Rusty Collins

Real Name: Rusty Collins 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. 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. 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. Later, Rusty Collins died from injuries inflicted from a battle with Holocaust while with the Acolytes on Avalon.

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