I've been listening to the Comicvine podcasts, and apparently there is debate over whether it is appropriate for Kitty to date Iceman because of their ages. If Bobby was 16 when he debuted in 1963 and Kitty was 13 when she debuted in 1980 and we figure that 4 years of real time is equal to 1 year of Marvel time, then Kitty would be 21 and Bobby would be 28. Then we introduce Howard Stern's half +7 age appropriateness formula, we see that half of 28 + 7 is 21, so therefore it is officially appropriate for Bobby to date Kitty.

Comic book ages are a tricky thing. Not only do characters age at different rates depending on writers needs, they also can skip entire years between appearances with little or no bother to justify it. The flow of time for individual characters ebbs and flows just like comic time itself halts and quickens in the haphazard method in which all the titles happen together.

The ages you gave are reasonable estimates based on how the current creative teams tend to portay them at, if you want to have a discussion about inappropriate relationships you should look at Kitty and Pete Wisdom as a far better example. If memory serves she was around 16 and he was in his early 30's. It has been a while since I read by old Excalibur issues so anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here.

Trying to figure out the ages of characters realistically in comics is like trying to figure out how their powers would work realistically.....don't worry about it.
 
Shadowcat jumped about 5 years in age in a short amount of time while other characters seemingly stayed the same, Rogue also followed this method along with the 5 original X-Men.....tis confusing

Well considering Kitty is drawing like she,s only 13 years old at times it would be a little creepy.

You've definitely got a point about Kitty and Wisdom. If you use my same reasoning, she MIGHT have been 18 at the time, but even if she was of legal age, she still would have been much too young for him. Kitty is hard to figure based on how she's drawn. There's not a lot lf artistic continuity between artists. I seem to remember her mentioning something about grad school and I she worked as a bartender at one point, so I think it's safe to assume she is at least 21.

There is no real right or wrong when it comes to ages -- it was a big deal back when she was crushing on Piotr when she first arrived at Xavier's but not so much now. She's a grown woman. Pretty sure she can date whomever she wants without age being an issue. Its when someone is 15, 16, that it might be called into question.

Unless you are Rogue and Magneto.....**shudders**

Dunno, but he's older and Piotr and they dated. So it's not anything strange.

@ExtraLarge: Apparently Peter is older than Bobby, so controversy over the age gap pales in comparison.

@VampireSelektor: It's flippy flipped. Bobby is older than Peter.

@Rickbarry: Get out of here. Bobby's older than Peter? Bobby was older than 19 when Peter - you guessed it, he was 19 - joined the X-Men? Really? I don't think he even started college yet.

@VampireSelektor: Well, I know that Peter was the youngest member of the 2nd generation X-men (unless you count Kitty) and people generally consider that to be around 17. I know he was 19 a hundred or so issues after his introduction when he and Juggernaut got into the bar fight. Take into the fact that he was removed from continuity for five years or so and you can make the safe assumption that he's a couple years younger than Iceman.

I think people tend to assume that he's older because he's drawn at this square jawed character. It a more mature look.

@Rickbarry: Are you sure Peter aged more than a year after a 100 issues?

@VampireSelektor: 'Course I'm not sure. Comics be tricky things. I just know he was 19 in Uncanny 190 or whenever he fought Cain in the bar. I'd have to assume he aged a couple years.

@Rickbarry said:

@VampireSelektor: 'Course I'm not sure. Comics be tricky things. I just know he was 19 in Uncanny 190 or whenever he fought Cain in the bar. I'd have to assume he aged a couple years.

I would say Iceman is at most four years older than Kitty given the "sliding timescale".

She's of the age of consent and passed puberty. That's all that matters in my book.

I don't think it's the age that's inappropriate, I think it's the fact that it's Iceman and not Colossus that's inappropriate.

Not much like 5ish years.

Howard Stern's formula doesn't apply to Bobby since he's immortal. If we held Bobby to a rule like that, at some point it would only be appropriate for him to date Selene or go gay and date Apocalypse.

at that point you have to pursue http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Aphrodite_Ourania_(Earth-616)