Colossus (character): Difference between revisions
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→Powers and abilities: fixed spelling of Rogue and rephrased an awkward sentence. according the novellization, the girl IS Rogue. added that Rogue also absorbed Piotr's powers in X-Men Evolution |
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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 he is rendered unconscious, he will often revert to his normal state, though he has remained in his armored state before when life-threatening wounds would have killed him if he reverted. |
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 he is rendered unconscious, he will often revert to his normal state, though he has remained in his armored state before when life-threatening wounds would have killed him if he reverted. |
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There is a question as to whether or not Piotr can transfer his osmium shell to others. It is known that he is one of the few people Rogue can come into contact with (while he is armoured) but in a scene from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Colossus is seen placing his hand on either Rogue |
There is a question as to whether or not Piotr can transfer his osmium shell to others. It is known that he is one of the few people Rogue can come into contact with (while he is armoured) but in a scene from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Colossus is seen placing his hand on either Rogue, the the girl absorbed his power. A similar situation occurs in Rogue's [[X-Men: Evolution]] incarnation in the episode ''Dark Horizon, Part 1''. In both cases, it seems to defy the comic's interpertation that Rogue cannot absorb Colossus' power, or that is possible that Colossus is now able to transfer his armour to others. |
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==Relationships== |
==Relationships== |
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Revision as of 20:27, 20 May 2006
| Colossus | |
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| File:Colossusast13.PNG Colossus Art by John Cassaday | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975) |
| Created by | Len Wein Dave Cockrum |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin |
| Team affiliations | X-Men The 198 Those For the Superhuman Registration Act, Excalibur Acolytes |
| Notable aliases | Rasputin, Peter Nicholas, The Proletarian |
| Abilities | Can transform entire body into organic steel, giving him great strength and durability. |
Colossus (Peter Rasputin) is a Marvel Comics superhero, a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Len Wein and illustrator Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975).
A Russian mutant, Colossus possesses the ability to transform into “organic steel,” a state that grants him superhuman strength and endurance. Despite his towering presence, he is a shy, often insecure character.
Colossus has had a fairly consistent presence in X-Men-related comic books since he debuted. Played by Daniel Cudmore, he’s had small parts in the X-Men film series.
Character biography
Joining the X-Men
Piotr Rasputin was born on a Soviet collective farm called the Ust-Ordynski Collective near Lake Baikal in Siberia. His superhuman powers emerged in adolescence. At first, Rasputin was content simply to use these powers to aid the other people of the collective.
However, Rasputin was contacted by Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, when Xavier was organizing a new team of mutant X-Men to help him rescue the original X-Men from the sentient island Krakoa. Rasputin agreed to leave the farm community in which he was born and raised to go to America with Xavier. Xavier gave Rasputin the code name "Colossus" and Rasputin aided Xavier's other new recruits in their battle against Krakoa. After the battle was won, Rasputin remained in the United States with the new X-Men while the rest of his family stayed on the farm.
Rasputin's family always remained in his thoughts. Shortly thereafter a woman known as Miss Locke kidnapped many of the X-Men's loved ones to use as hostages in order to force the X-Men to aid her in freeing her employer, Arcade, from captivity by one of Doctor Doom's robots. Among her captives was Colossus's younger sister Illyana, whom Locke had kidnapped from the Siberian collective farm and transported to the United States. The X-Men freed Illyana from captivity, and she went to live with her brother Piotr (known as Peter in America) at Xavier's mansion. Due to her later captivity in a dimension known as Limbo where she spent years while only mere moments elapsed on Earth, Illyana became the adolescent sorceress known as Magik.
After Illyana was returned to her true Earth age, Colossus thought it would be better for Illyana if she went back to live with their parents. Sadly, her parents were slain and she was kidnapped by a mutant known as the Soul Skinner who hoped to genetically evolve Illyana to the point where she would have the use of her powers again. Colossus, with the help of the X-Men, saved Illyana and brought her back to the mansion.
Later, Illyana became the first tragic victim to be infected with the Legacy Virus and die from it. The deaths of his immediate family caused Colossus to rethink his position with the X-Men and join Magneto and his Acolytes, who had offered him an alternative to the X-Men's way of fighting and living.
A part of Excalibur
His stay with Magneto was not long once he realized that Avalon was not the place for him, either. He left in search of the only person he felt truly cared for him, his former love and teammate Kitty Pryde, now a member of Excalibur. Colossus traveled to England, where he found Kitty in the arms of her new love, Pete Wisdom. Colossus, enraged, attacked Wisdom, and although the battle was short-lived, they both sustained minor injuries.
Colossus accepted Kitty's new life and chose to become a member of Excalibur. Once the team dissolved, Kitty, Colossus, and Nightcrawler returned to the United States and became active members of the X-Men.
During this time he repaired his friendships with Wolverine and Storm, that were broken when he had joined the Acolytes. He also created a deep friendship with Marrow. Piotr again found his long thought-dead brother Mikhail, but unfortunately lost him again when Apocalypse collected the Twelve in his quest for power.
'Death'
Beast, one of his X-Men teammates, claimed to have found the cure for the Legacy Virus. Not knowing whether or not it worked, Colossus injected himself with the cure. By using his powers and sacrificing himself, Colossus enabled the creation of a worldwide cure for the Legacy Virus. The body was cremated, and Kitty Pryde spread the ashes in Russia.
Return
However, it was later brought to the attention of the X-Men that an alien called Ord from the Breakworld had captured Rasputin's body, left a duplicate and revived it. He had used Colossus to find a "cure" for mutants in his program called Hope. During their investigation Shadowcat and the X-Men were reunited with Colossus. Together they stopped Ord and captured the cure.
Currently Colossus has returned to the X-Men and his long love Shadowcat. Despite his impressive physical power and stature, Colossus is actually one of the gentlest and least-aggressive X-Men characters. He would prefer to be a soft-spoken artist, but realizes his responsibility to use his powers for the betterment of humanity.
Powers and abilities
Colossus possesses the ability to transform his entire body into a form of organic steel, named by some sources as analogous to osmium, but of still unknown composition. In his armored form, Colossus possesses superhuman strength which allows him to press up to 100 tons (as stated by the ultimate guide to X-men) and contest with the strongest in the Marvel universe,resiliance and stamina; he gains around a foot in height and his mass is at least doubled. The source of the extra mass is also unknown, but possibly extra-dimensional. He also has no need to eat, breath or drink and is immune to magical attacks.
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 he is rendered unconscious, he will often revert to his normal state, though he has remained in his armored state before when life-threatening wounds would have killed him if he reverted.
There is a question as to whether or not Piotr can transfer his osmium shell to others. It is known that he is one of the few people Rogue can come into contact with (while he is armoured) but in a scene from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Colossus is seen placing his hand on either Rogue, the the girl absorbed his power. A similar situation occurs in Rogue's X-Men: Evolution incarnation in the episode Dark Horizon, Part 1. In both cases, it seems to defy the comic's interpertation that Rogue cannot absorb Colossus' power, or that is possible that Colossus is now able to transfer his armour to others.
Relationships
Not long after Piotr joined the X-Men he witnessed a girl being kidnapped. After saving her he learned that she was also from Russia. Her name was Anya Makarova, a ballerina who had defected to the US. After spending some time together they started to like one another. After she saw Piotr transform into Colossus she was shocked and no longer trusted Piotr, running away from him.
While celebrating their first Christmas with the X-Men, Piotr met an attractive flight-attendant named Betsy Wilford, with whom he often double dated with Nightcrawler and Betsy’s friend, Amanda Sefton. However, while Kurt and Amanda started a full relationship, Betsy and Piotr were nothing more than close friends.
While in the Savage Land, Piotr had an encounter with two native women, Nereel and Shakani, who wished to make love to him after Colossus saved them from a Tyrannosaurus rex. Nereel wished to bring new blood into their tribe. Piotr made love for the first time, the fruits of their union being a son, Peter, to whom Colossus is oblivious.
When Kitty Pryde first met the X-Men she had a crush on Colossus from the start. Piotr and Kitty became close, though at the time both were too shy to fully admit their feelings for each other. However, after surviving a threat by the alien Brood, Kitty and Piotr grew closer and started to date. After Piotr's life was in danger, Kitty promised Caliban of the Morlocks her hand in marriage in excange for aid in saving Piotr's life, although later Caliban released her from that vow. Soon after this, even though Kitty had acted out of love to save him, Piotr started to question the time she was spending with Douglas Ramsey.
Soon after, all the X-Men but Kitty were summoned, with other heroes, to another world by the Beyonder to fight in the Secret Wars. Colossus was injured there, but healed by an alien girl named Zsaji whom he fell in love with. Zsaji died exhausting her healing powers to save fallen heroes, leaving Piotr heartbroken. After returning to Earth, Piotr confessed to Kitty and ended their relationship. Kitty left the team for a short time.
Colossus has had other relationships, or potential relationships, develop over the years (Callisto, Rogue, Meggan) but the one who he seems destined to be with is Kitty Pryde, whom he is now with again.
Ultimate Colossus
Piotr Rasputin reluctantly worked as an arms smuggler for the Russian mob before joining the X-Men. Ultimate Colossus is much like his Earth-616 counterpart, except he is both significantly stronger and vulnerable - while he singlehandedly beat up Thor before a tactical nuclear bomb disabled him, the Falcon neutralized him using the fact that his eyes do not turn into organic steel.
In a change from his Earth-616 counterpart, Ultimate Colossus is homosexual. This revelation, when made, alienated him from his once close friend Nightcrawler, who feels he never really knew Piotr. He has recently been romantically linked to the mutant Jean-Paul Beaubier, also known as Northstar.
Inspirations
The famous statue the Colossus of Rhodes inspired his codename and Grigori Rasputin inspired his surname. The 2005 mini-series Colossus: Bloodlines revealed that Colossus is related to Rasputin.
Appearances in other media
- He made his television debut in 1984 in an episode of the animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
- His next appearance was in 1989 in the animated one-shot Pryde of the X-Men.
- In the 1992 animated television series X-Men, the voice of Colossus was provided by Rick Bennett. The character appeared in a few episodes.
- In the 2000 animated television series X-Men: Evolution, the voice of Colossus was provided by Michael Adamthwaite. This Colossus is one of Magneto's Acolytes, but is an unwilling accomplice.
- In the 2003 film X-Men 2 he is played by Daniel Cudmore in a brief cameo. Cudmore reprises the role in the 2006 film X-Men 3, in a far larger supporting role. Director Bryan Singer hid a number of cameos in X-Men (film). One cameo that he corroborates is Colossus's; he is the well-built student sketching in the Xavier Institute's courtyard.
- Colossus has appeared in the games X-Men, X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants, X-Men Arcade Game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse, X-Men Legends, X2: Wolverine's Revenge,X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, and X-Men: The Official Movie Game.
External links
- MDP: Colossus - Marvel Database Project
- Colossus at X-Boys8 Central
- UncannyXmen.Net's Spotlight on Colossus