of time. The longest time he has remained in armored form so far has been five days.
Once in his armored form he remains so until he consciously wills himself back to normal. If he is rendered unconscious, however, he spontaneously reverts to his normal form. While in his armored state, Colossus possesses the same degree of mobility that he does in his normal form. The process by which Colossus transforms himself to armored form and back (including his gain of additional mass from an unknown, perhaps extra-dimensional, force) remains unknown.
Colossus cannot become partially or selectively armored; his body is either entirely converted or not. Even his eyes become steel-like; his eyeballs can withstand and deflect the impact of a .45 caliber bullet. In his armored form Colossus is highly resistant to most forms of bodily harm. His armor is capable of withstanding ballistic penetration, including that of a 110 millimeter Howitzer shell. He could survive a collision with a loaded, one-ton flatbed truck at 100 miles per hour or an explosion of 450 pounds of TNT. He can survive extremes of temperature from 70 degrees above absolute zero (-390 degrees Fahrenheit) to approximately 9000 Fahrenheit. However, it is theorized that above the latter temperature, his armored form would begin to melt.
Colossus's armored form cannot rust under normal Earth conditions. Colossus is in unusually fine physical health, permitting the transition back and forth from his normal organic flesh state to his armored form to occur with minimal stress on his system. His normal lungs are capable of holding his breath for 3.6 minutes. In the past he has exhibited a minimal or nonexistent need to breathe while in his armored state. However, it is believed that he could not survive for long in a vacuum. His endurance and speed are somewhat greater in his armored form.
History: Piotr Rasputin was born on the Soviet collective farm called the Ust-Ordynski Collective near Lake Baikal in Siberia. His superhuman powers emerged in adolescence. At first, Rasputin was content simply to use these powers to aid the other people of the Collective. However, Rasputin was contacted by Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, when Xavier was organizing his team of mutants. Rasputin agreed to leave the farm community in which he was born and raised to go to America with Xavier and become one of the X-Men. The Professor gave Rasputin the code name "Colossus" and he has aided Xavier and the rest of the team in their ongoing mission of promoting peaceful coexistence between humans and mutantkind ever since. |
