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

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 code name Colossus, reflecting the ability to transform his entire body into nearly indestructable "organic steel," in which he possesses unimaginable strength (lift-press 100 tons), near limitless stamina and the ability to survive without oxygen, food, or water.

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.

Ultimate X-Men

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 implied (though not outright stated) in the comics that Colossus is gay, and that he has 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

• ColossalCudmore

• Spotlight On... Colossus at UncannyXmen.Net