CHRISTIAN FROST

BIOGRAPHY

Christian Frost was the eldest child and only son of Winston and Hazel Frost, the blue-blooded royalty of Boston, Massachusetts. Winston was a strict and domineering presence in the lives of Christian and his three younger sisters. Even after coming of age, Christian continued to live 

under the roof and thumb of his father, working with him at the office to learn the family business. Christian did his best to please his father and avoid making waves in the family. Not confrontational by nature, Christian also needed to keep his father from prying too closely into his private life. Christian was gay, something he knew his father would never understand nor approve of. He kept his sexuality a secret from everyone in the family, even Emma, his closest sibling.

Christian made an effort to look out for Emma, standing up for her against Winston at times even when he wouldn't do the same for himself. He encouraged Emma to be independent from their parents while he was still playing by their rules to avoid too much family drama. Christian also comforted her over her increasingly bad headaches and agreed to keep them a secret from Winston and Hazel. However, Emma's headaches were a sign of her burgeoning mutant gift of telepathy, and the nosebleeds and fainting spells only increased with time. Christian was prepared to tell their parents something was seriously wrong with Emma, but she used her "insight" into Christian's private affairs to pressure him into staying quiet. When Emma's teacher encouraged her to seek a career in teaching herself, Christian warned Emma not to share the idea with Winston, but she didn't listen. Her teacher was soon removed from the school for "inappropriate behavior," driving yet another wedge between Winston and his children. [Emma Frost #1-3]

Eventually, Christian managed to gain some measure of independence, moving out of Frost House to a family-owned townhouse in Boston. He and his boyfriend Dante managed to find some happiness there for a time, away from Winston's prying eyes. Still, Dante wanted to come out with their relationship, and Christian was too afraid of his father's reaction to do so. Their relationship ended just before the family vacation to Nice, and Christian began drinking heavily once they got to the French Riviera. Emma was there to see Dante leave when picking Christian up, and started to suspect something. But Christian was in no mood to share, and brusquely told Emma to stay out of his business if she expected him to stay out of hers. Later that night, Emma spotted Christian at a night club being led away by a strange man. Emma's telepathy recognized the man had drugged Christian and was planning to murder him. She managed to drive the man off and save her brother. Afterwards, Christian confided in Emma about his sexuality, but their conniving sister Adrienne recorded the conversation and gave it to Winston to gain his favor. [Emma Frost #4]

Once they returned to Boston, Winston began a campaign to reassert control over Christian. He at first ordered Christian to come home and give up his "lifestyle." When Christian refused, Winston fired him from the family company, seized his accounts and shut down the townhouse. Emma supported Christian and encouraged him to renew his relationship with Dante now that there was no point in hiding it. Christian began living with Dante, but Winston didn't give up. He arranged for a police raid and drug bust on Dante's apartment, charging him with narcotics trafficking when Dante was already on probation. Faced with prison or returning home to Cuba, Dante ended up leaving the country. Forced back into the confining halls of Frost House, something broke inside of Christian. He hung himself from the ceiling and would have committed suicide if Emma hadn't found him in time. [Emma Frost #5]

His brush with death left Christian in a deep depression. He pressured Cordelia to use her connections and get him some serious drugs in order to get high and feel nothing. Emma wanted badly to help Christian but was unable to reach him. In desperation, she turned to Winston for help. At first, it seemed as if Winston would actually be useful and parental, sending Christian to a rehab clinic. However, he soon changed his mind and instead committed his son to a mental institution, further from the public eye, so as not to invite any more scandal. He openly  congratulated Emma on her assistance, leaving Christian feeling betrayed by his sister as he was led away by the orderlies. [New X-Men (1st series) #132, Emma Frost #6]

Christian spent years under the "care" of Winston's doctors, suffering through not only rehab and psychotherapy, but also gay conversion "therapy" and even efforts to suppress his mutant powers when they developed as well. Eventually, Winston was satisfied that Christian would behave as the Frost heir he expected and let him out of the institution. When Christian tried to assert himself, the abuse continued. Finally, Christian had enough when Winston confronted him with photos of Dante being happy without him, and his violent eruption left Winston dead. Christian's shock and psychological stress turned his burgeoning mutant powers against him. His mind created a psychic avatar of Winston to continue smothering him and tormenting him with the memory of his father, for Christian could not cope with what he'd done.

Emma attempted to see Christian once she learned he had been released, only to be violently rejected from Frost House by "Winston" delivering a psychic blast. Unnerved by the idea of her father having powers, Emma recruited the help of Iceman of the X-Men to rescue Christian. Emma and Bobby soon learned the truth when they discovered Winston's body in the house, and they engaged Christian in psychic therapy. Emma reached out to her brother and apologized for leaving him at Winston's mercy for so many years. The Frost siblings came together to control Frost Technologies, and Emma began to care for Christian to rebuild his independence and help him to cope with all that had happened. [Iceman (4th series) #2]

Christian began taking steps to re-establish his life, under Emma's care. When Manhattan held a "mutant pride" parade, Christian pushed Emma into allowing him to attend. He needed to be open with all aspects of his life that Winston tried to suppress, and this would be the perfect outlet. Despite the X-Men at the parade inevitably being attacked by anti-mutant Purifiers, Christian didn't lose his cool. He and Emma even stepped in, using their powers to protect the civilians during the melee. [Iceman (4th series) #4-5] Christian felt particularly indebted towards Iceman for his part in helping Christian recover from Winston's death. Being a Frost, he conveyed emotion through money, and dropped by Bobby's birthday celebration to give him a check as a  thank you, which Iceman decided to convert into a support fund for the Morlocks. [Uncanny X-Men: Winter's End #1]

Time passed, and mutantkind reinvented themselves through the nation-state of Krakoa. Emma was given a particular position of authority in the new mutant government on the Quiet Council, and as White Queen of the Hellfire Trading Company. Krakoa's leverage on the world stage came from highly sought-after pharmaceuticals that could only be produced on Krakoa. The Hellfire Club was reimagined as a distribution network getting Krakoan drugs into friendly countries and ferrying mutants out of unfriendly ones. Christian adopted the position of White Bishop, Emma's second-in-command, and captain of the Mercury. This UFO had been acquired by Emma discreetly and could also act as a submarine, making covert trading runs while Kate Pryde (the new Red Queen) was more brazen at drawing attention with the Marauder and her crew. [Marauders #2-3]

Christian and Bobby Drake of the Marauders began a casual relationship while Christian was testing the Mercury’s capabilities. Christian had hopes about bringing Iceman aboard his own crew, but Bobby was fiercely dedicated to Kate Pryde at the moment. Kate was unable to access the Krakoan gates like all other mutants for some reason, and it was privately feared the resurrection protocols would fail for her as well. Iceman and Storm therefore quietly acted as her Omega-class bodyguards on the Marauder, and Christian was out of luck in swaying Bobby. However, the Black King Sebastian Shaw was able to manipulate Christian into enticing Bobby away from the Marauder for a time, allowing Shaw to kill Kate when she was unprotected. Unaware of his own role in Kate’s death, Christian joined Emma and the Marauders in recovering their captain’s body. [Marauders #5-8]

Following those events, Christian began spending more time with the Black Bishop, Shinobi Shaw, presumably because Iceman was feeling guilty and in mourning. [X-Force (6th series) #9, Marauders #11] Christian and Shinobi’s personal and professional relationship continued to improve even after Kate’s eventual resurrection. How this will affect his relationship with Emma long-term is unknown (she nearly had Shinobi assassinated after learning about Sebastian and Kate before telepathically confirming for herself that Shinobi knew nothing of it). [Marauders #12, 17]

On the night of the Hellfire Gala, Shi'ar envoys arrived with a shipment of logic diamonds, one of the elements needed for Cerebro and the memory back-ups used in mutant resurrection. Christian took possession of the shipment on Mykines, and intended to ferry it back to Krakoa on the Marauder. However, he was hijacked by the Arakkoan pirate Sevyr Blackmoor and left adrift in the sea. [Hellfire Gala event] Even with the Healing Gardens, it took time for Christian to recover. Still, he and Iceman found each other again, rekindling their romance now that Kate had proven resurrection was an option for her. When a restructuring came to the Hellfire Trading Company, Christian and Bobby decided to take a vacation together from the HTC and Marauders, and Christian promised Bobby to finally come up with his own "mutant name" to celebrate his abilities. [Marauders #26-27]