History
Tracy Collins is a human woman, and Arlene's little sister.[1] Tracy met Michael Collins,[2] a gifted software programmer from Philadelphia,[9] and came to admire his moral values and brave dedication, which made her agree to marry him[10] when he proposed in Coney Island.[11] It was not a problem of cohabitation that he snored.[12] They had a son, Nicholas ("Nick "),[2][9] who was in good health;[13] jokingly they said that they had had Nick so he would do the dishes for them.[2] They also had a domestic cat,[2] Pascal.[5]
Seven years after she married Michael,[1] the family was living in Philadelphia because he worked at Stark Enterprises, but then Cybertek Systems hired Michael as software development group head,[1] to develop neurological prosthetics[9] for their use for disabled people.[2] This required the family to move to Paterson, New Jersey,[9] with a wage difference that allowed them to afford a mortgage in a better neighborhood.[1] Michael knew that Cybertek had a branch for weapons research, which he found immoral; but was unaware that his boss Harlan Ryker was secretly using Michael's designs on those weapons.[2][14] Ryker presented a friendly image to Michael, and knew Tracy personally.[7] Michael complained that he couldn't spend enough time with his family because of his job.[2]
Five years after Michael started working at Cybertek,[9][13] Tracy was a year away from getting her PhD,[13] but then Michael got information about a secret Cybertek weapons project, the cyborg Deathlok; Ryker knocked out Michael and had Michael's brain transplanted into the cyborg, turning him into a hideous creature with superpowers.[2][9] Ryker had his secretary put Tracy on the phone[2] to tell Tracy that Michael had had an accident and was in a coma.[9] Michael however managed to control the cybernetic body and escaped from Cybertek but, when he tried to return home, Tracy did not recognize him and took him for a monster; Michael then left voluntarily, deciding that he could not return to his family;[7] Michael went on to live in Coney Island with Jesus Badalemente, an amusement park technician whose life Michael had saved.[7][4] Soon after, Ryker visited Tracy to give her false details, such as that only the doctors could see Michael at the moment, and that she would collect Michael's salary to continue her studies; Ryker also said that an intelligent robot Michael had been working on had escaped, and that the robot thought it was Michael, which justified her encounter with Deathlok.[7]
Some[15] weeks later, Michael collaborated with law enforcement agency SHIELD to arrest Harlan Ryker,[9][15] as well as other involved Cybertek members who had offered to take care of Tracy in Michael's absence[3] (in fact Cybertek was shut down for its multiple irregularities),[13][9] and Michael asked SHIELD director Nick Fury to tell Tracy that Michael was collaborating with the authorities on a top secret mission, to justify his absence.[9][15] Fury decided to spy on the Collins family, seeing possible opportunities related to Deathlok,[6] especially after obtaining Deathlok's collaboration in another unrelated operation, in exchange for SHIELD helping his family.[16] Michael also stalked his own home, seeing his wife and son without their seeing him,[13] and began writing letters to Tracy that he would never send, telling him his life and adventures in his own words.[17][18][14][19][6][20] Michael always kept his family present and, when the demon Nightmare tried to control him with illusions, he suffered especially to see Tracy dying in his arms, or becoming Harlan Ryker;[21] soon after the illusion included Tracy and Nick in Deathlok-like bodies, but by then Michael was beginning to get over it and recognized them as fake.[22]
Two months after Michael's disappearance,[20] Tracy correctly deduced that her husband had become Deathlok; and since SHIELD was spying on her, they knew that she knew.[6][9] At the same time, Tracy found out that she was pregnant by him, and she sent him a letter, through SHIELD, asking him to come home,[6] also telling SHIELD explicitly that she had found out that her husband was Deathlok.[9] Tracy asked her sister Arlene to visit her at her Paterson house, and shared with her all this information[6] that she had not shared with Nick (Nick did not know that his mother was pregnant).[1] Deathlok returned home with his hideous body, and Tracy did her best to welcome him, although from the first moment Arlene expressed her negative opinion: Arlene believed that the cosmetic change was enough to end the relationship; Tracy hoped to get her husband back, but she admitted that her new appearance was likely to scare her, and they could not sleep together again yet. Tracy also received support from SHIELD, who sent their HR Officer John Facchino to help with the paperwork.[1] Tracy got a scholarship and student loans to continue studying, and Michael covered other family expenses through his new freelance computer consulting work.[20] Michael also revealed the truth to Nick, including Tracy's pregnancy, which prompted Nick to ask his mother for an explanation.[1]
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Tracy Collins
The next day, with Arlene still present, Tracy was visited by a clone of Billy Hansen.[20] Hansen had been Michael's co-worker at Cybertek, murdered by Ryker a month after Michael became Deathlok.[13] When Michael acknowledged that Hansen was dead, Arlene pulled out a gun and threatened him. Hansen met with Michael, with Tracy and Arlene present (Nick was in his room upstairs) to explain that a creature called Biohazard was chasing Deathlok[20] to ingest his brain, while SHIELD in turn chased it.[6] However, Arlene found inconsistencies in Hansen's story and, when she voiced these, Biohazard emerged from inside the cloned body to attack Deathlok, not caring if other people in the house were harmed. Deathlok sent Arlene to start her car while Tracy went to pick up Nick upstairs and Deathlok confronted the monster. Deathlok dropped his plasma pistol and Tracy picked it up to try to help, but the weapon only worked in Deathlok's hands.[20] After the fight, S.H.I.E.L.D. helped lock Biohazard away, but the Collins' house had been damaged and the repairs would last a month, during which Tracy and Nick moved into Arlene's house in Manhattan,[23] and Arlene insisted that Tracy keep her gun for her protection.[3] Realizing that he couldn't live with his family without endangering them,[9] Michael moved back to Coney Island[9][23] with Badalamente.[23] Tracy however found Badalamente's domicile/workshop left much to be desired, and insisted that Michael give it some style.[24]
Michael was hired by Clayton Burr, of the Roxxon Oil Corporation (formerly Cybertek's mother company), to go to Paris and stop former Cybertek employees and cybernetics specialists who were building weapons; in exchange, Michael would have the chance to retrieve his original body and find a cybersurgeon who could return him there. Before going to Paris, he visited his family to tell them about it; Tracy thought the quest looked dangerous, but Nick gave his father his full trust, and Tracy agreed to let Michael go, even if he didn't get his body back, as long as he came back alive.[25] Michael survived the mission, though his original body was lost and thought destroyed,[26] after which he got used to the idea that he would never stop being Deathlok;[9] but he returned happily to his family. Meanwhile, Burr was arrested for various crimes.[26]
Badalamente hosted a cookout to which he invited the Collinses, at which point they were interrupted by a Wakandan aircraft: W'Kabi, chief of Wakandan Security, wanted[27] to hire Collins for a temporary computer security position, which he accepted,[9][27] but only if he could take his wife and son to Wakanda on vacation (Badalamente did not want to go). In Wakanda, Tracy befriended Monica Lynne, the American fiancée of King T'Challa, who was seeking first-hand information about life in her country,[27] as Michael's job kept her busy most of the time.[28] Lynne showed Tracy the capital city,[27] while one of Wakanda's enemies, Killjoy broke into the palace and was able to kill Tracy, but stopped when he saw that she was pregnant.[28] After a confrontation , Michael suffered damage and underwent a healing process at the hands of the prestigious Wakandan Cybernetics Unit; Tracy watched the operation from outside the operating room, then compared her situation to Lynne's, as their lovers often suffered life-threatening injuries, but at the same time they were due to the heroism that both Tracy and Lynne so admired in them. Collins recovered and was reunited with his family,[29] but the crisis was not over: Wakanda's enemy Moses Magnum had seized control of neighboring Canaan[28][9] and invaded Wakanda in a military attack.[30][9] T'Challa had Tracy and Lynne hide in the basement of the palace, where they would be safe, while Collins searched for Nick. Magnum was expelled from Wakanda, and T'Challa decorated Collins.[30] However, while the Collinses were in Wakanda, Cybertek's parent company, Roxxon, canceled the health insurance that Cybertek had provided to Tracy and her family, something she only discovered when she returned to Paterson. This left the family in a bad situation, since Michael's job only paid expenses, but not Tracy's studies, and the house was still not fully repaired; so Tracy decided to interrupt her studies to look for a job.[3]
Trying to return to a not-completely-repaired house, Tracy and Nick found themselves harassed[3] by supervillain Hobgoblin, who had been hired by Clayton Burr to murder Michael.[9][3] The Hobgoblin started a fire at the house, and Tracy replied by trying to use Arlene's gun on him, but failed. While the Collinses escaped relevant damage,[3] the Hobgoblin burned their home to the ground[3][9] before escaping. Tracy then came to term, two months before expected time, and Deathlok took her to the Paterson hospital,[3] where she gave birth under the protective custody of Michael's friends Misty Knight and The Thing. While baby Patricia was born without an issue,[9] she was sent to the incubator for a few weeks due to her premature nature; and Tracy was to be treated due to smoke inhalation. Michael then threatened Burr, who was still in jail, because of his role in the attack.[3] Still, the house had been destroyed, and Tracy and the kids went back to live with Arlene again[31] while Michael returned to live with Badalemente, even if Tracy every now and then offered Michael to spend the night with her.[12][note 1]
During one of these visits, Michael's sensors noticed that baby Patricia had a fever; but Tracy had already taken Patricia to a doctor and did not believe she needed anything but abundant fluid. Soon afterward, however, Tracy had to take Patricia to the Paterson hospital, and repeatedly phoned Michael to tell him; Michael was en route and Badalamente gave him the message. Michael, again damaged after an impromptu fight, joined Patricia and Nick in the hospital to see the baby recovering.[12] As Tracy was still in good terms with Michael, she commissioned a birthday gift for him: A painting by Badalamente depicting Michael in his previous human form with his wife and kids -something that realistically would not have happened, as Michael had turned into Deathlok before Patricia had been born. Tracy gave Badalamente a number of photographs to use as a reference. Michael saw Badalamente working on the painting before it was finished. During that time, he met with his family midway between Arlene's and Badalemente's, at Michael's other friend Jim Dworman home in Riverdale.[32]
Despite Michael's work as a consultant,[33] the Collins family had money problems, having lost their home, their savings[31] and their insurance,[33] and with new expenses for the baby;[31] Tracy was unable to find a job and confessed to Nick the predicament they were in; Nick was optimistic, believing his father would get money as a programmer, and offering to deliver newspapers himself.[33] However, Michael left on another mission to Australia, despite Tracy's insistence that he needed his family together.[31] Arlene repeatedly told Tracy that she saw no future in her marriage to a cyborg,[31][10] but Tracy continued to admire her husband's heroism.[10]
Ultimately, Tracy decided not to raise her children near Michael, since Michael was often surrounded by powerful enemies, and she left him for the western United States,[9][11] without telling Michael where she would be,[9] and leaving him a letter. Michael discovered this only when he went to visit them at Arlene's house, finding only her sister-in-law, who explained the situation, praising Tracy's decision. En route, Tracy had to deal with reluctance from Nick, who disagreed with her decision. Nick tried to contact Michael through cyberspace without telling his mother,[11] and Tracy got a job at Mega Burger, but she and Nick often cried together.[8] When Michael finished his mission, he contacted Nick[34] and decided to respect Tracy's decision and stay away from her family.[34][9] Michael has led a more proactive superhero life ever since[9] but he eventually disappered when he was transported by an alien intelligence to another planet,[35] where he remained for years[36] until he could return home; due to the changes happening during this adventure, he was again in Michael Collins' body, apparently unable to become the cyborg Deathlok again. Collins then returned with his family. The family attended to the funeral of Gravity, a superhero who had died in the same mission that returned Michael home.[37]Attributes
Powers
Abilities
Tracy was studying for a PhD[7] and worked at a Mega Burger.[8]
Tracy showed the ability to find out whether her son had eaten sweets in her absence, based on remains on his face.[12] Michael also praised the breakfasts cooked by his wife.[2]Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Notes
- ↑ The birth of Trish takes place just after the Hobgoblin destroys the Paterson house in Deathlok Vol 2 26, and the house is not rebuilt, meaning that any story featuring Trish must take place after the destruction of the house. However, in the first story in Deathlok Annual Vol 2 2, told in the following paragraph, Tracy receives Deathlok in the Paterson house (in page 16 we see him taking the Paterson exit in the highway from Coney Island, and the home is too big to be Arlene's), and Trish's presence is an important plot device (Trish being taken to the hospital defines Deathlok's actions). This inconsistency (which also leads to Tracy offering Deathlok to spend the night together, which she would not have done at her sister's home) has not been justified yet.
See Also
- 27 appearance(s) of Tracy Collins (Earth-616)
- 3 minor appearance(s) of Tracy Collins (Earth-616)
- 4 mention(s) of Tracy Collins (Earth-616)
- 6 image(s) of Tracy Collins (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Deathlok #1
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #26
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Deathlok Annual #1 ; "Deathlok's Scrapbook"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #12
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Deathlok #2
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #32
- ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 9.15 9.16 9.17 9.18 9.19 9.20 9.21 9.22 9.23 9.24 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3 ; Deathlok (Collins)'s profile
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #29
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #31
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Deathlok Annual #2 ; "Quarry"
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Deathlok #4
- ↑ Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Vol. 3) #30
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #11
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #14
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #15
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #16
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #17
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #22
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #23
- ↑ Deathlok (Vol. 2) #24
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #25
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #27
- ↑ Deathlok Annual #2 ; "One Day At A Time"
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #28
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #34
- ↑ Beyond! #3
- ↑ Beyond! #4
- ↑ Beyond! #6