Colossus is easily one of the most recognizable and beloved members of the X-Men. For many casual fans, the Deadpool movies are all they know of the powerful Russian: a family-friendly, morally righteous, and downright heroic dude. For those who have been reading his exploits for years, the metal behemoth has had a much more nuanced, and (at times) evil, role to play in the Marvel Universe.
So is Colossus a hero or a villain? Can he be both? For your consideration, we have listed five of his finest moments and five of his worst. Decide for yourself on whether or not his heroics cancel out his villainy.
10 Best: Saving A Child From A Tractor
Writers would later decide that this little girl was in fact his sister. Anybody that has actually read Giant-Size X-Men 1 can attest to this being a lazy retcon.
The girl is reunited with her parents on the same page we first see Peter Rasputin's parents and it's as clear as day that these are two different families. There's also the panel with his family (no sister to be seen) waving goodbye to Peter as he leaves for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. All that to be said, he did save a little girl from a runaway tractor. This is one of his finest moments because it's what caused his mutation to manifest. That means he was running to his death in order to save some random little girl.
9 Worst: Bar Fights
After experiencing some romantic troubles, Colossus heads to a bar with Wolverine and Nightcrawler. True to form, Wolverine is surly and not a shoulder to cry on. After giving Colossus a hard time and being generally unfriendly, Wolverine picks up Juggernaut's scent. This prompts him to try and get out of the bar before they are spotted.
Colossus is less than amiable toward Wolverine and very drunk, and before anybody can stop it, he stumbles back into Juggernaut and so starts a drunken brawl between two overpowered mutants which destroys the building. It's easy to see why some people are terrified of mutants in this instance. Far from heroic and not doing Xaviers dream any favors, Colossus makes a giant metal ass of himself.
8 Best: Saving The Originals
Jumping out of the blackbird jet without letting the team know it won't kill him, fighting rocks with a tree, and punching through foot-thick steel doors are a few of the highlights from Colossus's debut. Giant size X-Men #1 is hilarious and has not aged well at all.
All that to be said, without Colossus, the new team of X-Men would have struggled to rescue the originals from the living island of Krakoa. There's also a good chance Storm would have perished when attacked by a living avalanche of rocks. Perhaps Storm could have survived the literal rock attack alone but with her claustrophobia, it's unlikely.
7 Worst: Joining Magneto And His "Acolytes"
Betraying the X-Men and saving Magneto is not a great look.
To be fair to Colossus, his sister had just died and his relationship with Kitty Pryde was on the rocks. His head was in a bad place and he was full of anger without anywhere to put it. Joining a straight-up terrorist organization is probably not the best way to process trauma, though.
After turning his back on his friends and teammates, Colossus left Earth to live on an asteroid base with a bunch of delusional scum bags and got himself a swanky new costume to boot. While seeing Colossus descend into villainy is depressing, it's also kind of hilarious to see him pull a full 180 turn in terms of who he is as a character. Badly planned as a storyline and a disservice to one of the most loved X-Men, this is one of his lowest points.
6 Best: Standing Up To The Hulk
Fighting the Hulk is never a good idea. Fighting the Hulk when he has returned to Earth intent on subjugating it is an even worse idea. For all his strengths, Colossus is lacking in the critical thinking department. Some people would say he's simply fearless but the truth is, he's just simple.
Ending as expected, Hulk bends the arms of Colossus backward and stops just short of tearing them off. While it is idiotic to stand up to a foe that cannot be defeated, it's also completely heroic and brave beyond words. This is the purest example of his character and one of the reasons everybody loves him.
5 Worst: Threatening To Destroy A School
Love makes people do crazy things.
When bonded with the Phoenix Force, Colossus tries to force Kitty Pryde into a relationship by threatening to destroy Xaviers School. If trying to force someone into a relationship under threat of violence wasn't gross enough, he also sets fire to Kitty's arm and then explains it's her fault for touching him. Luckily, this can all be blamed on the overwhelming influence of the Phoenix Force but that's not something that excuses it, only explains it.
Once again Colossus proves that he has spectacular range by reaching the peaks of heroics while being able to descend into the pits of villainy.
4 Best: Becoming A Painter
How he lost his memory is incredibly complicated but the end result is beautıfully simple.
Without the legacy of the X-Men and freed from the mental turmoil and trauma experienced from being in the team, Colossus lives his best life as a painter. Colossus gains global acclaim from his art and lives a life that is arguably better than his life as an X-Man. It's possibly the best version of the character to date and it's nice to see him at peace. Given some of the atrocious things he does as an X-Man when his memory returns, it's clear that the best thing for everyone would have been for him to remain a painter.
3 Worst: Crimes Of Passion
Kitty Pryde and Colossus have had a pretty awful relationship when viewed from start to finish. Without a doubt, there have been good times but the bad times..? Well, those cancel out the good when you stack them up, and here's another to add to the pile.
When Colossus discovered Kitty had moved on and began a relationship with Pete Wisdom he became incensed and tried to murder him.
That's some severe and irrational behavior. If he had killed good old Pete Wisdom and if Netflix exists in the Marvel Universe, then it would no doubt make for an amazing docu-series in the true crime category. For Kitty, the entire event is just psychological trauma and truly horrendous.
2 Best: Eradicating The Legacy Virus
The Legacy Virus was more deadly to mutants than Sentinels and Humans combined. Unleashed on the world by the time-traveling scum bag Stryfe, it looked set to eradicate mutants until Beast found a cure.
The catch, however, was that in order for the cure to become airborne to save everyone, a mutant had to die. There was some vague science that justified this bizarre caveat but without stopping to ask why, Colossus stepped up and gave his life to save others.
1 Worst: Destroying The Triskelion
When the Multiverse was dying and realities began smashing into each other, all the normal heroics of the Marvel Universe went straight out the window. Characters that had ethical codes experienced what we shall call canonical amnesia. A great example of this (and there are many) is the destruction of the Triskelion from the Ultimate Marvel Universe. After throwing the Hulk at the building, Colossus (among other "heroes") uprooted the building from the base and collapsed it into a heap of rubble. This building was full of people.
It's a dark fact that like many other "heroes", Colossus became a mass murderer in the final days of the Universe.