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Real name: Rusty Collins
Other aliases: None known
Identity: Secret
Occupation: X-Factor trainee, (former)
sailor
Legal status: Citizen of the United States with a criminal record, a minor
Place of birth: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: None
Base of operations: X-Factor headquarters, New York City
Group
affiliation: Acolytes, MLF, X-Terminators, X-Factor trainee
First appearance: X-FACTOR #1
History: Orphaned by
his parents' deaths, Rusty Collins was raised by his uncle on a farm in Oklahoma. Rusty and his uncle did not get along with
each other, and the uncle signed release papers that enabled Rusty to enter the United States Navy at the age of sixteen.
Rusty was seventeen when his mutant power first manifested itself. He was a sailor on the medical frigate U.S.S. Essex,
which docked in San Diego after months at sea. Chief Petty Officer Fisher, Collins' superior, took him to a local bar and
introduced him to a woman named Emma Le Porte. When the woman began kissing him in a nearby alley, Collins unintentionally
burst into flames, inflicting terrible burns on the woman. In panic, Collins fled, but he was soon captured by the military
police. When Fisher tried to kill him in his cell, Collins burst into flames again and set Fisher's hand afire. His power
went out of control and burned a hole in his cell, enabling Collins to escape.
Fisher alerted X-Factor, which he believed
to be an organization of mutant hunters (see X-Factor). Actually, the five founders of X-Factor were themselves mutants out
to help other mutants. The five X-Factor members went after Collins and captured him.
The X-Factor members took Collins
back to their headquarters in New York City, where they began training him in the use of his powers. Eventually, Collins learned
how to keep his power under control.
He and seven other mutants being trained by X-Factor worked together as a team called
the X-Terminators (see X-Terminators).
He was once a member of the MLF, his brain having been rewritten by Stryfe.
Later, Rusty Collins died from injuries
inflicted from a battle with Holocaust while with the Acolytes on Avalon (see Holocaust, Acolytes).
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red
Strength level: Rusty Collins possessed the normal human strength of
a boy of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.
Known superhuman powers: Rusty Collins was
a mutant with the superhuman power to generate heat and flames. Unlike the Human Torch, who creates similar effects, Collins
was a pyrokinetic; in other words, Collins unintentionally caused flames to appear around himself whenever he became overly
excited. Collins eventually learned to control his power. He could cause heat and flame to appear at a distance from himself
rather than around his own body. Collins needed to point to the spot at which he was directing his power in order to focus
the power upon it. Furthermore, Collins could only generate heat and flames at a distance of up to twenty feet away from him.
Rusty Collins instinctively created a psionic force shield about himself when he created heat and flame that protected
him from their effects. The force shield, however, could not protect him from other forms of harm.
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