Cerebra's Files

Colossus was one of the "new" X-Men recruited by Professor X to save the original team from Krakoa. Xavier found Piotr in the Ust-Ordyinski collective in the Ukraine, just after the Russian mutant smashed a tractor that was bearing down on his little sister Illyana. Xavier convinced Piotr that his powers were needed by the world, not just He quickly befriended Storm, who called him "little brother" due to his young age (not his height). Though strong enough against machines and humans, Colossus quickly found himself a little out of his league, leading to doubts in his confidence. These doubts were exploited by Arcade's android of Colonel Vashin (head of the Russian spies), who brainwashed Colossus into becoming "The Proletarian," a socialist monster who nearly killed his teammates before they cleared his head.

Colossus regained his confidence, but life threw him another loop when young Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men. Kitty's crush soon blossomed into love. Colossus also found that he was not as invulnerable as he thought when Deathbird and the Brood attacked the X-Men on Earth. Piotr was hit with acid, and then impaled on Deathbird's javelin. His life was narrowly saved by the Starjammer Sikorsky. Then all the X-Men were infected with Brood eggs and destined to metamorphose into the vile creatures. However, Storm and the Acanti Prophetsinger purged the eggs from the mutants' bodies.

Back on Earth Piotr was joined at the Mansion by his sister Illyana, who soon fell into Limbo and emerged eight years older. Now Kitty's age, Illyana's position as Shadowcat's best friend helped Piotr and Kitty's relationship along. The two mutants even thought of marriage.

Unfortunately, while on Battleworld during the so-called "Secret Wars," Colossus fell in love with the healer Zsaji, though each could not speak the other's language. It is likely that this was not true love, but rather a side-effect of Zsaji's healing powers, which had the same effect on the Human Torch. In the final Battle of the Secret Wars, Colossus and the other heroes were blown up by an omnipotent Dr. Doom, but Zsaji arrived in time to save Colossus, though at the cost of her own life. When he returned to Earth, Piotr broke up with Kitty. They eventually reconciled as friends, but never more than that.

A few months later, during the Mutant Massacre Colossus was seriously injured by shuriken (throwing stars) thrown by Riptide, whom he then killed. Only Magneto's metal and energy-manipulating powers were able to save him. He recovered for atime at Muir Island, but rejoined his teammates when the Adversary began warping space-time around Forge's Aerie. At this point, Piotr was in humna form, and found it difficult to activate his powers. However, when the team needed an anchor to hold down the rope they used to enter the Adversary's fortress, Piotr becmae Colossus, even though he worried that he might not be able to change back. His fears proved valid, as even after the X-Men died to stop the Adversary and were resurrected by Roma, Colossus was stuck in his armored form. He remained this way for a long time, until he went through the Siege Perilous with his teammates to escape the Reavers.

Colossus was reborn as "Peter Nicholas," an artist living in New York City. During this period Peter had no memory of his former life. He was captivated by a model he saw on billboards around the city, and eventually found her. The model turned out to be a healed Callisto, who also had no memory of her Morlock past. The two became lovers, and were even identified by X-Factor, though the mutant team never told them their true identities.

A few months later, Colossus was located and possessed by the Shadow King and sent to capture Stevie Hunter, the X-Men's former dance teacher. Stevie managed to escape Colossus, and bought herself enough time for Professor X to return from space and break Farouk's hold on Colossus. This action destroyed the Peter Nicholas persona, and Colossus returned to the X-Men. He then lost his entire family (Illyana to the Legacy Virus and his parents to a rogue Soviet operation), and for a time (due to a head wound received from the X-Cutioner and the tragic death of his sister Illyana) gave up Xavier's dream and joined the Acolytes when Magneto returned to threaten the world. On Avalon, however, Colossus secretly helped the X-Men teleport into the station, feeling that even Magneto had gone too far in his attack on Earth. Kitty and Excalibur then tricked Colossus into returning to Earth from Avalon in order to heal his head wound, but even without the "brain damage" Piotr opted to stay with the Acolytes.

Colossus stayed on Avalon until its destruction, trying to be a voice of reason, even defending the traitor Neophyte for helping the X-Men during an earlier battle. When the station was destroyed, Colossus tried to protect Magneto's comatose body, but lost hold of him before crashing in Antarctica. He was saved by Callisto, who had regained her earlier form but still remembered her time with "Peter Nicholas." Colossus brought Cal to the X-Men to stop the terrorist Gene Nation, but did not stay with the team, and left with the wounded Callisto after the battle.

Colossus eventually returned to the fold, and went to visit his good friend Nightcrawler and his old flame Shadowcat, then members of Excalibur. He found Kitty kissing her then-boyfriend Wisdom and flipped out, beat Pete nearly to death. Pete managed to hotknife Colossus in the spine, and the team took him in as part of his "rehab." He came to accept his role in Excalibur and remained there until the team's dissolution, whereupon he returned with Kitty and Kurt to the States to rejoin the X-Men.

Peter once again was a mainstay of the team, though the loss of his sister continued to haunt him. When Professor X seemed to be pushing the X-Men too hard after their return from the Skrull homeworld, Peter left with Marrow on a trip to some museums, where they encountered Mikhail, who was trying to bring Illyana back to life. As much as it hurt him, Peter had to stop Mikhail, but in the process managed to return him to our dimension and separate him from an energy parasite that was inhabiting him and driving him crazy. Unfortunately, Peter lost his brother again when Mikhail used his power to remove himself and Apocalypse's Horsemen from our reality. Still, Peter seemed at peace. Unfortunately, his peace was not to last.

After the tragic death of Moira MacTaggert, Beast was finally able to synthesize the cure for the Legacy Virus, based on Moira's final thoughts and notes. He revealed his findings to his teammates, and Peter felt profound relief. Upon further analysis, however, they discovered that the only way to release the cure would kill the person into whom the cure serum was injected. After the others left the lab, Peter stayed behind. Cecilia Reyes seemed to sense what he was planning, but Peter sprayed her with knockout gas before she could stop him. He took the cure and injected it into himself, releasing the cure and saving thousands as he himself died.

Though his body was cremated and his ashes spread across a field near his home in Russia, Colossus was recently discovered by Kitty in the Benetech Corporation Headquarters. He claimed that his body was switched with another corpse before the cremation and the villainous Ord of the other-dimensional Breakworld resurrected him. Ord, a mutant-hater, performed as-yet-unknown tests on Colossus for months or perhaps years. Kitty freed Peter and they helped subdue Ord...

Colossus used his vast strength to plow huge fields in his native Russia, bringing food to thousands of his countrymen. Uninvolved in affairs of state or mutant menaces, he was truly at peace.

After M-Day, Colossus remained a mainstay of the X-Men, helping to protect the 198 and the students whenever possible. At one point, however, he was contacted by his cousin Larisa Mischenko, after he himself had nightmares and visions of himself as a monster. They discovered that they were in fact the great-grandchildren of Grigoriy Rasputin, the mystic monk of Russia, and that someone was killing all their living relatives. Colossus discovered that Sinister was the murderer, since he had been allied with Rasputin in a primitive breeding program early in the 20th Century, and Rasputin's soul could be re-integrated if only one of his descendants was alive. That descendant was intended to be Mikhail, but Piotr fought his brother and eventually got Mikhail to rescue him from a dimensional void, trading spaces with him and leaving him alive so Rasputin would not be reborn.

Some time afterwards, Piotr and Kitty finally consummated their long on-and-off relationship, just before an attack by a vestige of Cassandra Nova that had hidden inside Emma Frost. Fortunately, their relationship survived, only to discover that Piotr was the prophesized destroyer of the Breakworld, Ord's home, which is why he had been experimented on. The X-Men were transported to the Breakworld by S.W.O.R.D. and Agent Brand, and Colossus and Kitty were separated from the others and found by a group of sympathetic "rebels."
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