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Colossus came from humble beginnings,
growing up in Russia as a simple farm boy. His life changed
forever when one day he saw his younger sister, Illyana, in
danger of being run down by an unmanned tractor. He rushed to
her, sweeping her up in his arms...but he was too late, he
didn't have time to move out of the path of the machine. He
willed his mutant powers to come forth, and the tractor
practically disintegrated as it hit his armored, unmoving
bulk. This was how Professor Xavier found him when he asked
Colossus to join the X-Men. After a brief discussion with his
parents, he set off to America to rescue the original X-Men
from the living island of Krakoa, and to help make a
difference in the world.
Colossus was ever the idealist of the group, and though he was
a powerhouse, he was the gentlest soul among the team. A
talented artist, he sketched during much of his spare time.
When Shadowcat joined the team, she fell for Colossus, and he
for her, though not with the same depth of feeling. He shared
many adventures with the X-Men over the years, one of the most
remarkable involving his little sister, Illyana. When she came
to visit Colossus, the X-Men were investigating a strange
mystery. Illyana fell into a portal, and though Colossus only
lost his grip upon her for scant seconds in this world, in the
world Illyana had journeyed to, many years had passed. She
emerged from the portal as a teenager, her mutant powers now
manifested. It took some time for Colossus to come to terms
with this, as it did for Illyana, but she joined the New
Mutants with his blessing. Time passed, and Colossus was
transported to another world during the Secret Wars, a plot of
the Beyonder. While there, he fell in love, or so he thought,
with an alien woman named Zsaji. Though they could not even
speak to each other in a common language, when she gave her
life to save his, dying in his arms, he felt as though he had
lost everything. He returned to earth and ended his
relationship, such as it was, with Shadowcat.
A major turning point came for Colossus during the Mutant
Massacre. The injured and dying Morlocks all about him,
Colossus felt his anger burn within him as he rarely had. When
Shadowcat was severely injured during the battle, he lost his
temper completely, killing the Marauder known as Riptide. Ever
the gentlest of souls, he had been moved to take another's
life. He, himself, severely injured during the battle and
unable to return to human form for fear of dying, found
himself healed by Magneto. When he awoke, whole again, he
found himself paralyzed. He recovered quickly from the
paralyzation, though it took longer for him to regain enough
control to switch back to human form with ease. The next big
change occurred when Psylocke tricked the X-Men into entering
the Siege Perilous; a device which weighs the good and bad
within your soul and then spits you out where you can do the
most good, with a chance to build a new life. Colossus emerged
from the Siege Perilous as Peter Nicholas and began life again
as an artist, with no memories of ever having been an X-Man.
He met up with Callisto, former leader of the Morlocks, who
had herself been changed by the Morlock, Mask. He had given
her beauty where once was a twisted visage. Peter and Cal fell
in love, and life was bliss for a time.
Then the Shadow King came and claimed him, twisting his mind
and bending him to his will. It was only through Professor
Xavier's intervention that Colossus was turned back toward the
side of good. The Professor reached deep within his mind and
released all of the memories the Siege Perilous had repressed.
Though he lost his ideal life, Colossus returned to the X-Men
with a vengeance. Then came one tragedy after another. His
younger sister, returned to her childhood with a second chance
at life, died at age seven of the Legacy Virus. His parents
were killed by the KGB in Russia, and rediscovered his long
thought dead older brother, Mikhail. He had barely even begun
to recreate the bond with his only remaining family member
when Mikhail succumbed to his insanity and committed suicide,
taking most of the remaining Morlocks with him. The final
straw came when Professor Xavier was forced to mentally
lobotomize Magneto after he nearly killed Wolverine. Believing
that the Professor was betraying the very dream he had
created, Colossus' anger finally overwhelmed him, the
betrayals and tragedies of the years overwhelming him. He
gathered up Magneto's still living body and returned to
Asteroid M with him, ready to care for the mutant villain and
even serve him should he ever awake again.
Colossus remained with the Acolytes on Asteroid M until it was
destroyed. Giving up his vigil to Magneto with the
disappearance of the villain's body, he surprisingly did not
return to the X-Men. Just recently, he has been reunited with
his former teammates Nightcrawler and Shadowcat and joined the
Britain based team, Excalibur. He stayed with them until their
disbandment, at which point he rejoined the X-Men with
Shadowcat and Nightcrawler. Though his heart can never be the
same, he is still much the noble and good soul he ever was; a
true hero.
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