Dust (character)

Dust (Sooraya Qadir) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character usually appears in X-Men-related comic books. Sooraya is a mutant with the ability to transform her body into a pliable cloud of dust.

Publication history
Sooraya Qadir, alias Dust, was created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Ethan Van Sciver for the comic book series New X-Men #133 (December 2002). Dust has since appeared in various X-Men related comic book series, miniseries, and storylines.

Origin
Sooraya Qadir is a Pashtun Muslim from Kandahar, Afghanistan, who possesses the mutant ability to transform into a sand-like substance. The character’s origin story depicts her kidnapping by slavers who attempt to remove her religious head covering, the niqab. This event triggers Sooraya's mutant power for the first time, killing her attackers. Rescued by Wolverine and Fantomex, Sooraya enrolls at the Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Leadership, a school dedicated to training mutants to control their powers and coexist with humanity.

Storylines
Sooraya Qadir's experiences at the Xavier Institute are documented across various X-Men comic book series. Notably, she features prominently in the aftermath of a major event within the Marvel Universe that significantly reduces the mutant population. This event, known as "Decimation," significantly impacts the dynamics at the Xavier Institute, forcing the school to restructure and leading to a reduced student body. Sooraya is among the 27 mutants who retain their powers after Decimation, placing her in a unique position within the institute.

Early struggles and adaptation
Following her enrollment, Sooraya initially struggles to adapt to life at the Xavier Institute. Cultural and religious differences create challenges, particularly with her outspoken roommate Noriko. Despite these obstacles, Sooraya demonstrates unwavering faith in her Islamic beliefs, choosing to wear her religious attire instead of the standard training uniform. Over time, Sooraya develops friendships with other students, including Icarus. However, her religious background occasionally leads to conflict with other characters, highlighting the complexities of integrating mutants from diverse backgrounds. Sooraya's journey at the Xavier Institute is marked by various challenges that test her courage and resilience. Due to her religious beliefs, Sooraya becomes a target for anti-mutant factions within the Marvel Universe, leading to threats and capture. However, Sooraya consistently demonstrates her bravery, using her unique sand-based powers to battle enemies like William Stryker and the villain Belasco. Despite facing injuries and moments of self-doubt regarding leadership, Sooraya continues to overcome adversity, even confronting powerful mutants like a nanotech-controlled Sentinel and Predator X. Her resourcefulness and strategic use of her powers prove valuable in defeating formidable foes like the mutant Exodus.

Return to Afghanistan and beyond
Sooraya's story extends beyond the walls of the Xavier Institute. In later storylines, she returns to her home country, taking a protective stance over a small town. However, she becomes entangled in a complex situation and is manipulated into joining a team led by a character impersonating Cyclops. This event leads to a life-threatening situation where parts of her body are temporarily transformed into glass. Sooraya demonstrates remarkable resilience, eventually recovering and rejoining the X-Men in San Francisco. Following a major schism within the X-Men, Sooraya initially sides with Wolverine's team but ultimately chooses to remain with Cyclops' faction.

Personality and relationships
Sooraya is depicted as a quiet and reserved individual, initially struggling to adapt to life at the Xavier Institute, particularly with her outspoken roommate Noriko. Despite these initial difficulties, Sooraya demonstrates unwavering faith in her religion, choosing to wear a hijab instead of the standard training uniform. Throughout her time at the institute, Sooraya develops friendships with other students like Icarus, though her religious beliefs occasionally create conflict with other characters.

Appearance
In line with Sooraya's character as a traditional Muslim, she chooses to don a loose-fitting black dress, with a niqab covering her face. Sooraya explains to her mother that she dresses this way because of the modesty it affords her from men. Her mother is happy that she lives somewhere where she is able to make those choices

Powers and abilities
Dust is a transmorph, able to transform herself into an explosive cloud of sand-like silicon particles and maintain control of her sand form. She can reform her normal body at will or maintain an aerial based sand form in the shape of her human body. Her sandstorm form is resistant to most forms of injury. The form makes her hard to detect telepathically, according to Jean Grey and Professor X. She is also resistant to magic. She can use the form to attack, for instance, scouring the flesh from her enemies' bones like a sandstorm as well as enter people's lungs and scouring them from the inside.

Critical reception
Peter Eckhardt of CBR.com called Dust one of the "favorite characters with connections to the 616 AAPI community," writing, "Qadir's Sunni Muslim faith is a critical part of her character. She's depicted almost exclusively wearing traditional Muslim dress consisting of a niqab atop an abaya. Although her faith occasionally creates conflict with other characters, Qadir's faith remains strong and makes her one of the most positive representations of Muslim women in speculative fiction." Marc Buxton of Den of Geek said, "We have the devout Muslim warrior Dust, one of the bravest X-Men to join Xavier’s team in the 21st century. When a slave trader forcibly tried to remove her niqab, Sooraya Qadir manifested her power to turn her body into sand and flayed him alive. Dust remains one of X-Men’s bravest, using her unwavering faith and powers to help other young mutants. For Dust, her eyes tell the whole story, of faith and pain, of belief and bravery."

Accolades

 * In 2014, BuzzFeed ranked Dust 81st in their "95 X-Men Members Ranked From Worst To Best" list.
 * In 2017, CBR.com ranked Dust 11th in their "15 Muslim Characters In Comics You Should Know" list.
 * In 2017, Den of Geek included Dust in their "40 X-Men Characters Who Haven’t Appeared in the Movies But Should" list.
 * In 2020, CBR.com ranked Dust 7th in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Hellions" list.
 * In 2020, WhatCulture ranked Dust 7th in their "Marvel Phase 4: 10 Mutants Who Should Be MCU X-Men" list.
 * In 2021, Screen Rant included Dust in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Champions" list.
 * In 2022, CBR.com ranked Dust 2nd in their "10 Best X-Men Mutants Who Haven't Been In A Movie Yet" list and 6th in their "X-Men: 10 Heroes Who'd Be Perfect Assassins" list.

Other versions
Although Dust is a character in the main Marvel Universe continuity (also called "Earth-616,"), she has also been depicted in other fictional universes and alternate futures.

House of M
Sooraya appears as a member of the New Mutants in the House of M continuity. She appears to have formed a very close friendship with Jubilee and become Westernized, wearing revealing clothes and enjoying stereotypical 'mall rat' activities. Like the rest of the Hellions and New Mutants, she travels to Japan to fight against Emperor Sunfire in order to close down Project Genesis.

X-Men: The End
In the alternate time line depicted in X-Men: The End, Sooraya remains at the institute as the caretaker of Cyclops and Emma Frost's children. During the attack on the institute, Sooraya encounters Madelyne Pryor, asking if she is Jean Grey returning to the school. Madelyne lashes out and Sooraya defends herself, seemingly defeating Madelyne and escaping the institute before it explodes. It is later revealed that the "Dust" who escaped the encounter was really Madelyne, disguised in Sooraya's abaya. Upon revealing her true identity, Cyclops states that he already knew it was her and that the real Sooraya died back at the school.

Young X-Men "End of Days"
In a dystopic future depicted in the final two issues of "Young X-Men", Sooraya appears before the last remaining mutants on the once mutant safe-haven and independent state of "Xaviera". She easily kills Wolverine and kills Graymalkin and Emma Frost. Before killing him, Sooraya explains to Anole that she is doing this because mutants are a "plague" upon the world and that she has become its cure, "a storm that wipes clean the earth". She reaches a now decrepit Ink, who has a brief conversation with her regarding her revival in the past. They both discuss that his actions corrupted her, "killing" her soul and she reveals that she still harbors resentment over "mutants" allowing her to die in the first place. She states that she is sorry, as she knows his actions were good at heart, and kills him.

In this future depiction, Sooraya no longer observes Islamic hijab, wearing a tight outfit exposing her face and her cleavage. Her eyes glow red and she has combustive powers in addition to her original abilities.

In other media

 * Dust appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Tara Strong.
 * Dust makes a cameo appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds via Deadpool's ending.
 * Dust is among the mutants who appear on a bulletin board at the end of the X-Men '97 Season 1 finale.