Fan Art Gives Convincing Idea Of Shia LaBeouf As MCU Character
When the X-Men first appeared in the pages of X-Men #1 way back in September 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's original lineup for the team was Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. Not every one of the X-Men's original heroes, however, has received the same love and attention in cartoon and film adaptations.
Iceman is one of the best examples of an X-Man who doesn't quite get the same juice as, say, Wolverine, Cyclops, or Jean Grey. In the live-action films that began releasing in 2000, Bobby Drake, aka Iceman (played by Shawn Ashmore), is always more of a supporting player. Despite being in four of those movies (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past), Bobby never really gets a full-fledged plot line all his own.
Times change, though, and with Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox properties (including the X-Men), it's looking more and more likely that a completely different take on the mutant heroes is on the horizon. With rumors that Shia LaBeouf is in talks to play Bobby Drake, it could be time for Iceman to finally have a more central role in the X-Men narrative.
What Shia LaBeouf could look like as Iceman
According We Got This Covered, LaBeouf (who was previously rumored to be in the running for another Marvel hero, Moon Knight), is now at least under consideration for Bobby Drake. The rumor is that LaBeouf is no longer Disney's top choice for Moon Knight, but that, with his recent success starring in The Peanut Butter Falcon and Honey Boy, the actor is being targeted by Marvel to feature prominently somewhere in their future superhero line-up.
While there is no guarantee that LaBeouf will actually wind up in the role of Bobby Drake, that hasn't stopped fans from taking interest. Twitter user @MizuriAU even put together a mockup of what Labeouf might look like as Iceman, and it's pretty cool!
There are a lot questions that would need to be answered if this rumor proves true. LaBeouf is 34 years old, so he obviously wouldn't be playing a young Bobby Drake, which leads us to wonder what adult version of Iceman we would get with this particular actor in the role. In the 2015 All-New X-Men comic series written by Brian Michael Bendis, fans found out that Bobby was a closeted gay man, and in his own 2017 ongoing series, Bobby dealt with what it meant to be both an out, gay man and a mutant. Would LaBeouf play this incarnation of Iceman? If so, what backlash might he and Disney face over a straight actor playing a queer character?
It's all early days, and We Got This Covered's track record is somewhat spotty, but as soon as casting rumors start, the talking does, too. What do you think of this artistic imagining of LaBeouf as Iceman, and do you think he's right for the part?