RUSTY COLLINS

Publication Date: 20th Dec 2023
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: Blanchett and sixhoursoflucy.
Alternate Versions

ALTERNATE VERSIONS

In the reality depicted in What If..? (2nd series) #85, Magneto and Professor X declared a truce and Magneto peacefully ascended into orbit with his Acolytes in Avalon. Ten years after this exodus, the cracks started to show in the ranks of Magneto's Acolytes, and two rival factions emerged with different opinions on how the mutants of Avalon should deal with the people of Earth. It was in this environment that Rusty and Skids had their first child, which their old friend Beast delivered for them. Upon birth, however, Beast informed Rusty and Skids that, according to his test results, their boy was not just a mutant, he was a mutant who was going to be able to choose his power when reaching puberty—Homo ultima.  When the rest of the Acolytes learned of this, they feared that the superior race this boy represented would one day make them obsolete, as mutants did to humans. Banding together, they assaulted Rusty, Skids and Beast and managed to assassinate the newborn child. Enraged, Rusty, Skids and Beast abandoned Avalon after that, but the Acolytes united over the threat of Homo ultima and became a cohesive unit once again. Unbeknownst to them, this resurgence of Acolyte unity was the endgame of Magneto's plan all along—which was why he fabricated the child's test results in the first place. Rusty's son was a normal human, not an an advanced mutant.