Colossus (character)
| Colossus | |
|---|---|
| File:Colossus (comics).jpg Colossus Art by Chris Bachalo | |
| 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, Excalibur, Acolytes |
| Notable aliases | Rasputin, Peter Nicholas, The Proletarian |
| Abilities | Can transform entire body into organic steel, giving him great strength and durability. |
.jpg){kind=link}
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 biography
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.
A gentle young man surrounded by good people, even the revelation that he was a mutant did not ostracize Piotr him from his friends and family. So he was reluctant to leave Russia 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 proceeded to pummel Ord mercilessly.
Colossus has since returned to the X-Men. He and Kitty seem to be trying to rekindle their relationship.
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.It is suggested by some fans to be a form of carbon covalently linked to iron,silicon and zinc.
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 significant superhuman strength. As a teenager, Colossus was able to lift (press) 70 tons. As he matured and further developed his powers, he's now in "Class 100" Power Level (able to lift in excess of 100 tons).He has also engaged Juggernaught in hand to hand combat. The full limit of his strength has never been revealed. Aside from this great strength, in his steel form he possesses a high degree of invulnerability to conventional injury. Colossus' armored form can withstand extreme temperatures, falls from great heights, high caliber machine gun shells, large amounts of explosives, etc without sustaining injury. A side effect of his armor's strength enhancing effect is a vastly greater muscle efficiency than an ordinary human. While armored, his muscles generate considerably less lactic acids than those of ordinary humans, granting him superhuman levels of stamina in all activities. He can exert himself at peak capacity for several days before fatigue begins to impair him. Colossus' armored form is also invulnerable to rusting under Earthly conditions. 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. His Armored form has shown great resestance to Magical spells and has proven to be especially harmful to Magical beings such as when he faced a manifistation of Babba Yaga and when he faced The Advasary.
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.
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 continuity, it has been shown that Colossus's eyes do not turn into steel, but instead remain organic and vulnerable (in the normal continuity, Colossus's eyes have been able to withstand a gunshot). Also, unlike the "normal" Colossus, when he is knocked unconscious he remains in whatever form he was in (See the "Hellfire and Brimstone" plotline.) In the Ultimate War crossover with the Ultimates, Colossus fought Thor and had the upper hand against the thunder god.
For a long time it was strongly implied (though not outright stated) in the comics that Colossus was gay and in the closet, and that he had a crush on Wolverine. Writer Mark Millar confirmed this in an interview, stating that he "introduced a gay Colossus into Ultimate X-Men." Colossus came out to the rest of the team in Ultimate X-Men #65, after Jean-Paul Beaubier (Northstar) asked him to be his date for Homecoming.
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 X-Men Movie X2 he is played by Daniel Cudmore. Cudmore will reprise his role in the upcoming X-Men 3.
Colossus also appeared in the X-Men Legends series of role-playing games and in the Marvel vs. Capcom series of fighting games. Both games have been released on various platforms.
External links
- Colossus at X-Boys8 Central
- Spotlight On... Colossus at UncannyXmen.Net
- ColossalCudmore.com, fansite for Colossus in X2.