Bobby can be the youngest person in the room and still be the first one to notice somebody needs help.

Bobby can be the youngest person in the room and still be the first one to notice somebody needs help. In X-Men #49, he sees a young woman walking into traffic in a trance. He uses his ice to interrupt her path and gets her clear of the car. Lorna Dane enters his life as somebody in immediate danger, before he knows anything about her powers or the people manipulating her. The rescue is quick and practical. His abilities give him ways to change the ground under a threat, block a route or slow something down. The cold is useful because Bobby can improvise with it, not just because he can make a large frozen shape. That inventiveness has already mattered against Factor Three. In #39, freezing a ventilation system helps prevent a gas attack on a military base. It is a compact example of how an apparently playful power can solve an extremely serious problem. His relationship with Lorna is less mature. Attraction quickly becomes expectation, and her interest in Alex leaves Bobby wounded and jealous. The stories don't make that graceful. They let him be a young man who can behave heroically in public danger and badly when his feelings aren't returned. Hank's company brings out another side of him. Their banter gives the original team an everyday social life, especially when the mansion is no longer their constant base. Bobby wants adventures, jokes and somebody to react when he announces his latest idea. Hank usually supplies the reaction. These years suit him because competence and immaturity are allowed to coexist. He is still learning how to treat people when he isn't saving them. The ice powers are becoming more useful; the emotional judgment sometimes has a little catching up to do.