Who is Colossus? X-Men Comic Origin and Powers Explained

The X-Men features a wide cast of powerful characters, but physically speaking, Colossus is most definitely one of the strongest. The massive metal mutant has been a mainstay of the team for years now, but how did he first join up, and what exactly can he do?

The Origin of Colossus in X-Men Comics

Colossus, whose real name is Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, made his debut in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1 by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. This issue was the first new X-Men story to be published after a five-year hiatus and served as an introduction to several new team members, including Colossus. After the original X-Men team vanishes during a mission on the island of Krakoa, Professor X recruits a new team of mutants, consisting of Colossus, Thunderbird, Nightcrawler, Storm, Sunfire, Banshee, and Wolverine, many of whom are now some of the franchise’s most popular characters.

But before he was contacted by Xavier, Piotr (or Peter, as the Americans call him) lived a simple life on a farm in the Soviet Union with his parents and younger sister, Illanya, who would later become the mutant called Magik. Peter’s powers first manifested when he jumped in front of a rogue tractor to save his sister and his entire body instinctively turned to metal. Professor X saw Peter’s potential and recruited him to help save the missing X-Men on Krakoa, after which Peter decided to stay in the US and become a permanent member of the team, where he eventually struck up a romance with Kitty Pryde, AKA Shadowcat.

Colossus has fought bravely alongside the X-Men for years – in fact, he’s even laid down his life for the greater good of mutants. In 1993, the Marvel Universe became plagued by a disease known as the Legacy Virus, which was designed to infect those with the X-Gene. The Legacy Virus was sent from the future with the goal of eradicating mutant-kind, and one of the first victims was Magik, Colossus’s little sister. Beast was eventually able to create a cure, but it required a mutant to inject themselves with the serum, an action that would be fatal. Colossus stepped up and gave his life to ensure no one would suffer as his sister did. Both Colossus and Magik would later be resurrected, but that doesn’t make his sacrifice any less noble.

The limited series X-Men: Colossus Bloodline by David Hine provides some more insight into Colossus’s background. When Peter gets a distress call from his cousin, a journalist named Larisa Mishchenko, he returns home to Russia in order to help her. Larisa tells him that she’s discovered that their family is descended from Grigori Rasputin, a real-life Russian mystic who was apparently a powerful mutant in the Marvel Universe. One by one, all their relatives are being murdered because when only one member of Rasputin’s bloodline remains, Rasputin will be reborn within them.

Sadly, Larisa is later killed by Mister Sinister, who is revealed to be orchestrating the entire plot on Rasputin’s behalf, but Colossus and his brother, Mikhail, manage to foil the plan. Mikhail is also a mutant, but his powers are very different from his brother’s – he has the ability to control energy, allowing him to teleport, fire energy blasts, and even manipulate the energy within others. Mikhail has been known to walk the line between hero and villain, but in this story, he puts family first. When he Colossus are the last two remaining members of Rasputin’s bloodline, Mikhail banishes himself to a dimension where he can never die but from which there is no escape, so if Colossus dies, Rasputin will be reborn in a prison. Evidently self-sacrifice runs in the family.

Colossus’ Powers & Metal Skin Explained

Colossus’s main power is his ability to transform his entire body into an organic metal called osmium, which in turn gives him superhuman strength and invulnerability. The transformation obviously makes him heavier, but also makes him taller. However, Colossus can’t just armor up an arm or a leg – he has to transform his entire body (and yes, that includes his eyeballs.) In addition, Colossus does not need food, water, or even oxygen in his armored form, though he does become an easy target for Magneto while in that state. Powers aside, Peter has also been trained in martial arts, acrobatics, and sword fighting by some of his fellow X-Men, making him a skilled combatant whether he’s metal or not.

Colossus also briefly became the Juggernaut in the Fear Itself series after gaining the powers of the Avatar of Cyttorak, which increased his strength even further and made him virtually unstoppable once he built up momentum. Colossus kept these abilities in the Avengers vs X-Men crossover, where he also wielded the Phoenix Force, making him incredibly powerful. Although these buffs were eventually stripped away, Colossus remains a force to be reckoned with and has even been recognized by the Hulk as a worthy opponent.

How Colossus Was Changed in The X-Men Movies

Colossus was played by Daniel Cudmore in Fox’s X-Men movies, first appearing in the franchise’s second entry, X2: United. However, the character in the films has some significant differences from his comics counterpart. For one, Cudmore’s Colossus is not Russian – or, at least, he doesn’t have an accent as he does in the comics. The movie version is also much smaller than the one in the comics, who typically towers over his teammates and is significantly bulkier.

The Colossus seen in the Deadpool movies is much more physically accurate to the source material, though there are some differences in terms of personality. While Colossus in the comics is typically steadfast and stoic, his demeanor in Deadpool is much more comedic to match the tone of the film. However, both versions have a certain innocence to them that makes them easy to root for. It will be interesting to see if and how Colossus will be incorporated into the MCU along with the rest of the X-Men down the line, especially considering what an important member of the team he’s become.

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