Colossus Appreciation 2020

[Immortal Hulk]

Colossus is, by far, my favorite X-Man, with Nightcrawler coming in second place. He's just an amazing character.

Why the hell an editor could/would hate him? :/

[Omnipitus]

Colossus is, by far, my favorite X-Man, with Nightcrawler coming in second place. He's just an amazing character.

Why the hell an editor could/would hate him? :/

A lot of it seems to stem from their childhood crush on Kitty Pryde. There are numerous examples, a lot are mentioned previously in this thread, and on the Colossus appreciation thread from last year.

[Technopriest]

Colossus is, by far, my favorite X-Man, with Nightcrawler coming in second place. He's just an amazing character.

Why the hell an editor could/would hate him? :/

Both Warren Ellis and Jordan White are on record saying that Kitty Pryde was their childhood crush and that they hated Piotr for dumping/hurting her back in the day, and yes, when you think about it is super creepy (more on Ellis case). But that's pretty much the reason for those two.

[Innocent Bystander]

she was also Whedon's crush and a huge inspiration for him. and then he fridged her in a magic bullet. but while I thought his Colossus wasn't great, it wasn't character assassination like Lobdell or Ellis.

[Technopriest]

she was also Whedon's crush and a huge inspiration for him. and then he fridged her in a magic bullet. but while I thought his Colossus wasn't great, it wasn't character assassination like Lobdell or Ellis.

Whedon's decision at the end was kind of weird, like, "well, I am done using my favorite character, so now I'll just trap her in a bullet so no one can use her in the immediate future". And his Piotr was just a reversion to the dumb farmer stereotype that Colossus started out as. He was just that stoic, noble character that Whedon usually writes as a romantic pair for his heroine, sadly his Colossus just lacked depth and well, he had moved on from that depiction about 25 years ago.

[JJS]

Whedon's decisión at the end was kind of weird, like, "well, I am using my favorite character, so now I'll just trap her in a bullet so no one can use her in the immediate future". And his Piotr was just a reversion to the dumb farmer stereotype that Colossus started out as. He was just that stoic, noble character that Whedon usually writes as a romantic pair for his heroine, sadly his Colossus just lacked depth and we'll, he had moved on from that depiction about 25 years ago.

Thought his Colossus at that point was probably the best since Claremont.

Hopeless was okay with him.

Gillen pretty good, and Wood probably the only writers who I felt got him and used reasonably well.

Everyone else who has written him for any length of time in nearly 30 years has either ignored or engaged in character assassination.

[Technopriest]

Thought his Colossus at that point was probably the best since Claremont.

Hopeless was okay with him.

Gillen pretty good, and Wood probably the only writers who I felt got him and used reasonably well.

Everyone else who has written him for any length of time in nearly 30 years has either ignored or engaged in character assassination.

Sadly, I agree with you, I do think his Colossus was the best since Claremont, and that's not saying much, at least for me. Lobdell just didn't care for him and felt the best way to get rid of him was by killing his sister and had him do a heel turn. Ellis just despised him and was forced to have him in his title, so he just used him as a punching bag to make Wisdom look better. I do like Woods depiction as I feel we were finally getting the experienced soldier we should have at that point, and I liked Hopeless version as well. The less said about Guggs the better. Colossus just existed to be a prop in Kitty's story (in fact the whole team was just that.)

[Havok83]

Colossus has largely been boring in the modern era. I think writers have failed to recontextualize and make him work. Most tend to default back to classic 80s Claremont which doesnt work for the direction that the line has taken and shows major lack of growth and development on Piotr's part. Dawn of X hasnt exactly been a good era for him either. I think the last time I liked him was actually Rosenberg's short stint on AXM bc that could have ben a fun new direction but it was shortlived and ultimately went nowhere but the status quo changed with AOX

[Technopriest]

Colossus has largely been boring in the modern era. I think writers have failed to recontextualize and make him work. Most tend to default back to classic 80s Claremont which doesnt work for the direction that the line has taken and shows major lack of growth and development on Piotr's part. Dawn of X hasnt exactly been a good era for him either. I think the last time I liked him was actually Rosenberg's short stint on AXM bc that could have ben a fun new direction but it was shortlived and ultimately went nowhere but the status quo changed with AOX

A character cannot have growth and development if the writers don't invest on them. Sadly the one chance Piotr had to be featured by a writer that was actually a fan was during Morrison's era, and fricking Lobdell had to go and kill him off right before that. Yes, you can tell I have very little appreciation for Lobdell.

[Omnipitus]

A character cannot have growth and development if the writers don't invest on them. Sadly the one chance Piotr had to be featured by a writer that was actually a fan was during Morrison's era, and fricking Lobdell had to go and kill him off right before that. Yes, you can tell I have very little appreciation for Lobdell.

You are in good company.

I liked Whedon's take on Colossus. I could have just been super happy to have him back, but even rereading the series, I thought Peter was well written under the circumstances of his return.

I shudder to think what would have happened if Bendis or Jason Aaron were tasked with bringing him back...

[Havok83]

Did you guys (or gals) like Rosenberg's take on him in AXM?

[Technopriest]

Did you guys (or gals) like Rosenberg's take on him in AXM?

I did, because it made sense for the frame of mind that Piotr would've been in at that point, and because it was a different take from what we were used to seeing till then. I actually liked carefree, throws caution to the wind Colossus. My only issue with that is that having him as drunk big oaf Colossus would not have been sustainable long term. Eventually a Colossus that beats his demons but remains more carefree would have been perfect. Alas, it was not meant to be.

[Omnipitus]

Did you guys (or gals) like Rosenberg's take on him in AXM?

I did as well. It was both comical and depressing at the same time. Seeing him drunk and his messy "humble abode" was imo a good way of showing him react to getting his heart broken.

I was actually very grateful some writer did not turn him into a brooding, obsessive character who was planning revenge. I was fairly certain that was going to happen, and the editor would have given the story his blessing. Not a good thing when your favorite character is always at risk for becoming evil or made out to be a jerk due to the powers that be.

[Innocent Bystander]

I did as well. It was both comical and depressing at the same time. Seeing him drunk and his messy "humble abode" was imo a good way of showing him react to getting his heart broken.

I was actually very grateful some writer did not turn him into a brooding, obsessive character who was planning revenge. I was fairly certain that was going to happen, and the editor would have given the story his blessing. Not a good thing when your favorite character is always at risk for becoming evil or made out to be a jerk due to the powers that be.

and yet, despite his heart broken, is there a world where Peter does not attend Kate's funeral?

I realize that the Shadowcat/Colossus relationship has been rendered radioactive by Guggenheim's run, but it's impossible for me to believe that Nightcrawler would not have come to find Peter and told him that he needed to be there.

I will always blame Lobdell for making Colossus all about Illyana, when Claremont had shown that he'd sacrifice her if it would save the world.

[ermac]

I really enjoyed Rosenberg's AXM and his portrayal of Colossus. I think the character benefits a lot being used in comedy-ish takes.