X-Men: 15 Most Important Colossus Moments That Defined the Character

May 7, 2024, 10:30 p.m.

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X-Men: 15 Most Important Colossus Moments That Defined the Character

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Summary Colossus' journey from a gentle giant farmer to a conflicted X-Men member is marked by personal sacrifices and deep losses.

Colossus' love for Kitty Pryde is a central theme in his story, showcasing the ups and downs of their relationship over the years.

Colossus' actions, such as sacrificing himself to cure the Legacy Virus and betraying the X-Men, highlight his complex and evolving character.

While Colossus has always been one of the strongest members of the X-Men, at his core he is really a gentle giant. Piotr Nikolaievich Rasputin was raised on the Ust-Ordynski Collective farm in Siberia during the height of the Soviet Union. The young Russian always had the soul of an artist, but never imagined a life beyond that of a farmer. But thanks to his mutant power to transform his body into organic steel, Piotr was called away to join the X-Men as the all-powerful Colossus.

During his time with the X-Men, Peter would often come to regret the decision to leave Russia. While he believes in Professor Charles Xavier’s dream of a world where humans and mutants co-exist peacefully, it does not come without a cost. Over the years, Colossus has lost those he loves and been forced to do terrible things in service of the X-Men. As these defining moments from his comics history show, few other X-Men have suffered as much personal loss as Colossus has.

15 Colossus Debuts Alongside a New Generation of X-Men

Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975) by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum

While Piotr wishes to stay with his family in his home country, he knows that he must use his great power to help others. It’s a choice that will continue to haunt him throughout his life.

The very first appearance of Piotr Nikolaievich Rasputin does a great job of establishing the central conflicts within his life. At heart, he is a farmer who yearns for a simple life, but he finds himself constantly dragged into conflict, usually to protect others. This is first seen when his little sister, Illyana, is in the path of a runaway tractor and Piotr must act quickly to save her. He transforms his body into organic steel and uses it to block the tractor from hitting Illyana. Though he protects his sister, he must also deal with the knowledge that his poor neighbors will struggle to afford another tractor for their farm.

Later, when Professor Charles Xavier comes calling to recruit Piotr to his new team of X-Men, the young man is torn between his heart and his conscience. While Piotr wishes to stay with his family in his home country, he knows that he must use his great power to help others. It’s a choice that will continue to haunt him throughout his life. While Colossus becomes one of the most essential and beloved members of the X-Men, it comes at a price. As he is drawn deeper into the fight for mutant rights and must compromise his morals, he yearns for the quiet life on a farm that he can never return to.

In the 2001 re-imagining Ultimate X-Men, Colossus is an enforcer for the Russian mob when he is recruited to join the X-Men.

14 Peter Meets Kitty Pryde

Uncanny X-Men #129 (1979) by Chris Claremont and John Byrne

Colossus has had a few romantic partners over the years, but the love of his life will always be Katherine “Kitty” Pryde. The two form an instant connection when Colossus is among the X-Men who accompany Professor X to recruit Kitty to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Their relationship quickly develops from a simple teenage crush to the first real love for both of them. This bond is established shortly after Kitty’s introduction in the classic “Days of Future Past” story, which reveals a possible future where the two get married and have children.

As with any young love, the relationship between Peter and Kitty would also bring its fair share of heartbreak. They have found themselves torn apart and brought back together many times over the years. Peter’s love for his “Katya” has been a constant in his life, giving him someone to fight for and a connection to his humanity in his darkest moments.

13 Colossus Finds a New Love Among the Stars

Secret Wars #5-12 (1984) by Jim Shooter, Mick Zeck and Bob Layton

The love of Peter and Kitty faces its first test in the historic 1984 crossover event Secret Wars. When the X-Men (minus Kitty) are whisked away to Battleworld along with the rest of Marvel’s heroes, they find themselves in the fight of their lives against the villains of the Marvel Universe. Though the event juggles dozens of characters and revolves around a fight for the universe, Colossus has one of the more noteworthy storylines of the 12-issue miniseries. When he is one of the heroes injured while fighting on this patchwork planet, he encounters a young alien healer named Zsaji.

Though Zsaji initially forges a connection with the Human Torch, Colossus quickly falls in love with her. While teammates like Wolverine insist that he’s just feeling the after-effects of her healing him, Peter believes this is true love. She also begins to fall for him, and their love ends up playing a crucial role in the event’s story. When the Marvel heroes are destroyed by Doctor Doom wielding the power of the omnipotent Beyonder, Zsaji's love for Colossus leads her to use her healing powers to bring them all back to life, even though the strain kills her.

The 2015 miniseries Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars would reveal that Deadpool was also in love with Zsaji, and that he wished her back to life after she sacrificed herself.

12 Colossus Fights the Juggernaut

Uncanny X-Men #183 (1984) by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr.

Returning from Battleworld after the conclusion of Secret Wars, Colossus is still reeling from the loss of Zsaji. He blames himself for her death, and also must face the fact that he can no longer resume his relationship with Kitty after having fallen in love with someone else. He breaks up with his teammate, which breaks her heart and angers Wolverine. Logan and Nightcrawler take Peter out to a bar to give him a talking-to.

While they are out, they encounter the Juggernaut at the same bar, and a drunk Peter instigates a fight. Wolverine and Nightcrawler hold back, letting Peter fight on his own. Despite his considerable strength, Colossus is badly beaten by Juggernaut in the fight that also destroys the bar around them. It’s a great fight, but also teaches Colossus a valuable lesson. When he yells at Wolverine for not helping, Logan points out that Kitty helped Peter by almost joining the Morlocks to save his life. And Colossus didn’t even thank her. Wolverine walks away, leaving Colossus in the ruins of the destroyed bar to think on his choices.

Related 10 Best Colossus Fights in Marvel History (Ranked by Power Level) Colossus has had a many iconic fights across Marvel history, but these are the most definitive ranking according to the power levels of his opponents.

11 Colossus Kills Riptide During the Mutant Massacre

Uncanny X-Men #211 (1986) by Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Bret Blevins

Peter’s teammates are shocked by how the gentle giant has taken a life so easily, and it marks a major turning point in Colossus’ life.

The 1986 Mutant Massacre crossover event is the first of many mass killings of mutants in Marvel history. It also marks the first time Colossus kills an enemy in cold blood. When Mister Sinister’s Marauders carry about the brutal slaughter of the Morlocks, the X-Men desperately search the sewers underneath New York in an attempt to find both survivors and the perpetrators of this horrific deed.

Their search brings them into contact with the Marauders and a fight breaks out. Colossus is shocked by how cavalier these evil mutants are about killing innocents. In a fit of rage, he snaps the neck of one of the Marauders, Riptide, killing him instantly. Peter’s teammates are shocked by how the gentle giant has taken a life so easily, and it marks a major turning point in Colossus’ life. This act kicks off more than a decade of dark stories for Colossus as he continues to find himself facing hardships and making difficult choices that weigh on his soul.

Thanks to the genetic tampering of Mister Sinister, Riptide is one of several Marauders who is cloned back to life. But Colossus doesn't know this is going to happen when he snaps Riptide's neck.

10 Piotr Rasputin is Reborn as an Artist

Uncanny X-Men #259 (1990) by Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri

This brief interlude as Peter Nicholas allows him to live his ideal life where he can focus on his art, away from the violence and heartbreak that comes with being an X-Man.

While the X-Men are stationed in the Australian outback, they get into a deadly fight with a gang of anti-mutant cyborgs known as the Reavers. In an attempt to escape, several of the X-Men enter the Siege Perilous, a mystical portal that gives the user a chance at a new life. When Colossus enters, he reawakens in New York as Peter Nicholas, an artist with no memory of his previous life as an X-Man. While this might seem like a relatively minor episode in Colossus’ life history, it gets at the heart of his greatest desire.

During his time as "Peter Nicholas," Colossus would become romantically entangled with the Morlock leader Callisto, who is now a supermodel.

Piotr never imagined a life for himself other than that of a farmer, but he has always been a talented painter and friends have described him as having “the soul of a poet.” This brief interlude as Peter Nicholas allows him to live his ideal life where he can focus on his art, away from the violence and heartbreak that comes with being an X-Man. He’d eventually get his memories back and re-enter the fight as Colossus, but the memories of this time would stick with him long after.

9 Illyana Rasputin Dies of the Legacy Virus

Uncanny X-Men #303 (1993) by Scott Lobdell and Richard Bennett

From his debut, Piotr has been dedicated to protecting his younger sister, Illyana. His first failure at this comes when she is kidnapped by the demon Belasco and taken to Limbo. Only an instant passes in the real world before she comes back, but for Illyana it is seven years. The now-13-year-old joins the New Mutants as Magik. She eventually reverts to her real age, but the hardships don’t end there.

Young Illyana is one of the first mutants to be infected with the Legacy Virus. The deadly disease unleashed by the evil mutant Stryfe exclusively affects mutants at first. As the X-Men desperately search for a cure, Piotr is forced to watch as his sister’s condition deteriorates. He tries to give her hope by telling her that she will get better, but it’s a promise he can’t fulfill. Illyana passes away while Colossus is away on a mission for the X-Men.

8 Colossus Becomes Disillusioned with the X-Men and Joins Magneto

Uncanny X-Men #304 (1993) by Scott Lobdell, Jae Lee, Chris Sprouse, Brandon Peterson, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr.

Colossus grows to see Xavier’s dream as an unattainable fantasy, as all the efforts to achieve peace between humans and mutants have brought him nothing but pain.

The death of Illyana brings a huge change to Colossus. In his grief, he burns his paintings and later confronts Professor Xavier at Illayana’s funeral. He blames Xavier for Illyana’s death and the constant suffering that has plagued Colossus’ life since he left his home and joined the X-Men. During the funeral, Magneto arrives and tries to compel the X-Men to join him and his Acolytes on Asteroid M. Fed up with Xavier and his dream, Colossus agrees to come along with Magneto.

In the classic X-Men #25 by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert, the X-Men carry out an attack on Asteroid M. When Magneto uses his powers to rip the adamantium from Wolverine’s skeleton, Professor X shuts down the mind of his former friend. Magneto is left catatonic, and of all his followers, Colossus is the only one to remain on Asteroid M and look after the once and future Master of Magnetism.

Like his time as a poet, Colossus’ life with Magneto is short-lived, and he eventually leaves to join Excalibur before rejoining the X-Men. But this time does reveal a lot about how his life and outlook have changed. Colossus grows to see Xavier’s dream as an unattainable fantasy, as all the efforts to achieve peace between humans and mutants have brought him nothing but pain. He becomes so disillusioned that he even joins the X-Men’s greatest enemy.

7 Colossus Sacrfices Himself to Cure the Legacy Virus

Uncanny X-Men #390 (2001) by Scott Lobdell and Salvador Larroca

Colossus’ tenure with the X-Men sees him lose his home, his family, his innocence and his hope. Years after the introduction of the Legacy Virus that killed Piotr’s sister, Hank McCoy aka Beast finally manages to synthesize a cure for the deadly disease. Once it is injected into a mutant, the cure will become airborne and eradicate the disease across the globe. There’s just one catch, however: the cure is fatal to that first mutant who is injected with it.

Beast locks up the cure, determined to continue researching until he can come up with a solution that doesn’t require such a sacrifice. For Colossus, there’s no doubt in his mind that he must give up his life for the cure. He cannot sit idly by for even an hour if it means more people must suffer and die like his sister did. He steals the cure and injects it into his neck. Colossus dies on the floor of Beast’s lab, but in doing so he destroys the Legacy Virus and saves the lives of potentially millions.

6 The Shocking Resurrection of Colossus

Astonishing X-Men #4 (2004) by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

Comic book characters die and come back so quickly that the three years Colossus spends dead feel like practically an eternity. He does miss out on the entire phase of X-Men comics where Marvel’s mutant heroes trade in their spandex for leather outfits inspired by the X-Men films. This era is defined by Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run, which sees the Xavier Institute publicly revealed as a school for mutants, Professor X stepping down as headmaster, the death of Jean Grey, and Cyclops and Emma Frost becoming a couple and running the school together.

In the opening story of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men, the X-Men are back in their classic uniforms and dealing with the emergence of a cure for mutants. They learn that the company that developed the cure used a dead mutant for testing. As the mutants infiltrate the labs to recover this body, readers are led to believe that they are after the recently-deceased Jean Grey. This makes it all the more shocking when Kitty reaches the lab’s basement to find a resurrected Colossus. After quickly dispatching some guards, Colossus recognizes Kitty and reverts to his human form. He then falls to his knees and clutches her, asking if he’s finally dead.

5 Colossus Becomes The New Juggernaut

Uncanny X-Men #542 (2011) by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land

It’s almost impossible to imagine a more powerful version of Colossus, but that’s exactly what X-Men fans got when Piotr Rasputin merged with the power of the Juggernaut. During the events of Fear Itself, the original Juggernaut Cain Marko is imbued with Asgardian power to become Kuurth, Breaker of Stone. This angers Cyttorak, the god that powers the Juggernaut, and he takes his power back from Cain. In an effort to stop Marko, Magik offers to become Cyttorak’s new avatar. But Colossus interferes and takes the power of the Juggernaut for himself, wanting to spare his sister from that fate.

With his own considerable strength combined with the unstoppable magic power of the Juggernaut, Colossus is able to defeat Marko. However, the power of Cyttorak imbues Piotr with more rage and a thirst for destruction. Cyttorak even tells Colossus that Piotr is his favorite avatar ever and refuses to release him from his burden. It takes the magic of his sister Illyana’s Soulsword to sever Colossus' connection to Cyttorak.

4 The Phoenix Force Joins With Colossus and Other X-Men

Avengers vs. X-Men #5 (2012) by Matt Fraction and John Romita Jr.

The crossover war Avengers vs. X-Men kicks off when the Phoenix Force is detected heading towards Earth, seemingly to bond with Hope Summers. Knowing the kind of destruction that the Phoenix is capable of, the Avengers try to stop this from happening by taking Hope into custody. Cyclops goes to war with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to keep Hope free. He is sick of mutants being mistreated by humans, and believes the Phoenix’s power can restore mutants to a place of prominence.

As a result of the battle between Avengers and X-Men, the power of the Phoenix ends up getting split up between five mutants: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magik, Namor and Colossus. Imbued with awesome cosmic power, the Phoenix Five go about remaking the world in their own image. Still possessing the powers of Cyttorak as well, Colossus is a creature of incalculable strength. He can travel the cosmos and even beat Thor in a hand-to-hand fight. While easily beating Spider-Man, the Wall-Crawler manages to trick Colossus and Magik into fighting each other, each believing that they should possess more of the Phoenix’s power. They instead take each other out and both lose the power of the Phoenix Force.

Despite his Phoenix powers, Colossus is still unable to get Cyttorak to release him from his power.

3 Peter and Kitty Almost Get a Happy Ending

X-Men: Gold #20 (Engagement) (2018) by Marc Guggenheim and Diego Bernard; X-Men: Gold #30 (Wedding) (2018) by Marc Guggenheim and David Marquez

The years following Avengers vs. X-Men would find little respite for poor Colossus. After losing the powers of the Phoenix, he learns that Magik could have freed him from the powers of Cyttorak as well, but chose not to. This drives a wedge between the siblings that takes years to heal. Colossus is among the X-Men who retreat to Limbo after it’s discovered the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists are fatal to mutants, and at one point he ends up stranded a thousand years in the future, where he becomes a Horseman of Apocalypse. But slowly, things start to turn around, and he finds himself back with the X-Men on Earth.

After returning from a battle in the Negative Zone, Kitty Pryde surprises Piotr by asking him to marry her. He accepts, and the two begin planning a wedding. It appears that things are finally turning around for Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin. However, it all comes crashing down again on the day of their wedding, when Kitty leaves him at the altar. Her only explanation is that their messy history is a rocky foundation on which to build a marriage. Heartbroken, Peter leaves the team for Russia.

Kitty Pryde was previously engaged to Peter Quill aka Star-Lord of the Guardians of the Galaxy. That engagement was also broken off before they married (though they didn't make it to the altar).

2 Colossus' Brother Destroys His Peaceful Life on Krakoa

X-Force #11 (2020) by Benjamin Percy and Jan Bazaldua; X-Force #24 (2021) by Benjamin Percy and Martin Coccolo; Inferno #2 (2021) by Jonathan Hickman and Stefano Caselli

Like all good things in Colossus’ life, it does not last long.

The establishment of the mutant nation of Krakoa represents a fresh start for all mutants, hero and villain alike. For Peter, this means a chance to finally live the quiet life of a farmer he’s always wanted. While at first, he’s drawn into missions to rescue mutants being held in Russia, as well as to join X-Force, he does manage to retreat from active duty and work on farming the plants that create Krakoa’s life-saving medicines. He even builds a new relationship with a mutant named Kayla. But like all good things in Colossus’ life, it does not last long.

Piotr’s brother Mikhail, long thought to be deceased, is revealed to be alive and working with the anti-mutant organization XENO. In his own bid for power, Mikhail enlists the services of a mutant named the Chronicler to take over Piotr’s mind without Colossus even knowing. Acting as an unwitting double agent, Colossus murders his girlfriend Kayla and joins Krakoa’s leading body, the Quiet Council. He then joins X-Force and uses his position to both feed information to Mikhail and weaken Krakoa’s defenses in preparation of a massive attack by the mutants’ enemies.

Related "I Have to Kill You, Brother": Colossus Ends 2023 Reborn as One of Marvel's Darkest Heroes Colossus once ranked among the most morally upstanding mutants in the X-franchise. Now, he has blood on his hands & guilt in his heart.

1 Fall of X Reveals Colossus' Treachery

X-Force #43-46 (2023) by Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill

The machinations of Mikhail Rasputin come to a head during the Fall of X event. The anti-mutant organization Orchis launches a deadly attack on Krakoa during the mutants’ annual Hellfire Gala, killing the newly elected X-Men team and tons of other mutants. X-Force is supposed to be providing security for the event, but Colossus manages to trick them into leaving the island, opening the way for Orchis forces to make their move. It’s a stunning betrayal that not even Peter sees coming. Domino nearly stops it after discovering the body of Kayla, but she is not in time, and she and the rest of X-Force are taken captive by Mikhail.

While Mikhail is working with Orchis, he has higher ambitions. With Colossus acting as his lackey, Mikhail kidnaps an Orchis agent and tries to use the Chronicler to control her like he did with Colossus. It’s successful, but stretching the Chronicler’s power like this loosens his grip on Colossus. Piotr manages to break free from his brother’s grasp and, horrified by what he’s done, he frees the other members of X-Force.

Colossus engages his brother in a deadly battle that ends with him killing Mikhail. Filled with immeasurable guilt, he turns himself over to X-Force to do with him what they see fit. Fall of X sees all the world’s mutants fighting for survival. As such, X-Force can’t afford to keep a powerful figure like Colossus locked up. Taking him up on his desire to redeem himself, the rest of the mutants enlist him in the fight against Orchis.

At the conclusion of Fall of X, the X-Men are set to embark on an all-new era called From the Ashes. Several new X-Men teams will be launched, along with a new iteration of X-Force and a New York City-based series called NYX. Marvel has not yet revealed where Piotr Rasputin will end up. But if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that this era, like all eras of the X-Men, will see Colossus playing a major role in the mutants’ fight to protect a world that fears and hates them.