Rockslide (comics) - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

In his initial appearance, Santo's body was composed completely of granite; with a look very similar to that of the Thing. This granted him superhuman strength, endurance, durability and the ability to fire his hands as projectiles.

In the Hellions mini-series, he was shattered by the Kingmaker and put back together by Julian, much like how a disembodied Emma Frost was reanimated by Jean Grey in the first New X-Men series. Santo's body was later obliterated by Nimrod. Again with Julian's assistance, he was eventually able to put himself back together. This time his appearance is larger and more rugged.

In the Quest for Magik arc, Santo attempts to fire his fists off in Limbo but Blindfold reveals that aspect of his powers doesn't work anymore. Although he is blown up again, Santo returns as a large lava type "golem". His molten rock form, being from Limbo, is also resistant to magic. This is shown when Darkchild tried to stop him from attacking her and when Belasco tries to zap him with magical energy, but they both have no effect.

Dr. McCoy's suspicion is that after Nimrod shattered Santo, Nimrod must have atomized most of his original body and dissolved him in some sort of disembodied psychic state. Santo, in theory, is able to re-form himself as a "golem" from some kind of ambient earth matter and obtain that earth matter's properties. The first time his body was destroyed, he was able to reform from solid rocks and obtained a larger and rugged rock body. The second time, he reformed from Limbo's molten rocks and obtained the ability to generate and maintain heat from within, and also some magic resistance. The third time, he reformed from the school's grounds after exploding himself. Beast, currently, is testing the extent of Rockslide's reformation abilities. As a result, Santo's original ability to fire off his limbs is seemingly lost in his new reformed bodies. Instead, the energy used to propel his limbs is now explosively released from his entire body, obliterating his form, from which he can recover.

During Kuurth, Breaker of Stone's attack on Utopia, Gambit unlocked Rockslide's potential energy to create a "living bomb", making "one of the largest mutant-generated force blasts recorded".