Vincent Stewart, codenamed Redneck and later Skybolt is a fictional

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

character in the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Universe.

Publication history

His first appearance was in ''New X-Men'' #126 by

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, Humanism, humanist philosophy and counterculture, countercultural leanings. Morrison has writt ...

and

Frank Quitely Vincent Patrick Deighan (born January 18, 1968), better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish people, Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as ''New X-Men (20 ...

Fictional character biography

Vincent Stewart, the young mutant called Redneck, was a student of the

Xavier Institute X-Mansion and Xavier Institute are the common names for a mansion and research institute appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The mansion is depicted as the private estate of Charles Francis Xavier and serves as the bas ...

. He came from a large family in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, experienced first-hand violence against mutants and became friends with fellow student

Radian The radian, denoted by the symbol rad, is the unit of angle in the International System of Units (SI) and is the standard unit of angular measure used in many areas of mathematics. It is defined such that one radian is the angle subtended at ...

. Redneck was ready to fight

Cassandra Nova Cassandra Nova Xavier is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, the character first appeared in '' New ...

as she made her second assault. Instead, Redneck became mentally controlled by Nova and was forced to fight the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

on her behalf. Redneck and the other students were freed soon after by the

Stepford Cuckoos The Stepford Cuckoos are a set of fictional Mutant (Marvel Comics), mutants, Group mind (science fiction), psychically linked Multiple birth, quintuplets (Celeste Cuckoo, Esme Cuckoo, Irma "Mindee" Cuckoo, Phoebe Cuckoo, and Sophie Cuckoo) appea ...

. Sometime after, Redneck joined

Quentin Quire Quintavius Quirinius "Quentin" Quire, also known as Kid Omega, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually in those featuring the X-Men. Quire first appeared in '' New X-Men'' #134 (January 2003). ...

, also known as Kid Omega, and his group. This small team of mutants was dubbed the Omega Gang. As the Omega Gang later attacked a small group of humans to avenge the mutant fashion designer Jumbo Carnation, Redneck used his powers to burn one of the humans. When Kid Omega and his gang started a riot at the Xavier Institute, Redneck was stopped by

Cyclops In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; , ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguished. In Hesiod's ''Th ...

, whose optic blasts broke his nose. As his punishment for his involvement in the riot, Redneck was sent to a prison run by humans. As informed by Wolverine, once his sentence would be up, he would be sent overseas to do charity work. He was later questioned about the drug Kick by Bishop. Redneck lost his mutant powers after the event called M-Day. He would later be offered membership in the newest incarnation of the

New Warriors The New Warriors are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They traditionally consisted of teenage and young adult heroes, and were often seen to serve as a junior counterpart to Avengers (comics) ...

. After being given a flight suit and new technological weaponry based on the designs of the Beetle and the Turbo suit to replace his lost powers he adopted the codename Skybolt, and began training with the team, which included his former Omega Gang teammate

Tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

, now using the code-name Longstrike. However, on one of the team's first missions out to stop the

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...

, Longstrike got too cocky when fighting Cancer, and was brutally killed in front of the rest of the team. Vin didn't seem too saddened by Christine's death, even criticizing her work ethic in front of her brother shortly after her death. Although callous and harsh, he shows a commitment to the New Warriors and their cause. He was later killed along with Ripcord.''New Warriors'' (vol. 4) #16

Powers and abilities

Using a suit and weapons derived from technology used by the

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

and

Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

, Skybolt can fly and fire an array of both lethal and non-lethal projectiles from his wrist-mounted gauntlets. He is also armored in an

osmium Osmium () is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Os and atomic number 76. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group that is found as a Abundance of elements in Earth's crust, trace element in a ...

alloy, making him durable enough to act as a human battering ram. Before losing his mutant powers, Redneck had the superhuman ability to generate intense heat from his hands.

References

{{Grant Morrison Characters created by Frank Quitely Characters created by Grant Morrison Fictional characters from Arkansas Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities Marvel Comics mutants Marvel Comics superheroes Marvel Comics supervillains