WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marauders #7, by Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli, Edgar Delgado, and VC’s Cory Petit, on sale now.
Romantic relationships might be more important to the X-Men than any other team in the Marvel Universe. But while couples like Rogue and Gambit had a flirtation that earned fans for decades, other relationships came and went without much fanfare.
In between their swash-buckling mutant adventures, a new romance has blossomed between two sea-faring X-Men, and Marauders #7 confirms that Iceman and Christian Frost, the Hellfire Trading Company's current White Bishop, are the team's newest couple.
While Bobby Drake is one of the founding X-Men, Christian Frost is a much more obscure character who's only come into prominence recently. Christian was created by Grant Morrison and Phil Jiminez in 2003's New X-Men #139. He's the long-suffering younger brother of Emma Frost, who suffered under hos abusive father before killing him and inheriting the family's estate. He also has mutant powers that revolved around the creation and manipulation of psionic energy.
These days, Christian is acting as the White Bishop for Emma Frost's branch of the Hellfire Trading Company, the exclusive exporter of Krakoa's miracle drugs. As the White Bishop, he is the captain of a highly-advanced naval vessel called The Mercury.
Christian's new role in Krakoan bureaucracy has brought him in contact with Bobby Drake, and the two have more than hit it off. As of the most recent issue of Marauders, Drake and Frost are officially an item as we see when Christian greets Bobby returning from a mission by embracing and kissing him on the deck of The Mercury.
This relationship doesn't just come out of nowhere either. In Marauders #5, we see Bobby and Christian together on the deck of The Mercury. Christian is wearing his signature white suit, gold sash, and sunglasses, while Bobby is wearing a robe with the initials CF stitched into the collar. After Iceman uses his powers to refreeze a melting arctic glacier, Christian chides him for showing off in a flirtatious way. The two of them go back below deck together where we learn that Christian has invited Bobby to join the crew of the Mercury and leave the Marauder and Kate Pryde behind. However, Bobby is hesitant to take him up on his offer, because h's worried about Pryde's inability to interact with the Krakoan technology.
While Iceman and Frost are united by their frosty names, both dashing mutants have a lot in common. While both have had occasionally stressed -- to put it mildly -- relationships with their parents, Bobby and Christian seem deeply comfortable around each other.
Given the sheer number of tragedies that both have gone through, their relationship would be heart-warming on any day, but the fact that this is a positive representation of a same-sex relationship makes it worth celebrating and championing. While LGBTQIA+ relationships are still relatively sparse in mainstream superhero comics, the image of two same-sex superheroes kissing, cuddling, or even holding hands outside of fan art is a welcome sight. And hopefully, these two X-Men are in it together for the long haul.