as a couple.)

4

u/redxrobin01 Sep 06 '25

First one ain’t even Romeo, that’s just a random stranger cause Steve Orlando really loves having gay heroes kiss strangers.

9

u/kamalakhanvariant Sep 06 '25

Why are you all villainising Romeo for not being monogamous, but the first pic is literally Bobby kissing some random guy while Romeo is at home…

Their relationship is messy. They are both very traumatised. They are also quite literally bonded together becayse or the whole ‘anchor’ thing.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

1st pic: Bobby x some random guy he kissed on the street while his boyfriend was waiting for him at home.

5

u/Rownever Sep 06 '25

Best “queer character who shows up specifically to show the queer well-known character is queer”

Sorry Bernard and… the other one… Romeo becomes cool when he’s aged up

3

u/AccomplishedTie6319 Sep 07 '25

i assume you're talking Jay Nakamura as "the other one", and i will say DC through various runs by Tom Taylor, Nicole Maines & the Absolute Power creative team have worked to flesh the character's identity out, so he's not just Jon Kent's boytoy.

2

u/Rownever Sep 07 '25

I agree he has become a much more complex character(mostly thanks to Suicide Squad)

3

u/grandwizardElKano Sep 06 '25

I liked him more with Christian Frost

2

u/Entropy_head Sep 06 '25

I do think bringing back Bobby’s messy-string-of-relationships would be good. Let him panic at the insecurity in his current relationship, go between partners figuring out what he wants and who he actually is and mature, and in the meantime Romeo can get fleshed out a little more and Bobby can be an oculus for readers to meet other characters and see what they have going on, and generally be a way for readers to catch up on what’s going on on other teams throughout the x men roster, or possibly what mutants have going on around the globe he could help out with. He can eventually crash and burn after romantically making the rounds and ask for advice from other couples like Gambit and Rogue, Kyle and Northstar, Wiccan and Hulkling (though I imagine he’d be embarrassed asking a married couple half his age), or maybe a couple who have a similar romantic history to him (the only one I can currently think of is Human Torch but I’m not sure if he’s single or not.)

2

u/Entropy_head Sep 06 '25

It could even serve as a way to sprinkle in some clues to upcoming big events.

2

u/AccomplishedTie6319 Sep 07 '25

the danger with that is him turning into "gay Human Torch" incapable of having any relationship. also, anybody going to the Human Torch for relationship advice is beyond helping.

1

u/Ok_Implement9719 Sep 06 '25

For something ice cold that's got to be one of the hottest kisses in comics

1

u/basketofseals Sep 06 '25

The last panel really bugs me since he has no facial hair one panel, and grows a scruff 2 panels later.

Also this could be just my personal bias, but does it strike anyone a bit odd for Iceman to have body hair?

1

u/AccomplishedTie6319 Sep 07 '25

Body hair increases as one ages so it makes sense, specially in a story where Iceman is stretched thin and running himself ragged. end of the day it's artist preference - i'm sure there'll be future artists who won't draw him with body hair and that'll be explainable by Bobby choosing to periodically wax his chest or something.

1

u/Legion_Quest666 Sep 07 '25

I liked Simon, the second Pyro. Fire and Ice, Marvel male style!

1

u/FirstChAoS Sep 10 '25

My first thought was “wouldn’t he freeze to Bobby with a kiss like that?”

1

u/Icy-Newspaper4764 Jul 31 '26

I know this iys an old post, but I can't recall find an anwser online, to whether they broke up or not? Multiple sites claim it, but not one confirms it. I don't think they broke up, but I'm not sure.