SKIP COLLINS

Real Name: Leroy R. "Skip" Collins

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Traffic control manager at Acme Aglet; former soldier

Group Membership: Acme Aglet's bowling team

Affiliations: Mr. Wilkins;
briefly aided the Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm)

Enemies: Ego the Living Planet

Known Relatives: Louisa Collins ("Elly," wife), Leroy Collins Jr. ("Junior," son), three other unidentified children (mentioned only, see comments)

Aliases: "The Man With the Power" (in story title only)

Base of Operations: Unidentified town, somewhere in America (see comments)

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#234 (September, 1981)

Powers/Abilities: A seemingly ordinary man, Collins was unaware that he had the god-like ability to re-shape reality according to his subconscious wishes. By his simply desiring something would be so, it would happen -- he could even affect the flow of time.

His power was so far-reaching that he undid the world-wide destruction caused by Ego's arrival in Earth's solar system; but apparently after repairing Ego's damage, Collin's power vanished permanently.

Weaknesses: Skip could not affect things which he himself did not believe possible -- for instance, although he wished his son would cut his hair, it did not happen because he did not believe it would (see comments).

Height: 5'1"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Gray

 

History:
(Fantastic Four I#234 (fb)) - Back in 1955 (see comments), Skip Collins was one of several soldiers who were brought to the site of an atomic bomb detonation in Nevada. The military's doctors tested him afterwards, and found nothing unusual, but Skip did not inform them that he had developed an odd "buzzing" in the back of his head -- eventually, he would grow so accustomed to it that he hardly ever noticed it.

(Fantastic Four I#234 (fb) - BTS) - After being discharged from military service, Skip married Louisa and fathered four children with her. He worked at Acme Aglet, where he was employed for eighteen years and was the captain of the company's bowling team. In the years that followed, Skip's ability to bring his subconscious desires into reality became a part of his everyday life, without his ever being aware of it.

(Fantastic Four I#234 (fb) - BTS) - One night, Skip and his wife invited the Stanleys and the Drakes over to their house for a get-together -- this resulted in their house being left in a considerable state of disorder.

(Fantastic Four I#234) - The next morning, Skip awoke and saw what a mess the house was from the night before; after he shaved and dressed for work, he thought it would be nice if the place could clean itself -- as he walked away, the house instantly became tidied up.

   While he drove to his job, Skip got caught in a traffic jam, and he was concerned that he'd be late for work -- he thought to himself that if he had only left home a half-hour earlier, he would have avoided the heavy traffic. Instantly, it became a half-hour earlier, simply because Skip desired it to be so, and he ended up arriving at Acme Aglet on time.

   Skip was sent on a business trip to New York City, and as he toured the metropolis, he was thrilled to see Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl casually walking along the sidewalk, so he followed them, hoping to see the heroes in action. Skip's wish came true when he saw the super-powered spouses rescue a girl from a condemned building that was collapsing.

   Moments later, the entire city began to shake and crumble, as the effects of the massive living planet Ego were felt around the world. Skip wished that he could help, and he was teleported to the collapsing Brooklyn Bridge, where a freighter was trapped underneath. While the Thing struggled to lift up the bridge by pulling the support cables together, Skip subconsciously made it lighter, and the Thing was able to raise the structure high enough to set the freighter free; but then the bridge suddenly snapped to its full weight -- a two-ton slab of masonry broke off and seemingly crushed Skip.

   But Skip's power prevented him from being injured, and he next found himself outside the Baxter Building. By that time, the Fantastic Four had ascertained that the cause of the devastation was due to Earth being deluged with gravity waves originating somewhere from beyond the solar system, so the heroic quartet climbed aboard their rocket and launched into space to investigate. As he watched the FF leave, Skip feared it meant they were running away because the planet was doomed, and he wished that none of the destruction had ever happened. And just as he wished it so, it came to be -- all of his power surged out of him in irresistible waves of incredible energy, which rippled across the fabric of space and time itself. All over the planet--including London, Paris, and Moscow--that which had been was twisted and turned into that which never was, and the world was miraculously resurrected as it had previously existed.

   With no memory of what had happened, Skip found himself in the restored, strangely peaceful city and figured that he must have been day-dreaming. He checked his wristwatch and noticed that he'd be late for the Broadway show he had a ticket for if he didn't hurry back to his hotel room to change clothes. As he walked away to find a taxi, Skip was vaguely aware that the annoying buzz in his head was gone...and it would never bother him again...

Comments: Created by John Byrne.

A caption stated that Skip had four children; a later caption stated that Junior was Skip's youngest son; since it seems customary that the firstborn son would be named after the father, possibly Skip's first three children were his daughters.

I would find this idea plausible...except for the fact that Junior is specifically identified being Skip's "youngest son." This choice of words clearly indicates that at least two of Skip and Elly's four children were sons, and it was just their choice to name their lastborn son after his father. Also, the fact that he is "Leroy Junior" suggests that he has (or should have) the same middle name as his father.
--Donald Campbell

In regard to Acme Aglet: an aglet is a plastic or metal sheath at the end of a shoelace or drawstring.

A caption mentioned that Skip purchased his house using the First City Bank of Skokie, so possibly he lived somewhere in the state of Illinois (Skokie being a village just north of Chicago).

The year 1955, when Skip was exposed to the atomic bomb blast, is probably topical.

I wonder if Skip's mutation from the radiation could have been passed down to any of his children; maybe his power didn't work on Junior because Junior had the same reality-altering power, and was thus "immune" to any changes that Skip desired for him to make to himself.

Maybe Skip's mutation somehow gave him the power to tap into the same energy as the reality-altering Cosmic Cube.

And since no reference has ever been made to the world-wide damage caused by Ego, Skip's power probably erased mankind's collective memory of the event as well.--Ron Fredricks

An editorial response in the letters page of Fantastic Four I#239 states that Skip's inability to control his son's behavior was meant to establish that the Man with the Power had no control over living beings. Thus, he could not wish the FF into action, nor could he have (as a reader suggested) caused Ego to come to Earth so that he could see the FF in action. I take this to mean that Skip could not influence the minds of other living beings to make them act in ways he wanted. However, wouldn't this also mean that Skip's power would have been unable to erase mankind's collective memory of the Ego-caused worldwide disaster? It could be argued that erasing memories is not exactly the same as manipulating a person's choices but it's certainly in the same ballpark. Professor X could do both (and has).

   The fact that the FF continued on their mission even after Skip restored the world is explained by their being away from Earth and "beyond the effect" of Skip's miracles. It is mentioned that the Emergency Transmission Frequency had gone dead and this puzzles the FF because only the president could switch it off and he was "missing" when the FF left Earth. So, did the not-dead president switch it off? Or did Skip's miracle restructure Reality-616 into one where that transmission was never activated, thereby causing it, from the viewpoint of the FF, to seem to just stop?

   A slight chronological issue. When Skip had gotten up, shaved and dressed, he noticed what a mess the bedroom was and wished that the house would clean itself up. This happened instantly, just after Skip had closed the bedroom door, so Lousia awoke briefly to see that the bedroom had been tidied and assumed that Skip had done it. Meanwhile, Skip, after he had descended to the ground floor, was mildly surprised to find that everything in the house was already as neat as he could wish.

   It has been suggested that Leonard Tippit's power might have been a manifestation of the same Destiny Force that Rick Jones possessed. Could Skip's exposure to radiation have similarly activated the Destiny Force in him just as, years later, the Supreme Intelligence would manipulate Mar-Vell into using the Omni-Wave Projector to try to contact Rick, something that the Supremor knew would stimulate Rick's latent powers?
--Don Campbell

Profile by Prime Eternal. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Skip Collins (or any of his family members) has no known connection to:

Mr. Wilkins has no known connection to:

Louisa Collins

Affectionately known to her husband as "Elly," she was the wife of Skip Collins, and he loved her very much.

The Collins' home had been left in state of disorder because of a get-together they had with friends the night before. But when Louisa awoke, she found the entire house tidied up -- she just assumed that her thoughtful husband had taken care it.

She was unaware that the house was clean because Skip had unknowingly used his power to wish it to be so.

--Fantastic Four I#234

Leroy Collins Jr.

Known as "Junior," he was the youngest son of Skip and Louisa Collins (see comments); although an adult, he still lived with his parents.

Junior had apparently been out all night; when he got home early the next morning, he sat at the kitchen table, reading a pornographic magazine. Skip mildly scolded him for his choice of reading material, and Junior spoke disrespectfully to his father.

Although Skip wished that Junior wouldn't talk back and get a haircut, he knew that his son would never change -- perhaps this implied that even Skip's incredible reality-altering power had its limits.

--Fantastic Four I#234

Mr. Wilkins

Wilkins (first name unrevealed) was Skip Collins' boss at Acme Aglet.

He had a business meeting scheduled in New York City on the same day that his daughter had a piano recital; not wanting to disappoint little Babs by missing her performance, Wilkins asked Collins to go to New York in his place because he was such a good employee, and Collins eagerly agreed to help him.

Wilkins was appreciative of Collins' willingness to assist, and even gave him a ticket to attend a Broadway show.

--Fantastic Four I#234

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#234, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Skip Collins)
Fantastic Four I#234, p2, pan5 (Headshot - Skip Collins)
Fantastic Four I#234, p7, pan2 (Skip Collins touring New York City)
Fantastic Four I#234, p19, pan4 (Skip Collins reacting to destruction of New York City)
Fantastic Four I#234, p19, pan5 (Skip Collins using his power to repair world-wide destruction)
Fantastic Four I#234, p2, pan7 (Louisa Collins)
Fantastic Four I#234, p3, pan2 (Junior Collins; Skip Collins (foreground))
Fantastic Four I#234, p3, pan3 (Junior Collins; Skip Collins (background))
Fantastic Four I#234, p5, pan7 (Mr. Wilkins enters Skip Collins' office)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#234 (September, 1981) - John Byrne (writer/pencils/inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jean Simek (letters), Jim Salicrup (editor)

First posted: 04/18/2002
Last updated: 04/13/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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