Background '' #1 (May 1975); art by
Dave Cockrum Piotr "Peter" Rasputin was born on a
Soviet collective farm called the
Ust-Ordynsky Collective near
Lake Baikal in
Siberia. He lived there with his mother Alexandra, father Nikolai, and sister
Illyana. His older brother
Mikhail had been a Soviet
cosmonaut and had apparently died in a rocket accident. The 2006 comic mini-series
Colossus: Bloodline established that the family was descended from
Grigori Rasputin and a
Romani woman named Elena. Peter's superhuman powers manifested during his adolescence while saving his sister from a runaway tractor. He was then contacted by
Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men. '' vol. 3 #19 (Feb. 2007); art by John Cassaday Colossus is typically portrayed as peaceful, selfless, reluctant to hurt or kill, and often putting himself in danger to protect others. In some of his earliest missions, he battled the
Shi'ar Imperial Guard, and visited the
Savage Land, where he met Nereel. Peter's family always remained in his thoughts and he frequently wrote letters home. Shortly after joining the X-Men, a woman known as
Miss Locke kidnapped many of the team's loved ones to force the X-Men to help her free her employer,
Arcade, from captivity by one of
Doctor Doom's robots. Among her captives was Colossus' younger sister Illyana, whom Locke had kidnapped from the Siberian collective farm and transported to the United States. Arcade brainwashed Colossus into becoming "The Proletarian", who then battled the other X-Men until they countered the brainwashing. The X-Men freed Illyana from captivity, and she went to live with her brother Peter at
Xavier's mansion. She was later held captive in a dimension known as
Limbo, where she spent years while only mere moments elapsed on Earth, and became the adolescent sorceress Magik. As a result, an alternate-timeline version of Colossus dies in Limbo. When the X-Men fought the evil mutant
Proteus, Colossus attempted to kill Proteus, an act he found morally questionable even though he did it to save
Moira MacTaggert's life. During his early career with the X-Men, Peter started what was arguably his most significant relationship with fellow X-Man
Kitty Pryde. Although they were only a couple for a short while, the relationship provided the foundation of a deep and lasting friendship. Colossus was later almost killed in a battle with
Mystique's
Brotherhood of Mutants, but was saved by
Rogue and the
Morlock Healer. During the "
Secret Wars", he became infatuated with the alien healer Zsaji, and realized his feelings for his teammate were not wholly genuine, ending his relationship with Kitty Pryde. During the "
Mutant Massacre", Colossus became heavily involved in the X-Men's efforts to save the
Morlocks from the
Marauders. When Kitty was severely injured by
Harpoon, Peter gave in to his rage and snapped
Riptide's neck. He eventually passed out from previous wounds inflicted by Riptide.
Magneto, with the aid of Shadowcat, used his powers to heal Peter's armored form, but the process left him paralyzed. He was sent to Muir Island to recuperate, along with Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and the surviving Morlocks. Over time, Colossus' wounds healed, but he was trapped in his armored form and could maintain his human form only with the utmost concentration. When he saw the X-Men in Dallas during the
Fall of the Mutants, he had his sister teleport him to the battle, as
Destiny had not seen him in her vision of the X-Men's demise. When the team decided to sacrifice themselves to stop the
Adversary, Colossus gave his life alongside them to save the world. Like the rest of the X-Men, he was revived by Roma and decided to let the world believe him dead while he and the X-Men worked out of an Australian base. Following the "
Inferno" event, Illyana was returned to her original Earth age. Colossus decided it would be better for Illyana if she went back to live with their parents in Russia. In time, Colossus was reunited with Nereel in the Savage Land and met her son. After the X-Men began falling apart with Rogue vanishing,
Wolverine taking off,
Longshot quitting, and Storm apparently killed,
Psylocke telepathically prodded the remaining three to disband and travel through the
Siege Perilous to gain new lives. Peter emerged in New York with no memory of his past life, inventing a new persona for himself as 'Peter Nicholas', where he quickly became a successful artist. He battled the
Genoshan Magistrates. He began having visions of a beautiful model, who turned out to be
Callisto transformed by
Masque. The two were kidnapped by the Morlocks, though Peter had no memory of his time with the X-Men. He resumed his armored form and defeated Masque. He was saved by
Forge,
Banshee, and
Jean Grey, who decided it better that he live his new life rather than be dragged back into theirs. Peter was psychically dominated by the
Shadow King and sent to hunt down
Stevie Hunter and Charles Xavier. Xavier had no choice but to destroy the Peter Nicholas persona to break the Shadow King's hold. Colossus joined in the battle of Muir Island, and rejoined the X-Men as a member of Storm's Gold Strike Force. Peter is shown to be traveling to the Savage Land, where he locates Nereel. He is astonished to learn that the child she bore was not his, but that of another lover. Disheartened, he departs the Savage Land. The X-Men later found themselves in another dimension, where they discovered that Colossus' brother Mikhail was alive and acting as a
messiah to the population of that world. Mikhail returned to Earth with the X-Men, but was distraught with having been responsible for the deaths of the original crew from his first trek into the other dimension. Mikhail established himself as leader of the Morlocks and planned to use them as a part of his mass suicide which he thought would grant him retribution or at least reprieve from his guilt. This would prove to be a great source of grief for Peter in an upcoming string of family deaths that would lead to him temporarily disbanding from the X-Men. However, unbeknownst to the X-Men, Mikhail survived. In a seemingly last second change of mind, Mikhail transported himself and the Morlocks to another world. Later, upon learning this, Peter was disappointed by his brother's departure and blamed himself. Back in Siberia, Peter's parents were slain and Illyana kidnapped by the Russian government, who hoped to genetically evolve Illyana to the point where she would have the use of her powers again, to defeat the mutant known as the
Soul Skinner. Colossus, with the help of the X-Men, saved Illyana and brought her back to the Mansion. Later, Illyana became an early victim of the
Legacy Virus and died from it. The loss of his immediate family, as well as brain damage that forced him to remain in armored form, 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
pacifist philosophy of peaceful mutant/human coexistence. but decided to remain with the Acolytes of his own volition, hoping he could temper their extremist methods with what he had learned from Professor Xavier.
Excalibur His stay with Magneto was not long once he realized that
Avalon was not the place for him, either, particularly after Magneto was left brain-dead and the space station was destroyed by
Holocaust. He left in search of the only person he felt truly cared for him, his former love and teammate
Shadowcat, now a member of
Excalibur. Colossus traveled to England, where he found Kitty in the arms of her new love,
Pete Wisdom. Colossus, exhausted, mentally ill, and enraged, attacked Wisdom and, although the battle was short, Piotr nearly killed him. Colossus was subdued by
Captain Britain and
Meggan, later cured of his illness by
Moira MacTaggert. Colossus accepted Shadowcat's new life and chose to become a member of Excalibur. Although Colossus and the rest of the team eventually accepted Kitty Pryde's relationship with Wisdom, her pet dragon,
Lockheed, did not and frequently attempted to reunite her with Peter Rasputin, whom he favored. One notable instance occurred at the wedding of Meggan and Captain Britain, when Lockheed seized the garter and dropped it into Colossus's hand, obliging him to place it on Kitty's leg after she had caught the bridal bouquet.. With Excalibur, he participated in many adventures, including helping to save London from an ancient demon. Excalibur eventually disbanded, after which Colossus returned to the X-Men alongside Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. Upon their return, the trio confronted a group of
impostors led by Cerebro, which was masquerading as Professor X. During this time, he repaired his friendships with
Wolverine and
Storm, that were broken when he had joined the Acolytes. He formed a deep friendship with
Marrow. Peter again found his long thought-dead brother
Mikhail, but unfortunately lost him again when
Apocalypse collected
The Twelve in his quest for power.
Death Using thoughts and notes from the recently murdered
Moira MacTaggert, the X-Men's resident scientist,
Beast, claimed to have found the cure for the Legacy Virus. Unfortunately, it could only be made airborne with the death of its first user. Rather than wait for a safer version and allow others to die as Illyana had, Colossus injected himself with the cure. By using his powers and sacrificing himself, Colossus enabled the release of an airborne cure, effectively eradicating the disease. His body was cremated and Shadowcat took his ashes back to Russia to be scattered on his native soil.
Return Nearly two years later, it was brought to the attention of the X-Men that a medical company, entitled Benetech, had developed a mutant cure. After gaining a sample of the cure, Beast discovered a string of
DNA hidden deep within the recesses of the formula. After matching the DNA, Beast and the other X-Men set out to investigate the truth behind Benetech. During their infiltration, they discovered that
Ord was responsible for the means with which the company was able to develop the cure. While the team was separated, Kitty descended into a hidden complex beneath the Benetech building and was able to unlock the true secret behind the cure: shortly after Peter's self-sacrificing death, Ord had captured his body and left a duplicate that the X-Men had cremated. After reviving him, Ord had used the Legacy Virus cure in Peter's bloodstream to develop his mutant cure. After unknowingly releasing Peter from his cell, Kitty rejoined him with the X-Men. Together they subdued Ord as he tried to escape Earth. Since reuniting with his friends, Peter has returned to fight with the X-Men, and he and Kitty were able to resume their romantic relationship. During the "
World War Hulk" storyline, Colossus is one of the X-Men members who try to defend Professor X against the
Hulk, who has come looking for Charles as he is one of the members of the secret
Illuminati that exiled him from Earth. During their battle, the Hulk reflects on Colossus' bravery, mentioning that Colossus might have made a "decent opponent" to the Hulk's previous incarnations. Locked in a test of strength, Hulk demonstrates his superior power by bending Colossus's arms backwards at the forearms, breaking them. Beast later uses a laser in the lab to heat his arms up near their melting point, while
Strong Guy bends them back into place; his arms needed to be re-set in their metal form before he transformed back to his human form to avoid serious injury to them. Colossus returns to Russia with Wolverine and Nightcrawler along for the ride. The trio are captured by the Russian government, who wish to find out why all their mutant agents succumbed to M-Day, and Colossus did not. This led to a battle against the Russians and
Omega Red, who was being examined by their captors. After defeating Omega Red, the heroes receive a call from Cyclops informing them of their new home in San Francisco. They soon arrive back in the States, where they aid in rebuilding the X-Men. Colossus was briefly a member of the
Fifty State Initiative team called
The Last Defenders alongside
Nighthawk,
She-Hulk, and
Blazing Skull. Joining the rest of the X-Men, Colossus relocates to San Francisco. Still mourning Kitty, the other X-Men try to cheer him up using various different methods from picking fights with him to throwing a party. In the end he tells them to leave him be, he just needs time. Later while walking through Golden Gate Park, he come across a little girl who needs help rescuing her cat from a tree to which he replies that nothing would make him happier.
X-Infernus Colossus feels the X-Men are not doing enough to rescue Illyana from Limbo, and is upset. With the aid of
Pixie, the team is able to enter Limbo, where they encounter hostile demons. After defeating the demons, the X-Men locate Illyana, who has been defeated by Witchfire. The X-Men and Magik defeat Witchfire by trapping her in the dimension that houses the Elder Gods. Illyana leaves Limbo with the X-Men when
Cyclops and Colossus offer her a home.
Utopia When the Dark Avengers head into San Francisco to battle any X-Men they can find, Colossus battles Venom. They later face off again when the combined Dark Avengers and Dark X-Men attack Utopia, with Colossus and the X-Men emerging victorious. It's also during this time that Colossus has depression due to the loss of Kitty prior to the Messiah Complex. During this period, Magik arrives at Utopia to ask for help from the X-Men and her former teammates as there's a battle coming in Limbo. The reunion helps alleviate some of Colossus's depression, but after Magneto comes to Utopia, Magneto brings the bullet carrying Kitty back to Earth to save her in a show of good faith and Kitty and Colossus are reunited, but are initially unable to touch as Kitty spent so long phased to stop the bullet hitting something that she has 'forgotten' how to resume a tangible state on her own. Due to Warlord Krunn's mutant cure, Colossus was temporarily depowered and beaten in battle by him, but other Breakworld residents were able to restore Kitty to her fully tangible state.
Fear Itself on the cover of
The Uncanny X-Men #543 (September 2011). Art by
Greg Land. After the
Juggernaut became Kuurth: Breaker of Stone during the "
Fear Itself" storyline, one of the Heralds of a long-dormant god of fear known as the
Serpent, Colossus made a bargain with
Cyttorak, the other-dimensional being who originally empowered the Juggernaut, to gain the power to stand against Kuurth. Colossus became the new avatar of the Juggernaut and was able to push Cain Marko back until Cain was summoned by The Serpent. This decision caused Kitty to break up with Colossus, as she cannot cope with his increasingly displayed willingness to sacrifice himself when she wants someone who will be willing to live for her. Due to this, Colossus decides to stay on Utopia with Cyclops' team of X-Men instead of returning to Westchester due to his fear of his new Juggernaut powers being unsafe around children. After another stressful battle, Colossus realized that his powers were far more dangerous than he realized, and he requested to be locked up alongside his sister, only to be freed when needed on missions.
Avengers vs. X-Men At the onset of the "
Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Colossus is featured in fights against several characters, including
Spider-Man,
Red Hulk, and
Thing. He is one of the few X-Men teleported by Magik to the dark side of the moon to confront the Avengers over
Hope Summers. When the disruptor devised by
Iron Man blasts and divides the
Phoenix Force, part of it bonds to Colossus, who becomes one of the Phoenix Five along with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magik and Namor. He attempts to release his Juggernaut powers, but Cyttorak refuses, citing his affiliation with the Phoenix due to his newfound destructive powers. While empowered with his fragment of the Phoenix Force, Colossus attempts to regain Kitty's affections, but she rejects him—wary of his power-mongering and that the Phoenix has changed him for the worse—he reacts angrily. Colossus is eventually defeated when Spider-Man manages to provoke him and Magik into attacking each other, causing them to incapacitate each other. Their Phoenix powers dissipate and are absorbed by Emma Frost and Cyclops (Namor having already been defeated). Following the defeat of Cyclops as the last of the Phoenix Five, Colossus and the other former members of the Phoenix Five did not surrender themselves to the authorities. Magik later purges the Juggernaut powers from Colossus with her Soulsword. Knowing that Magik could have repelled his servitude to Cyttorak at any time and that she made him keep the Juggernaut powers to teach him a lesson, Colossus evinces hatred toward the sister he once loved, going so far as to say he wants her killed.
X-Force Colossus's powers have gone out of control, apparently as a result of losing the Phoenix Force, causing parts of him to shift between flesh and organic steel rather than all flesh or all organic steel. He now appears as a member of Cable's new X-Force team after Cable provides him with a device that stabilizes his condition.
Amazing X-Men Colossus rejoined Wolverine's team of X-Men after his sister convinced him to, after quitting Cable's X-Force team following the results of the Cable and X-Force/Uncanny X-Force: Vendettas storyline. He has since regained control of his organic steel powers and has stopped wearing Cable's harness which helped him to stabilize his flesh and steel forms.
Extraordinary X-Men Colossus later joins Storm's new team of X-Men who are living in an isolated part of
Limbo after magically transporting the mansion there, renaming it
X-Haven. Their mission is to provide a refuge and protect mutants from the effects of the M-Pox that has infected the mutants and rendered almost all of the mutant species sterile due to the
Terrigen in the atmosphere. During the Apocalypse Wars, Colossus,
Ernst,
Anole,
Glob Herman, and
No-Girl are separated from Storm's team. When they re-encounter the missing students, they discover them to now be adults protecting an ark of 600 artificially created mutant embryos from the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, one of whom is a celestially altered Colossus.
Inhumans vs X-Men and X-Men Gold After Beast discovers that there is no cure for the M-Pox and no way to alter the Terrigen Mist cloud, the X-Men are left with the choice to either stay on earth and fight for their right to live and risk becoming extinct in a matter of weeks or leave earth and start fresh somewhere else. The X-Men decide to go to
war against the Inhumans to decide the fate of the Terrigen. With the war underway Colossus is stationed at X-Haven to protect it from a potential Inhuman counter-attack. When the
Inhuman Royal Family arrives to do just that, Colossus is left to face them on his own. He later joins the rest of the X-Men in Iceland in the final battle against the Inhumans, where
Medusa finally understands what the X-Men are fighting for and voluntarily destroys the Terrigen. After the Terrigen is destroyed, the X-Men send the refugees back home from X-Haven now that earth is habitable for mutants again. Still, the X-Men find themselves wondering how to move forward with the events of the war still fresh in their minds. Storm asks Kitty Pryde to return to the X-Men and take her place as leader, and in doing so Kitty moves the mansion from Limbo to Central Park and creates a new field team and recruits Colossus. Colossus and Kitty share many awkward moments given their history, trying to move forward as friends but still feeling a chemistry. ==Powers and abilities==