Origin
Santo Vaccarro is a young mutant who developed his powers pre- decimation. Much of his history is unknown but he came to the Xavier Institute and has had no known contact with his family since. He became close friends with Hellion when he was on the Hellions and is now close to Anole.
Creation
Rockslide was created by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir and first appeared in New Mutants Vol.2 issue 3 (2003).
Character Evolution
When he was first introduced he was a bully and crude. He was on the Hellions and one of Julian’s close followers. After decimation and the death of several of his friends, he became slightly more mature but still has his moments. He fought to have Anole and Pixie join the New X-Men team. He slowly shifted from being a Hellion follower to be being an equal with Anole. Now, while still be a student in many X-Men’s eyes, he is somewhat respected and given his mutation, is often put on the front lines of the X-Men battles.
Major Story Arcs
Becoming an X-Man
For most of the time, he stayed back and listen to what Hellion told him to do. Having Emma as an advisor meant that when the squad system was introduced, he was part of the Hellions squad. Emma got all her advisees together and asked them what their preferred code name would be. Santo was able to chose his name while some other students were not. Through several squad mission, the Hellions beat out all other squads to be named the champs.
Kingmaker
During the summer after the team won, Hellion took them all to his place in California. It was here that they met Kingmaker. Kingmaker offered to give them all what they truly wanted. Santo asks to be a famous wrestler. In the end the team decides that the price for what they really want is not worth serving Kingmaker and they betray him.
Decimation and Childhood’s End
While Rockslide kept his powers after M-Day, his teammate Tag was not as lucky. Emma brought the students that still had their mutant powers together and made them fight to see who would join the New X-Men team that would train with the X-Men. Rockslide was one of the students chosen. Emma also decided that it was not safe to keep the now human students at her school, so she had them bused of campus. Stryker had learned of this and had all of them killed to prevent them from re-entering society. Stryker attacked the school but Rockslide was among it’s defenders.
After this Prodigy realized that the technology that Stryker had been using was way to advanced then he should have had. Prodigy made the claim that it belonged to Nimrod. It was dismissed at the time because Nimrod was beaten. The New X-Men team then goes to battle the Nimrod sentinel after it is revealed that it had returned. Nimrod blasts Santo apart and is seemingly killed until he slowly rebuilds himself. It is then realized that Santo is actually a psychic entity that inhabits a golem. When the students are taken into Limbo by Belasco and Magik, Rockslide’s powers are developed even further when he is destroyed and rebuilds himself using the rocks of Limbo. This made him impervious to magik and crucial in defeating Belasco. Santo then pushes for Anole and Pixie to join the team, even saying that if they weren’t allowed that he would quit the team. After this we see the new Rockslide annoying Anole and outing him as gay. Anole knocks him out of the building.
Messiah Complex
When the first mutant is born since M-Day, Rockslide want to be on the front line to save her from the same men that had killed his friends. Cyclops restricts the team to staying in the mansion which they promptly disobey. The team is present after the messiah is taken into the future. This is when the X-Men disband.
Young X-Men
Santo is later persuaded by Donald Pierce, disguised as Cyclops, and joins a new Young X-Men. During the final battle with Pierce, Wolf Cub is killed and tells Rockslide his last words that X-Men don’t kill. Wolf Cubs death greatly affected Santo and he even attacked Cyclops because of it.
Dark Reign and Necrosha
Rockslide stays with the X-Men and is part of the younger team of X-Men. When Osborn creates the Dark X-Men to manage the mutant presence in San Francisco, Rockslide partakes in the rioting and is taken out by Colossus. When the two teams come head to head again, Cyclops tells all the students that they are officially X-Men. While on the new Utopia island, Rockslide was attacked by Selene’s revived minions.
Pixie Strikes Back
He stands with Anole in searching for Pixie and the other missing students. This leads them to the girls wash room, their rooms and eventually to a sleazy club. Rockslide stays with the team and fights to save the girls from the many demons that had been keeping them hostage.
Second Coming and Curse of the Mutants
Hope returns to the present, but in New York. After the island of and San Francisco is encased in the doom by Bastion, Rockslide is sent to stay on the bridge to stop any new Nimrods from coming through. Cyclops left the mutants that were least likely to die by the Nimrods here. Soon after Second coming the X-Men have to deal with a threat of a vampire invasion. When the invasion escalates and the vampires descend on Utopia Cyclops is ready. He has a majority of the mutants in lock down while he kept a team above ground call “Tough Skin”, which consisted of all mutants who couldn’t be bitten like Rockslide, Dust, Magma, Bling!, Mercury, Armor, Hush, and Emma Frost.
To Serve and Protect
Even with all this, Rockslide wants constant action and decides to become a local crimefighter at night in San Francisco. He is able to convince Anole to join him and the Duo begin fighting street level crime in the City. It is here that they stumble upon Doctor Negative’s plan to take over the crime in the city. It is up to them to stop him. Rockslide is taken over by Negative and has to attack Anole, it is after this that it is revealed that Anole and Rockslide are best friends, they were finally able to say it to each other.
Wolverine and Jubliee
Rockslide was one of the few X-Men that helped Jubilee once she rejoined the X-Men. Several X-Men did not want her to remain on Utopia. Rockslide seemingly admired the Jubilee and the two bonded while they worked out. Later, as Jubilee was caught in a whirlwind of traps and predicaments, it was Rockslide that assisted Wolverine in rescuing her. The two of them located Jubilee in a parallel dimension. The team took down the monster, with Jubilee delivering the final blow. As Wolverine and Emma Frost discussed the series of events as well as the reality of Jubilee’s new vampire persona, Rockslide and Jubilee had a nice friendly conversation in San Fransisco, watching the sun slowly rise.
First to Last
Rockslide is among the New X-Men members that protect Cyclops during the attack on Utopia by the Evolutionaries. Rockslide is also among the other student that save Irma from the attack of Toad, Dragoness, Bliss, and Litterbug.
Shism
Rockslide takes the side of Wolverine and joins his new Jean Grey School in Westchester New York. There, he becomes a junior X-Men and helps the X-Men on a number of missions.
With the Jean Grey School
Rockslide remains part of the studentbody of the Jean Grey School and is with the X-Men as they relocate back to Earth, to New York’s Central Park. Kitty Pryde is now the headmaster of the school
Age of X-Man
Rockslide stayed with the X-men, and helped out the X-Men team on a number of ocassions. However, soon Rockslide and almost every other X-Men, where called upon to fight against a power-mad Nate Grey (known as X-Man). During the battle, Rockslide and most other X-Men where teleported into a strange warped reality known as the Age of X-Man. In this reality, Rockslide and the others new nothing of their former self and their lives. He was part of the X-Men’s School in this reality. Luckily, the X-Men managed to regain their true memories and confronted Nate Grey.
After X-Man was defeated, Rockslide rejoined the X-Men on Krakoa to be part of the first Mutant Society.
Krakoa
Rockslide joined the X-men when they moved onto the island of Krakoa, where the mutants established the first ever independent mutant nation. There, Rockslide befriended a newcommer on the island, a strange being known as Summoner. They played boardgames together, a traditional Arakko game, which reveals weakness in each player. Sumonner eventually found out that Rockslide’s rock form was only on the exterier and that his human form was still inside the rocky form. He stated that he would keep the information to himself, since it could proce deadly in the wrong hands. However, during one of their battles, Rockslide and other X-Men where called to assist the throne of Otherworld, home of Captain Brittain. Rockslide had joined Summoner in helping the kingdom, only to be betrayed and killed by Summoner. When Rockslide’s remains where brought back to Krakoa, the mutants known as The Five attempted to resurrect Rockslide. They however learned, to their horror, that because Rockslide died on Otherworld, the real Santo perished as well as Otherworld is a nexus to the multiverse. That meant that he could not be brought back to his true self. The Rockslide that now walks seems to be a different one then everybody knows and loves.
Powers and Abilities
Santo’s body is totally made-up with inorganic granite which grant him a number of superhuman attributes, just like superhuman strength, stamina and durability. Rockslide possesses superhuman strength sufficient to lift about 75 tons without any effort. Although his “body” is composed of psionic energy and it cannot produce any fatigue toxins, Rockslide is still capable of tiring, however it is probably bounded to his mental state. Santo’s body is considerably harder and more resistant to injury, however it is still possible to injure him by extreme strength like Hulk, who had broken off Santo’s arms and legs, and by high level energy protection like Nimrod, who had atomized his body.
After The Quest For Magik episode Henry McCoy stated that Rockslide is now a non-physical psychic entity who can form and control a stone golem, so he can survive without a physical body. It is unknown whether his ability to reform himself from rocks is a passive regenerative ability which occurs when Santo’s body destroyed (or heavily injured) or a controlled process. Santo can consciously explode and can reform from any surrounding rocks.
It was recently shown that Rockslide can also survive in space without a spacesuit and a breathing apparatus.
Alternate Earths
Earth-58163 (House of M)
For further details: House of M
It is here that Rockslide’s life long dream to be a wrestler has come true. He has no known connections to the SHIELD or any other super heroes.
Too Much Information
He stayed with the Hellion’s team and was deemed a terrorist by Prodigy. He fights back against Prodigy and the X-Men at the end.
In Other Media
Television
Wolverine and the X-Men
Rockslide has an appearance in the episode Hindsight Part 1.