Quite a bit of controversy was stirred up this week when Iceman was outed as gay by fellow X-Man Jean Grey. The scene in All-New X-Men #40 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mahmud Asrar quickly spread around the web, sparking all sorts of debate and forever changing the kind of Iceman pictures you’ll get in your image search results. While many legitimate topics were raised, the one thing I heard the most was, “So what if a fictional character is gay?” Great question, Internet. Let’s discuss.

One thing you have to understand about Marvel Comics is that a huge reason the stories are so appealing is because they take place in our world. Yes, Hulk infused with gamma radiation and Thor from mythical Asgard are sci-fi and fantasy inventions, but the conceit of nearly every Marvel story is, “What if this happened in the real world?” If the stories took place in a world where everyone had super powers, then they wouldn’t be as interesting. So maintaining the illusion that Spider-Man is swinging through the real New York City and Daredevil is saving an elderly woman who could be your neighbor is vital to creating an authentic setting.You see where I’m going with this, yeah? If the world that Marvel’s heroes inhabit is supposed to be just like ours, then it needs to reflect the actual world outside your window. Turns out that there are gay people in real life -- along with bi people and trans people and all sorts of queer people. We all know this to be true yet we don’t hear news stories about some guy down the street who comes out to his family, do we? It’s become pretty normal and generally accepted these days. But try as Marvel might, they are still playing catch-up.

All-New X-Men #40 Review

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It’s no secret that Marvel was founded by straight white males who created mostly straight white male heroes. I’m not holding the times against Marvel -- just pointing out that gay characters were never at the forefront. For decades it was pretty much a world where gay people had been acknowledged but were rarely seen, and big-name heroes were most definitely not gay. That’s why it’s news when Iceman comes out of the closet -- because at Marvel, it’s still new. Don’t get me wrong, Marvel has introduced a handful of gay characters over the years, not to mention other characters of varying races and faiths like Spider-Man Miles Morales and Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan. They’ve made amazingly progressive steps that are not to be discounted, and each one has gone a long way to make their comic book world feel more realistic. They’re not quite there yet -- will they ever be? -- but they’re certainly not doing an awful job.While a character’s sexuality might not mean anything to you, that doesn’t lessen the impact it can have on another person. Superhero comic books might tell fantastical stories, but at their heart, they are metaphors for the actual human experience. People might be reading fiction, but that fiction can and does have an impact on reality. Reading about Iron Man combating alcoholism could help someone get their sobriety back. Captain America defeating the Red Skull could help someone stand up to a bully. And Iceman coming out could help someone find the strength to do it, too. It only takes reading a few of the fan letter pages in the back of the comics to realize that these stories, however fictional they may be, actually affect people.When I was in high school about 10 years ago, I’d often spend my lunch hour in the library reading X-Men comics. I think deep down I always knew I was gay, but at that time in my life, the social pressures of being a teenager had forced me to come to grips with the fact that I didn’t have romantic feelings for the girl I was dating -- and I was never going to.I could see the X-Men/gay people metaphor clear as day, and seeing them struggle with the way they were born helped me deal with my own fears, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing quite like reading about an actual gay person, something not in abundance back then. I didn’t end up coming out until college, but I can only imagine the impact seeing a founding X-Men member come out would have had on me at the time. It might have given me the confidence to come out earlier and not spend those extra years hiding in the closet.The X-Men have long acted as a metaphor for all minorities, but we’ve come to a point where it’s time to stop making analogies and showcase the actual people the stories are alluding to. It’s the natural evolution for the X-Men franchise, and if there’s any place the X-Men have been ahead of the curve, it’s evolution. Iceman coming out is a great step forward, and while there’s never a way to tell a story like this that will make everyone happy, I hope Bendis, Asrar, and Marvel keep on stepping in that direction.

Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Game of Thrones, Green Lantern, or Super Smash Bros. are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN