Merge:Dust

Dust (real name Sooraya Qadir) is a mutant in the Marvel Universe. She is one of the student body in the Xavier Institute, and a member of the Hellions squad therein.

Dust first appeared in New X-Men #133 (2002). She was created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver, though it wasn't until she appeared in the New X-Men: Academy X series, written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, that her character was truly developed.

Character history


Dust is an adolescent Sunni Muslim girl who possesses the mutant power to turn herself into a sand-like substance. Born in Afghanistan, she was rescued by Wolverine and Fantomex from a slave-trading ring and sent to the X-Corps base in India. Sooraya hid herself from the X-men who were stationed there until Phoenix sensed Sooraya's presence and telepathically coerced her to reveal herself to everyone present. The word spoken by Sooraya was "dust."

Ultimately, Dust was enrolled at the Xavier Institute in Westchester County, New York. Quiet and nervous, she has experienced difficulty adapting to her new surroundings - particularly after being given the loud and rebellious Surge as a roommate. Sooraya and Surge often come to disagreements over the traditional garb which Surge believes to be an affront to women's rights. While Sooraya was initially placed into Xorn's Special Class but was picked on for standing by her faith, and allegedly placing its importance over the cause of mutants. It was thus Dust who alerted Professor Xavier to Xorn's 'true' identity. She was soon after made member of the Hellions training squad. She has opted to wear her niqab rather than a standard training costume.

After House of M, Wanda Maximoff depowered over 90% of the mutant population, thereby reducing the population of Xavier's student body to only 27 students. The squad system has been dissolved, and the remaining students have been merged into one large group. She has recently been paired as roommates with X-23. She has forged a friendship with Icarus. He asked her to the school dance, but she declined since the idea of the dance made her uncomfortable but she was not insulted.

Sooraya became a target of William Stryker's crusade agains the Xavier Institute, as he expressed his need to "eliminate the Muslim." Icarus gave her a note, which X-23 told Sooraya not to trust, as Icarus, "smells like death". When Icarus visited the church of William Stryker he was shown why Dust was his next target. Nimrod had a vision of an altered future in his memory banks which showed Dust killing all the Purifiers by turning into a sand storm and ripping the flesh from their bones. After entering the church of Reverend Stryker, she was shown being shot down, though it was revealed to be X-23 dressed in one of her burquas. When Stryker's team infiltrated the school, Dust reappeared, surprising Stryker and playing a key role in defeating his Purifiers after all.

Powers and abilities
Dust can turn herself into a cloud of a sand-like substance, and (under normal circumstances) control where this cloud goes, before reforming at will. At times she can move so fast in the dust form that she can strip the flesh from her enemies' bones. A few times she has been controlled by others when in her sand-like form; the first was by Xorn and the second by Wind Dancer. According to Jean Grey and Professor X, she is very hard to telepathically detect while in her sand-like form. Her powers are similar to the Spider-Man foe, Sandman.