Hero Profile: Colossus

I’m a child of the 90s. Born at the start of it, and as such missed out on the whole Cold War thing, and the USSR stuff. All of my knowledge about the conflict stems from either history class, and/or the 80s cartoons I’ve watched where the Soviets were a big deal, or at least noteworthy. Season three of the original Transformers mentions them a few times. Given how…tense things seemed to be back then, it’s a little odd that our next character was featured pretty heavily, and in a very favorable light. You’d think that patriotism back then would have made it difficult to make anyone from the east side of the Iron Curtain seem like a good guy. But that’s the X-Men for ya, finding heroes in places where some would never think to look. Side note, while I know a lot of places use the anglicized version of Piotr’s name, I will not. There are enough Peter’s in Marvel Comics to get confusing as is, without including the international characters that have similar names. Piotr is Piotr, Pietro is Pietro, two less Peters to deal with. We good? Perfect, let’s get to it.

He'll smash you. Maybe.

Compared to yesterday, Piotr Rasputin’s life was pretty simple before his powers manifested. He was born in the former Soviet Union, and worked on a Soviet collective farm with his family. He lived with his parents and younger sister, Illyana, in Siberia. His older brother, Mikhail, was a cosmonaut that had apparently died for Mother Russia. Piotr lived a simple life, working hard for his family and his country. This simplicity actually ended pretty simply. One day while working on the farm, another farmer lost control of a tractor, and it nearly struck Illyana. Piotr selflessly threw himself in front of the tractor, shoving Illyana aside as he did so, and awakened his powers. His skin became like adamantium, and his strength skyrocketed. He stopped the tractor with minimal effort, and there was much rejoicing. A day or so after, Charles Xavier rolled up and offered Colossus a spot on X-Men. The writers seem to gloss over Xavier smuggling Piotr out of the Soviet Union. I imagine the KGB and other USSR higher ups wouldn’t want to lose a metallic titian, especially given later revelations about his family and their power, but hey, it’s a comic. Suspension of disbelief is a must.

In the US, Piotr was given the codename Colossus, and helped the second generation of X-Men save the first from Krakoa, an evil sentient island. No matter how many times I write that description, it never gets easier to process. Shortly after joining the X-Men, a woman known as Miss Locke began kidnapping friends and loved ones of the X-Men. Why? To force the Mutants to help her save her boss, a murderous, game obsessed psycho named Arcade. Among those kidnapped was Piotr’s sister. During the rescue attempt, Piotr is kidnapped and brainwashed by the ungrateful git Arcade into becoming “The Proletarian” and fighting his team. The team saves Piotr and he’s reunited with his sister. She’s taken back to the X-Mansion and made a part of the X-Family. Unfortunately, Illyana is kidnapped by a group of demons and brought to the dimension of Limbo. There, time is a little wonky. While only gone a few minutes, Illyana experiences ten or more years of time. She returns as a teenager, and certifiably insane. But I’ll get into that in her own character profile. Just know that as a teenager, she has the Mutant ability to teleport and has been trained to use magic by demons and hell spawn.

Overtime, he forms an on-again, off-again relationship with teammate Kitty Pryde aka Sprite aka Shadowcat, and a couple other codenames. It’s about as constant as any other superhero relationship. And by that, I mean some stories she’s the love of his life, and others, she’s a girlfriend that he can drop the moment things start getting too complicated and vice versa for her. That’s a rant for another day. Colossus is a caring soul, he tries to use his powers to protect others and does his best to cause as little damage as possible. But still, be careful not to set him off. For example, there was an incident where the insane and cruel Mutant scientist Mr. Sinister sent his own personal strike force, the Marauders, into the New York City sewers to destroy the sewer dwelling Mutants known as the Morlocks. During the battle, Kitty is severely injured, as is Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler, which sets Piotr off. The gentle giant beats the snot out of several Marauders, and snaps the neck of one of its more vicious members, Riptide. Piotr is still severely injured by Riptide, and he, Kitty, Kurt, and the surviving Morlocks spend several weeks recovering.

I think of Drogo's famous line when I see these panels.
"I must break you," Tractor.

On a later adventure, Colossus and the X-Men travel to a parallel dimension. There, they discover that Piotr’s brother, Mikhail is still alive, and has become the Messiah of the local populace. It’s explained that the USSR was aware of Mikhail’s Mutant powers, and put him on a suicide mission to test the limits of his powers. Mikhail has some really poorly defined powers over matter and energy. Huh, given big brother’s ability to control matter and energy, and little sister’s teleportation and magic powers, Piotr is technically the weakest of his family. That is just sooo weird. Anyway, after some deliberation, they convince Mikhail to help them all return home. Upon returning to Earth, Mikhail promptly proclaims himself king of the Morlocks, and transports them to another dimension. That man needs help.

Shortly thereafter, a deadly disease known as the Legacy Virus began to spread. The Virus was designed to attack Mutants, triggering after the victim used their powers for the first time after being infected. They then die horribly as their powers flare out of control. Imagine if Magneto had been infected, metal would fly all over the place, and possibly screw with the entire planet’s magnetic field. One of its earliest victims was Illyana. Emotionally scarred by the loss of both his siblings, Colossus went adrift for a while, working for Magneto and his Acolytes, and later the British X-Men team, Excalibur, before returning to the X-Men. In that time, the Legacy Virus had grown more virulent and had begun effecting non-Mutants. The X-Men’s resident genius, Beast, was able to create a prototype cure, but said cure needed to be inject into a host, and then die to make it airborne. Rather than wait to see if a better method could be found, Colossus injects himself and uses his powers. He died a hero. But this is the land of comics, so obviously he gets brought back. Can’t keep a good Mutant down.

Piotr Rasputin has the power to transform his entire body into an organic steel form. The metal he’s comprised of in this form is incredibly strong, flexible and heat resistant. In this armored state he gains a foot in height, and doubles in weight. While in his armored form, Colossus is almost unstoppable. He doesn’t need food, water, or air, and is virtually invulnerable. It takes a lot of force, heat followed by rapid cooling, or mystical energies to hurt him while armored. He’s strong enough to fight on even footing with the Unstoppable Juggernaut, which is saying something. He’s also had combat training from Wolverine, and Cyclops, making him as skilled a fighter as well as a strong one.

You'd think they'd make his costume out of
sturdier material. Just saying.

Colossus has appeared in a number of X-Men series. He’s perhaps the most well-known Russian of the Marvel Universe. Well, the most well-known Russian to Not be actively trying to destroy America and/or revive the Soviet Union.

He was a recurring character in X-Men: The Animated Series back in the 90s. In “The Unstoppable Juggernaut,” he’s initially blamed for trashing the X-Mansion, before the team realizes the titular Juggernaut is to blame. Piotr gets payback for Marko sullying his good name. He returned in “Red Dawn,” where he enlists the X-Men’s help to stop an insane group of Soviet Generals from unleashing the powerful but uncontrollable Omega Red in a bid to rebuild the USSR.

We see Colossus appear in the third season of X-Men: Evolution. In it, he’s a member of Magneto’s personal guard/attack force, the Acolytes. Unlike his teammates Sabertooth and Pyro, who are in it for the destruction, and Gambit, who seems to be in it because he’s bored, Colossus is being blackmailed. Magneto threatened to hurt his family unless he cooperated. He’s mostly silent in his early appearances, in fact the first line I remember him saying wasn’t until the season three finale. The X-Men and Magneto and the Acolytes are forced to work together to stop their mutual foe, Apocalypse, from resurrecting. While Kitty and Nightcrawler explore Apocalypse’s tomb, Nightcrawler voices his concern about the giant. Kitty claims he’s a softy, possibly a nod to their comic book relationship. A half second later, Colossus crashes after them before saying rather sheepishly, “I-I grew concerned.” Isn’t he cute? Things don’t go well, and Apocalypse is revived. In the season four opener, he’s with the other Acolytes in Apocalypse’ Pyramid. He grew frustrated with Magneto’s methods, claiming Magneto’s wounded pride at losing to Apocalypse is driving the Master of Magnetism insane. When Magneto threatens to crush him like a can, in an incredibly gutsy move, Colossus transforms back to normal and threatens to beat Magneto to a pulp with is bare hands. He’s stopped by Gambit. Would have loved to see how that fight went down. In the Series Finale, he joins with the X-Men to stop Apocalypse and his Horsemen, and is apparently inducted into the X-Men after the fighting dies down.

Yeah, wouldn't want to mess with any one of these three.

For his live action appearances, he’s been portrayed by actor Daniel Cudmore in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. The X-Men movies, in my opinion, have a bad habit of only characterizing lesser characters by their powers. And, when I say lesser, I mean characters less important to the plot. I’m one that contends any of the more well-known X-Men could be the protagonist of their own standalone movie, and Colossus is no exception. But, again, a rant for another time. In all four X-Men movies that he appears in, I recall no mention of Colossus’ kind nature, love of art, his love for his sister, or pacifism. I just recall the silvery looking dude in the background of a lot of scenes, and laying the smack down on super-Sentinels in Days of Future Past. Oh, and how they complete get Rogue’s powers wrong in a training simulation in The Last Stand. During a fire fight, Colossus puts his hand on her head, and they both armor up. You know how that would go down with Rogue in any other series, heck, in any other point in that movie? Colossus powerless, probably unconscious, while steel skinned Rogue stands guard over his inert form. Not that helpful there, chief.

It looks like Deadpool will be taking the character in a different route. Physically, Colossus is going to be portrayed by actor Andre Tricoteux, but will be voiced by Stefan Kapicic, an actual Serbian Actor. Guess some other folks were a little sick of the Americanization of the Global X-Men. They better make Pyro an Aussie again next time he comes up.

Colossus is a pretty standard gentle giant character. He’s big, soft spoken, and tries not to show off his strength too often. And while he is generic, in that regard, I still love this character. Maybe it’s the emphasis that Colossus puts on sacrificing himself/his desires for others, a very communist but still very good quality. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s very quiet by nature, at least in the adaptations I’ve seen, but quickly becomes more talkative as other characters warm up to him. A trait I share with the big iron lug. Maybe it’s because Piotr puts a pretty big emphasis on his family, which, again, is a big deal for me. And maybe it’s just because I love X-Men, and to me the worst X-Man is still ten times better than most other characters. He’s the Metal Guardian, the Good Iron Curtain, the caring Colossus. Next time, the other Summers, Alex Summers aka Havok. That miss spelling pains me.  

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