Art by Frank Quitely
- Name: Sooraya Qadir
- Code Names: Dust
- First Appearance: New X-Men #133 (Dec ‘02)
- Powers: Turns into living sand
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men, Hellions
About
On Friday May 26th, 2017 on a train in Portland, two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab, were accosted by a man yelling at them to “go back to Saudi Arabia”. Three men stood up against the white supremacist who brandished a knife. One of these heroes, Micah Fletcher, was hospitalized in the stabbing. Rick Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche gave their lives standing up to hate. We like to pretend that the prejudice seen in X-Men only exists in fiction, but sadly that isn’t true. There has been a global rise in hate, especially among countries that liked to believe they were past that. An important step to battling that is by representing these ethnic and religious minorities in our media. Humanizing them instead of treating them like caricatures of generic villains. That is what Dust was intended to be amid the US War in Afghanistan.
Sooraya Qadir was a devout Sunni girl from Afghanistan. She loved her homeland and her mother, but it was taken away from her with the advent of her mutant power. She could discorporate herself into a sand form and this mutant gift drew the attention of a slavery ring. The kidnapped her, stole her from her mother, and sold her into slavery. One day a slaver tried to remove Sooraya’s niqāb and she resisted, unaware of how powerful a mutant she was. Sooraya became a living sandstorm, flying around the room and stripping the flesh from their bones.
Art by Clayton Henry
As they were independently investigating the slavery ring, Wolverine and Fantomex found Sooraya unconscious next to the bodies. Logan took the girl to the Mumbai branch of X-Corps but she was nervous and afraid of her new surroundings. Jean Grey helped calm her down and soon Dust was enrolled in the Xavier Academy. In an attempt to acclimate Sooraya to the school, she was placed in Xorn’s special class, but something didn’t sit right with her. Xorn asked her to forsake her Muslim heritage in pledge fealty to the mutant race. Sooraya refused and Xorn took action, using one of his disciples to have Dust destroy Cerebra before containing her in a glass jar. Dust was rescued by the Stepford Cuckoos and helped rally the X-Men against Xorn and his attempted takeover of the globe.
Art by Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, and Chris Chuckry
The school revamped itself after Xorn’s attack and organized the students into training squads under the mentorship of senior X-Men. Dust was assigned to Emma Frost’s team, The Hellions. She was a loyal teammate but didn’t gel with the aggressive nature of their leader Julian Keller. Things weren’t any easier with her roommate, Surge, who took Sooraya’s traditional Muslim garb as a personal attack. She made friends with her classmates, but Sooraya always seemed to be an outsider at a school full of them.
Art by Randy Green and Rick Ketcham
During the summer break, Dust joined the rest of her squad mates at Hellions’ family mansion. There, against Sooraya’s wishes, they contacted the Kingmaker who promised to grant their wishes in return for a favor. She was unconvinced until he gave her a taste of what he could do. He found her mother. She was a refugee, still living in Afghanistan, and the Kingmaker reunited them. The Kingmaker’s favor soon came due and he wanted the Hellions to steal a bio-weapon for him. She knew it would mean losing her mother, but Sooraya was not going to become a terrorist. She and the rest of the Hellions stood against the Kingmaker but lost everything he had given them.
Art by Clayton Henry, Mark Morales, and Wil Quintana
M-Day rocked the students at the Xavier Institute harder than anyone. Only twenty-seven students were left with their mutant gifts and a bus full of depowered students were killed by the Purifiers. The zealots were especially appalled that Dust was both a Muslim and a mutant. They enlisted her friend and classmate Icarus to bring her to the church they were using as a base and shot Sooraya down. In reality, Dust’s new roommate, X-23, knocked her out and stole her niqāb to ambush the Purifiers. Dust awoke and joined the battle, helping save her school from the hateful men who thought she didn’t belong.
Art by Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and Brian Reber
Dust continued as a valuable member of the team, assisting in the battle against the Marauders during the Messiah CompleX and battling in the Skrull invasion. When the X-Men disbanded, Sooraya returned home to Afghanistan as a vigilante guarding against guerrilla fighters. Cyclops (actually Donald Pierce in disguise) recruited her to be part of his new X-Men to battle the rogue New Mutants team. In the ensuing fight, Magma used her lava abilities to turn Dust into glass and she was shattered. She reformed herself but she discovered a terrible truth, she was dying from the experience. She often visited Pierce in his cell at the X-Men’s headquarters and he offered to save her life if she would help him escape. Sooraya fell to the temptation but turned on Pierce when she was forced to confront the X-Men. She took down Pierce but at the cost of her own life.
Art by Ben Oliver and Ulises Arreola
Sooraya’s teammates couldn’t believe what had happened. Ink tried to use his caduceus tattoo to heal her, but Dust was too long gone. There was one trick left, one option that Ink hadn’t tried yet. He had an approximation of the Phoenix Force but he hesitated to use it. Could this power come free? If Sooraya’s body was dead, what did it mean for her soul? He weighed the cost and cost to worry about the ramifications later. The resurrecting power of the Phoenix revived Dust and put Ink into a coma. She rejoined her fellow X-Men and stayed on Utopia after the Schism. She continues to be with the X-Men, weather in Westchester, Limbo, or Central Park, leading the way for acceptance for all people.
Must Read
Dust has been a solid contributor for many years but rarely steps into the spotlight. The New X-Men: Hellions mini-series allowed for just that. Dust was the calm, rational center on a team of wildcards. She had experienced horrors that most of the team could hardly imagine and came out of them stronger, without ever losing touch with her heritage. Watching her make the decision to lose her mother or lose her morals is gut-wrenching and is easily the strongest part of the series.
Art by Clayton Henry
Ranking
I run into this problem with almost all the New X-Men kids, they are great starts to characters who still need to be fleshed out. They are two dimensional and can be inserted into almost any story. That strength, which makes them the perfect students, makes them lesser characters overall. Dust is one of the stronger ones with a unique design, personality, and power set. She instantly stands out in a crowd and is exciting to see in fights. I think she is better than both Elixir and Mercury, but not as good as a character like Glob Herman who has been allowed to grow and develop. I don’t think she goes above selffriend Warlock but I think she is very similar to her teammate Rockslide. They have both been allowed to grow as characters and they stand out next to their fellow X-Men. Just due to sheer screen time Rockslide just barely slides above her, putting Dust as a respectable number 40 in the Xavier Files.
Dust was requested by stealthPR and others. Thank you for the request. If you have a request for how about you send it below? If you want to cut to the front of the two-year long line, we have a Patreon you can support Xavier Files for just $1 to get a line cutting reward.
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I am going to be traveling next week so there is a good chance I don’t get an article up. See you in two!
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
