It's official: the X-Men's Colossus has one crazy family tree. The X-Men comics have often been compared to the superhero equivalent of a soap opera. The idea was baked into the franchise from the start, when the X-Mansion was attacked by Professor X's step-brother Juggernaut because of a childhood grudge. Decades later, pretty much every notable X-Man has their own family secret; a parent who stepped out of the shadows, a forgotten sibling, or a vengeful son.
Cyclops' family tree is the most famous, and it's become one of the craziest in comics. He discovered a brother he thought dead in the '60s, and learned he wasn't actually an orphan in the '80s. A third Summer brother was teased in the '90s and made his appearance as a cosmic villain a decade later, and Jonathan Hickman's X-Men relaunch has hinted there's yet another secret sibling. But, while Cyclops serves as the most notable example, he's by no means the only X-Man with a crazy family tree.
Take, for example, Colossus. Introduced in 1975's Giant-Size X-Men #1, Colossus is a Russian mutant with the ability to transform into organic steel. With the benefit of hindsight, that first issue set up Colossus' family to be a major part of his story; his powers first appeared when he dove in the way of a runaway tractor that was in danger of running down his sister. But as the year went on, the story of Piotr Rasputin's family became absolutely crazy. Here are all the members who've played a major role to date.
Colossus' mutant bloodline can be traced all the way back to 1917, and to the notable Russian mystic Grigory Efinovich Rasputin. In the real world, Rasputin was the sinister priest associated with the court of Czar Nicholas II. He was known for his phenomenal personal charisma, and seduced countless women, claiming he was purifying them by sleeping with them. The Marvel version is similar, but he was both a sorcerer and a powerful mutant. According to the Colossus: Bloodline miniseries, Rasputin forged a partnership with the mutant named Mr. Sinister, and together they attempted to create countless new bloodlines of mutants. Rasputin slept with as many women as possible, and Sinister manipulated the fetuses, encouraging the development of the X-gene. One of Rasputin's most notable lovers was a woman named Elena, but her brother Ivan rebelled against the sorcerer and played a key role in killing him. Elena fled, and bore a child, giving him the surname "Rasputin" after his father.
Disturbingly, as well as inspiring the generation of mutants, these experiments also seem to have created another dark legacy; everyone in Colossus' family tree is prone to mental instability, periods of uncontrolled violence, and paranoia. Colossus eventually learned the dying Rasputin had managed to preserve himself by fragmenting his soul, inhabiting every one of his children. The key to Rasputin's return would lie in the elimination of all his descendants, an act that Sinister was more than happy to orchestrate.
Colossus' parents, Nikolai and Alexandra, settled at the Ust-Ordynski Collective near Lake Baikal. Although they were an unremarkable couple, their oldest son Mikhail became one of Russia's greatest cosmonauts. He was also a uniquely powerful mutant, one of a sub-group of mutants called "Changelings" whose powers manifest from birth. Mikhail learned to manipulate subatomic matter and warp energy; he can teleport across the Multiverse at will, and has a remarkable control over energy in all its forms. He kept his mutantdom a secret throughout his cosmonaut training, but it was eventually discovered. The Soviets faked his death, and then attempted to use his powers to gain an edge in the space race. The attempt instead left Mikhail stranded in another dimension, where he lived and married, before becoming a revolutionary. When Mikhail used his powers to close a dimensional rift, the energy backlash killed hundreds, including his own wife. He returned to our reality, and has consistently proven to be a dangerous and unstable mutant, working with several different terrorist groups.
Of course, the most famous of these three siblings is Colossus. Piotr Rasputin is one of the most tragic members of the X-Men, the soldier who only wishes for peace. Once, when he was transported through the mystical Siege Perilous, Colossus was given a vision of his own personal utopia; a normal life, where he lived as an artist, untouched by pain and loss. Sadly, even that reality was torn away, and he soon found himself plunged into the never-ending battle for mutant rights once again. As physically powerful as Colossus may be, the greatest battles he has fought have been internal, as he struggles against grief and depression. During the 1990s, he became the X-Men's own Judas Iscariot, betraying Xavier's Dream and siding with Magneto when the cost of it all became too much.
If you thought those stories were twisted, Magik's life may as well be lifted straight out of a Stephen King novel. Colossus' beloved "Little Snowflake" was still a child when she was spirited away by the demonic Belasco, and taken to the demon-realm of Limbo. The X-Men rescued her, but they were unaware time flows differently in Limbo, and so for Magik the rescue had taken years. She had aged in this Hell Dimension, discovering her mutant powers of teleportation, her very soul transformed into a weapon. Magik became a member of the New Mutants, but was ultimately regressed back to childhood again in the "Inferno" event. Tragically, though, the young Illyana fell ill with the Legacy Virus, an AIDS-analogue plague that only struck mutants. She died in Uncanny X-Men #303, one of the most unforgettable and heartbreaking issues in Marvel history.
Magik was ultimately resurrected by Belasco, who traversed the afterlifes to find fragments of her soul. She's become one of the most important X-Men of all, a Captain of Krakoa, as well as a powerful sorceress. Looking at the powers she wields, it's hard not to see Magik as the ultimate legacy of Rasputin; mutant power and mystic skill united to devastating effect, and lordship of a Hell Dimension. There's also that taint of darkness, which led Magik to manipulate her brother Colossus into becoming the Juggernaut for a time, an act he only recently forgave her for.
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