Colossus (comics)

Colossus (Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin) is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, and a member of the X-Men. Created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975).

Character history

Joining the X-Men

Colossus was born in the Ust-Ordynski Collective farm, near Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union to Nikolai Rasputin and his wife Alexandra Natalya Rasputina. He had an older brother, Mikhail Nikolaievitch Rasputin, and would later have a younger sister, Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina. Piotr nick-named her "Snowflake" and grew very protective of her.

Rasputin was raised on a collective farm. A gentle young man surrounded by good people, even the revelation that he was a mutant did not ostracize him from his friends and family. So he was reluctant to go when Professor Charles Xavier recruited him for his second group of X-Men. He went nonetheless, taking the codename Colossus.

Colossus found friendship with the X-Men, and even love in an ongoing romance with Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat. They had a steady relationship for several years. Then, during the Secret Wars, Colossus had an affair with a healer who later was killed. Feeling guilty, Colossus broke up with Kitty when he returned home. The two made up later and are now friends, even though their relationship is currently platonic.

Colossus also felt great guilt when his sister Illyana proved to be a mutant as well, and was trapped in the dimension Limbo for several years of her life, emerging to become the heroine Magik.

Worse, when Illyana later died by the Legacy virus, and when his parents were killed crossing the border, his grief drove him to join their enemy, Magneto. Later, he realised his mistake and returned to the team, but he retained deep bitterness about the loss he had suffered throughout his life. He later joined Excalibur.

Death and resurrection

When Beast finally developed a cure for the Legacy virus there was one problem; a mutant would have to give his life to activate the cure. Against the wishes of his fellow X-Men, Colossus injected himself with the cure so that no more mutants would have to die as his sister had. The X-Men found what appeared to be his lifeless corpse, and believed him dead.

In fact, an alien known as Ord abducted Colossus as he lay dying and resuscitated him. Ord kept Colossus imprisoned in a laboratory, using him as a guinea pig for tests to develop a 'cure' for the mutant gene. When the X-Men recently raided the lab, Kitty Pryde found and freed Colossus. Colossus then proceded to pummel Ord mercilessly.

Powers and abilities

Colossus possesses the ability to transform his skin into a form of organic steel.

In this transformed state, Colossus' body gains around a foot in additional height and his body mass is at least doubled. The source of Colossus' gain in height and muscle mass is unknown, but possibly extradimensional.

While in his armored form, Colossus possesses vast superhuman strength, enough to lift at least 100 tons above his head. Aside from this, in his steel form he possesses a correspondingly increased resistance to attack, and can withstand extreme temperatures and anti-tank weaponry without sustaining visible damage. Colossus has demonstrated very little need, if any, to breathe while he is in his armored state and there's no known limit as to how long he can remain in this form.

Colossus cannot transform a single portion of his body into this armored state, he must either be completely transformed or remain within his normal state. If Colossus is rendered unconscious, he will automatically revert to his normal state. His armored state provides his muscles with a level of physical stamina much higher than that of ordinary human beings.

Ultimate Colossus

In the alternate history of the Ultimate X-Men series, Colossus was an arms dealer, sending the money back to his family in Russia. He joined the X-Men after he turned to steel in a barrage of gunfire, revealing that he was a mutant. In the Ultimate War crossover with the Ultimates, Colossus fought Thor and had the upper hand against the thunder god.

It has been strongly implied (though not outright stated) in the comics that Colossus is gay, and that he had a crush on Wolverine. Writer Mark Millar recently confirmed this in an interview, stating that he "introduced a gay Colossus into Ultimate X-Men."

Appearances in other media

In the 1992 animated television series X-Men, the voice of Colossus was provided by Rick Bennett. In the 2000 animated television series X-Men: Evolution, the voice of Colossus was provided by Michael Adamthwaite.

In the movies he is played by Daniel Cudmore.

External links

• Spotlight On... Colossus at UncannyXmen.Net
• ColossalCudmore.com, fansite for Colossus in X2.
• An interview with Mark Millar], who confirms that the Ultimate X-Men Colossus is gay.