- "You planned for every possible outcome, but you couldn't plan for me."
- —JJ Collins to Alexander Kessel
Joanna Julia "JJ" Collins is a tough and reality-bruised Captain in the U.S. Army assigned to the nuclear missile interceptor base known as SBX-1.
She is the main protagonist of the film Interceptor.
History[]
Early History[]
Born to an unnamed Spanish woman and American solider Frank Collins, JJ Collins was raised in Spain during her youth. Frank often told his daughter stories of his time in the U.S. Army, and always encouraged her with his mantra - "Never stop fighting" - which eventually inspired JJ to decide to join the Army herself.
After reaching enlistment age, Collins moved to the U.S. with her American citizenship and joined the Army, and in addition to her combat training also became a specialist in missile launch systems. Despite the difficulties that came with being a female servicemember, Collins persevered until she eventually reached the rank of Captain.
During her off-duty time, Collins would play soccer, often playing the position of goalkeeper, which occasionally resulted in her being injured with dislocated thumbs. At one point, Collins took part in a photoshoot for a soccer team's charity calendar, allowing herself to be photographed in a suggestive pose.
Collins was assigned to the SBX-1 nuclear missile interceptor platform in the Pacific Ocean prior to the early 2020's, serving as a specialist under Lieutenant-Colonel Clark Marshall's command. While she got along with Marshall, Collins grated with Corporal Beaver Baker, who irked her with his uncouth demeanor and sexist remarks. Collins served on SBX-1 for an unspecified amount of time before she was reassigned to another posting elsewhere.

Eventually, Collins found herself up for a promotion, one that would allow her to reach her dream position. She met with the Three-Star General Crowthorne to discuss the transition, however, while he promised to help her reach the top, Crowthorne put his hand on Collins' rear, implying that he would only do so if she slept with him. Collins refused and instead reported Crowthorne's conduct to the Army review board. Unfortunately, with his reputation and a lack of evidence, the board concluded that Collins had fabricated the story and dismissed the charges.

Crowthorne soon invited Collins to his office to talk about her future again, and, suspecting that he would once again offer her a full ride in exchange for sex, she wore a wire to record this. As soon as Crowthorne had made his offer, Collins spilled her drink as an excuse to retreat to the bathroom, where she confirmed that she had managed to record Crowthorne's offer. With tangible evidence against the General, Collins submitted the recording to the Army review board, who now had no choice but to immediately discharge Crowthorne from the Army.

Unfortunately, Collins was ostracized by many male soldiers in the Army for her actions, as few cared about what Crowthorne had done, and was so harassed constantly over the next few years. Collins received multiple hateful emails calling her a liar, death threats, and demands for her to leave the Army. Eventually, a "bounty" that was set up to find lewd photos of Collins uncovered the suggestive charity photo and saw it disseminated, its altruistic intent ignored. Collins was distressed by all this, but tried not to let it show.

Eventually, the harassment against Collins came to a head when she one day returned to her home to find that it had been heavily vandalised and cruel remarks written on the walls. This broke Collins' resolve, and, after consuming multiple sleeping pills, set herself up in the bath so that she could commit suicide by drowning. Not long after slipping under the water, Collins' father arrived and extracted her from the tub, reviving her. Disorientated, Collins could only apologise to her papa before falling unconscious.

When Collins awoke, she found her father tidying up the damage to her home. As Frank tried to encourage her not to let her tormentors win, Collins despaired that she was hated in spite of telling the truth, which no one seemed to care about, and that she had lost everything she had worked towards. Frank persisted, prompting Collins to say aloud what he had always said to her; never stop fighting. Frank pointed out that Collins had always had a fighting spirit, just like her mother, giving Collins the necessary nudge to accept that she shouldn't give up.
Her determination renewed, Collins decided to resume active service, committed to demonstrating that in spite of the harassment and her momentary wavering, she was still loyal and willing to fight for the United States. However the higher-ups in the Army were reluctant to accept her back, and it was only thanks to Marshall's arguing on her behalf that they decided to reassign her to SBX-1. But, still considering her a pariah, the Army elected to avoid informing her about the reassignment until the last possible moment. Unaware of the delay, when Collins was told she was being posted at SBX-1, she was unhappy at the prospect of resuming the somewhat-tedious role, but agreed regardless.
Interceptor[]

The morning after receiving her orders, Collins boarded a chopper and was flown out over the Pacific to SBX-1. Upon being dropped off, Collins was led by Ensign Washington to Marshall's office, where the Lieutenant-General expressed his gladness at seeing her again. Marshall tried to reassure the disheartened Collins that he had done everything he could to help her, and while she snapped at how the posting to SBX-1 was the best he could do, Collins apologised for her outburst, lamenting that she thought she was done with being a pariah. Collins thanked Marshall for taking her back, and Marshall assured her that he had believed her story from the start.

After Washington led Collins to hew new quarters, the Ensign confesses that she and many other women were proud of Collins for what she'd done, as what had happened to her had happened to a lot of them as well. This came as little reassurance to Collins, who quickly found a copy of the provocative photo of her had been stuck to her mirror. After briefly turning to a good luck card from her father, Collins was visited by Marshall, who urged her to join him in the command center immediately.

As they headed to the command center, Marshall informed Collins that there was an active shooter situation at Fort Greely caused by their own people, but the status of their interceptors was unknown since they weren't responding to communications. Once at the command center, Collins took her post as she was introduced to Corporal Rahul Shah, who reported that Fort Greely's communications seemed to be shut off, just before Corporal Baker sarcastically asked if Collins had missed him; she responded that she hadn't and tried to ignore his usual aggravating taunts while suggesting he shut up. Before their tensions could escalate, Shah reported that SBX-1 was being assigned primary early warning status, and Marshall reminded everyone that this means that they are now the lone nuclear missile defence for the United States and to set their differences aside.

Collins then picked up and relayed to the others NSA radio chatter about a Russian ICBM base in Tavlinka having been attacked and sixteen of their Topol-M missiles taken, before Marshall received a call from the Pentagon directing them to a video of a Russian terrorist stating their intent to fire the stolen missiles at America. As the reality of their situation set in, Marshall ordered Collins aside, wanting to confirm that she was up to the task. Collins assured Marshall that he didn't have to worry about her, and decided to begin the emergency lockdown.

But as Marshall set off to locate Captain Lou Welsh, Collins began to suspect that the shooters at Greely and thieves at Tavlinka were both inside jobs and connected, and went after Marshall to relay her suspicion. As Collins began to lay out her theory that there might be infiltrators at SBX-1 as well, she noticed some of the janitors nearby and locked eyes with one of them, who then ordered to the others to move. One of the janitors quickly shot and killed Marshall, though Collins was able to draw her weapon and kill him in return before taking cover as the others opened fire on her.

As additional assailants joined the firefight, Collins heard their leader order them to grab Marshall's keycard, so she shot at a nearby pipe, causing a small blast that disorientated the enemy and allowed her to take the keycard first. But as she retreated back towards the command center, Collins was tackled to the ground by Mikael, who tried to keep her pinned down but failed as she managed to lock down the blast door and seal off the command center. Collins and Mikael then engaged in a brutal fight, during which she tried to keep her opponent from re-opening the blast doors, and Collins eventually emerged victorious as she stabbed the frame her pistol into Mikael's left eye.

Exhausted, Collins checked herself over for injuries before turning to find the assailants' leader watching her through the window of the blast door, and so made sure he could see her drop Marshall's keycard into the acid. Re-entering the command center, Collins questioned if the awed Shah had sent out an SOS and on Baker's condition - having being clipped by a stray shot during the fight - before setting about checking the damage and sealing the second blast door.

Moments later the intercom pinged, and Collins answered it to find herself speaking to the enemy leader. Collins suggested that he escape with his life, while the assailant retorted that she might keep hers if she let him in. Confirming he and his people were in league with the instigators at Greely and the thieves from Tavlinka, the man identified himself as Alexander Kessel, and warned Collins that he and his people had already killed or contained everyone else on SBX-1, but that he would let her live if she let him into the command center to disable it. Collins refused, and so as Kessel had some of his people begin preparing blowtorches to start cutting through the first door.

Receiving a priority call alert from the White House's Situation Room, and Collins muted the intercom before answering and informing General Dyson of the situation. In turn, Dyson relayed that while the situation at Greely had been resolved, the controls for the interceptors there were all been disabled with acid, leaving SBX-1 as the sole defence against nuclear attack, and SEALs reinforcements were en-route to SBX-1. President Wallace joined the conversation, and reminded Collins that the only reason the Russian terrorists haven't launched their stolen missiles yet is due to SBX-1 still being under control. Knowing that they cannot evacuate 16 cities in time following a missile's launch, Wallace and Dyson urged Collins to retain control of the command center.

Kessel contacted the command center again, revealing that he had Captain Welsh captive and threatening to execute him unless Collins opened the doors. Collins claimed that such tactics would work, and, seeing Welsh warning her against opening the doors, continued to refuse Kessel's demands until he killed Welsh. While regretting having to sacrifice Welsh's life, Collins proclaimed that Kessel could kill anyone he wanted but that she would still not concede. As Shah continued to fret, Collins urged him to calm down, reminding Shah that they still had a job to do before setting about securing their position.

While trying to figure out how else the assailants might try to breach the command center, the external lower hatch was blown open and another assailant, Zhang, burst in. Collins began fighting him hand-to-hand while Shah retrieved a shotgun, though the Corporal was unable to pull the trigger, forcing Collins to take it and shoot Zhang dead. After confirming no else was accompanying Zhang, Collins discovered that the shotgun was now useless, leaving her and Shah without any weapons. As Shah helped her drag Zhang's body to the hatch to dump it outside, he thanked Collins for saving his pet turtle Turbo; Collins then asked about his children, and reminded Shah that the best thing he could do for them was to help keep the stolen missiles in check. Looking back at the doors, Collins met Kessel's gaze evenly.

A short time later, after using the base's cameras to confirm that there were no survivors among SBX-1's staff, Kessel pinged the intercom and displayed the provocative photo of Collins. She retorted that he's not the first to throw that in her face, and pointed out that for all the years he'd spent planning for every outcome in his operation, he couldn't have planned for her since she had only been reassigned to SBX-1 the previous night. Kessel conceded that she might have been unexpected, but not unbeatable, revealing that he knew about Collins' troubled history of the last three years ago. While perturbed, Collins valiantly pointed out that she still wore the Army's uniform in spite of everything and claimed that this war wasn't yet over. Kessel pressed on and tried to convince Collins that they should be working together, offering her $30 million in exchange for opening the doors and pointing out that the Army didn't care about her, though Collins didn't bother answering him.

Eventually, Kessel and his people cut through the first blast door and approached the second, where Kessel made Collins a final offer to accept his money. Collins pointed out that she still had time before he cut through the second door, only for Kessel to reply that she didn't. Hearing a gun cock behind them, Collins and Shah turned to see Baker pointing a gun at them, and both were shot in their bulletproof vests, making them collapse in pain. After Baker let Kessel and his team in, Kessel sat next to the injured Collins, who refused to hear him "mansplaining" and suggested that he was going to kill her then to get it over with. Kessel reminded her that he had given her choices before having Baker and Nikolai zip-tie her and Shah to chairs.

Calling out Baker on betraying them, Collins denounced his reasons for doing so and calling him out on blaming everyone else but himself for his problems like a loser. After Baker threatened to assault her when the incident was over, Collins goaded him into lowering his guard by pointing out that women don't like being given demeaning and sexualised nicknames before headbutting him. The amused Kessel kept Baker from retaliating before making Collins and Shah watch as he began broadcasting his intentions to fire the missiles to the entire American populace, though during this Collins took note of where Kessel had left his gun.

After Kessel tried and failed to get Shah to share instances of being persecuted by American society, he turned the camera to Collins and revealed her story to the watching Americans, deriding the treatment she had received and praising Collins' integrity in spite of that and his financial offer. After Kessel revealed the photo's charitable purpose and idly asked what soccer position she played, Collins took advantage of the opening to continue speaking to lure Kessel back away from his weapon, informing him that a common injury among goalkeepers were dislocated thumbs.

Intentionally dislocating her thumb to slip out of her restraints, Collins grappled with Kessel over his gun, during which she positioned the weapon so that it fired a shower of bullets that downed Nikolai. Moving Kessel in front of her so that Baker couldn't shoot her, Collins launched a kick that forced both Kessel and Baker back into the corridor. As she held them at gunpoint, Collins let loose some shots at Ivan when he came investigating the commotion to keep him back. But after turning the gun back at Kessel and Baker and attempting to open fire on them, Collins discovered that the gun was out of bullets, and so quickly sealed the blast door again to lock the assailants out.

But as Collins reset her dislocated thumb and moved to fire an interceptor at the nuke targeting Los Angeles, Kira, the only assailant left in the command center, attacked and pushed her back. The two women engaged in a brutal fight, during which Collins tried to keep Kira from re-opening the blast door to let her associates in while she herself made attempts to reach the interceptor launch controls. After briefly subduing Kira by filling her mouth with congealing foam, Collins managed to fire an interceptor at the Los Angeles-bound missile, destroying it. When Kira recovered, Collins was shot in the bicep as she moved to avoid the other woman's gunfire, shooting Kira several times. As Kira continued to endure, Collins grabbed another gun and told Kira to "fucking die already" as she shot her one final time, killing her opponent and dropping her down the lower hatch. Seeing Kessel and Baker still watching, Collins gave them the finger.

As she began to crudely attend to her bullet wound, Collins was contacted by the White House, with Dyson informing her about the SEALs' ETA and giving her information on Kessel's background. Though she expressed discontent at the lack of immediate aid, Collins concurred with Dyson's assessment on how the Army shouldn't have picked a fight with her. As Shah regained consciousness, Collins freed him from his restraints and gave him a succinct summary of what had happened before succumbing to her exhaustion to rest, dreaming of the morning with her father after her attempted suicide.

After 15 minutes, Shah awoke Collins to tell her that Kessel wanted to talk to her. Over the intercom, Kessel claimed that he was a monster born out of a failed society, though Collins questioned whether or not he was acting out because of "daddy issues". At that point, Kessel began talking about Collins' father before revealing he had someone holding Frank hostage in his own home. Collins pleaded for his release, but Kessel reminded her of her earlier statement that he could kill anyone he wanted, and had his operative to cut off one of Frank's fingers before telling Collins that she could stop further torment if she opened the door for him. Begging to be allowed to speak with him, Collins despaired that she couldn't lose him, but Frank reminded his daughter to never stop fighting in defiance, and after Kessel ordered him killed, Collins sobbed in despair as a gunshot went off before the feed was cut.

As Collins cried, Shah pondered how Kessel could have gotten someone in place at her father's home when the order to reassign Collins to SBX-1 was only made the previous night. Kessel sneered about how Collins' pariah status meant that the decision to reassign her was actually made three days earlier than what she believed, before revealing that he was activating a scuttling protocol to have SBX-1 sink itself, which would let him be free to have the remaining missiles fired without worry. In spite of her despair, Collins decided to head down into the hulls to manually close the ballast valves to buy them enough time until the SEAL's arrival. Shah reminded her of her injuries and volunteered to go instead, and Collins reassured the Corporal that he looked like a hero before he dropped down.

Collins kept in contact with Shah as he closed the valves to buy them additional time, but when she warned him to retreat when he reported that he was about to have company, Shah instead apologised to Collins for not being able to help more earlier and to pass on his love to his children. Trying to raise him after hearing a gunshot, Collins was dismayed when Baker answered the comms to taunt her that he had killed her comrade. But when a proximity alert caused by an approaching Russian submarine, the K-83 Danilov, caught her attention, it reminded her of a snippet from a call Kessel had made in the command center earlier and clued her in to the fact that he had a Swiss bank account.

Thinking quickly, Collins forced Kessel to cut the EBS feed or else she would reveal the account to the world. Once he'd relented, Collins scoffed that Kessel was no fanatic and simply a mercenary-for-hire, and started covering the glass window on the blast window with duct-tape so that he couldn't see into the command center. Despite Kessel's attempts to claim that it was still his operation and that his reasons were still valid, Collins openly mocked that he had shown his weakness in that he desired to leave alive, and ignored his continued threats as she finished taping the window and muted the intercom.

Establishing contact with the White House and learning that SBX-1 would sink just before reinforcements would arrive, Collins realised that her only option was to let Kessel take the command center and let him fire his nukes, but then retake the command center and fire the interceptors before SBX-1 sank. The people in the Situation Room were hesitant, and a game theory strategist rated Collins' odds of succeeding at only 14%. Upon pointing out the torment she had gone through already and expressing her determination, President Wallace consented to let Collins proceed. After making her preparations, Collins offered a final taunt to Kessel on the intercom before hiding in a nearby hazmat suit.

Collins waited until after Kessel's nukes had been launched to take advantage of the mercenaries' search for her to eventually sneak up behind Ivan and kill him, then use his gun to chase Kessel off. Unfortunately, Collins' adversaries had used their sulfuric acid to destroy the controls for the interceptors, and so she grabbed Baker's laptop and headed to the roof to plug it directly into the launch platform. Baker accosted Collins before she could fire, and the pair began fighting hand-to-hand. Eventually, Collins managed to stun Baker, wrap razor wire around his neck and throw him down through the upper and lower hatches around the command center, but was dragged down with him.

While Baker was decapitated by the wire mid-fall, Collins plunged into the sea. Battered and tired from the ordeal, Collins struggled to climb her way back up to the command center and then on to the roof, where she narrowly managed to launch the interceptors in time to destroy the 15 nukes targeting America.

Before Collins could relax, Kessel reappeared, commending her on fucking up his day but reminding her that he had brought America to the brink of destruction and pledged to do so again before he moved to attack her. Despite Kessel's confidence, Collins was able to best him in spite of her multiple injuries and brought him to his knees, declaring that it was for his killing of her father. They were suddenly interrupted by the Danilov surfacing nearby, and while Kessel was confident that this meant he would be able to escape as they killed her, instead, the sub's Captain had Kessel shot dead and left Collins unharmed. As the Danilov departed, Collins allowed herself the chance to relax now that the ordeal over and the SEALs finally arrived over the nearly-sunk SBX-1.

While recovering in hospital, Collins was gifted with numerous tokens of gratitude from thankful Americans for saving them from annihilation, and shortly after she awoke, she was visited by President Wallace. Commended on her actions, Collins was offered a role among Wallace's National Security staff, which Collins happily accepted. Wallace then revealed that Collins had another visitor: her father, who was in fact alive thanks to his fellow Army buddies coming to his aid. As Wallace left them alone, Frank gifted his daughter with the safely-recovered Turbo, leading Collins to lament the loss of Shah. Upon Frank's suggestion that talking about him would help, Collins began sharing what little she had known of her friend to her father.
Personality[]
To Be Added.
Skills[]
- "Did you just stab that dude in the eye with your gun?"
- —Rahul Shah to Collins
- Expert Combatant: As a trained soldier in the United States military, Collins has been trained in several forms of hand-to-hand combat. She is able to adapt quickly during combat and use unconventional items as melee weapons, such as her own handgun, a hunting trophy, and her own belt. In spite of her smaller stature compared to the majority of the mercenaries, Collins was more nimble and able to outmaneuver them most of the time, such as using her speed to make up for the disadvantage against Mikael's brute strength.
- Expert Marksman: Being a trained soldier, Collins is an accurate marksman and capable of using a variety of different firearms, including pistols and shotguns. Collins was able to quickly target and fire at a gas pipe to cause a small blast to stun her enemies, and rapidly dodge and acquire her target (Zhang) with the command center's shotgun.
- Expert Tactician: As a high-ranking soldier in the U.S. military, Collins is a skilled strategist, able to formulate plans to fit the changing needs of a situation to slow down and defeat her enemies. She was able to quickly conclude that the best strategy to take the stolen Russian missiles out of the equation was to force the enemy to fire them on her terms, at which point she could retake control of the interceptors and fire them to remove the threat altogether rather than allow her enemies the option of waiting her out until the SBX-1 sank.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
- Pistols: TBA.
- Shotgun: TBA.
- Machinegun: TBA.
- Scalpel: TBA.
Other Equipment[]
- Bulletproof Vest: TBA.
- Foam Cannister: TBA.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Collins is the first main protagonist for a Matthew Reilly-related film.