Growing up on his parents' farm, Piotr Rasputin saw his older brother Mikhail become a Cosmonaut. Mikhail was later discovered to be a latent mutant with energy warping powers, and to keep him secret the government faked his death. In later years, Piotr learned that he too was a mutant, and could transform his flesh into steel, but he was content to use his powers to help his fellow farmers. When a transformed Piotr rescued his sister Illyana from a runaway tractor, he was approached by Professor Charles Xavier, who was recruiting mutants for a new team of X-Men to help save his original students from the sentient island Krakoa. Dubbed Colossus by Xavier, Piotr reluctantly joined this new team, which freed the original X-Men and helped defeat Krakoa. After the battle, Piotr remained with the X-Men in America, though he found it difficult to adjust to living in a different culture. Colossus can transform his body tissue into an organic, steel-like substance that grants him superhuman strength and a high degree of imperviousness to injury. His armored form can withstand ballistic penetration as well as temperature extremes from 70º above absolute zero (-390º F) to approximately 9000º F. Colossus cannot become partially or selectively armored; his body is either entirely converted, or not at all. Even his eyes become steel-like. Through an act of will, Colossus can transform virtually instantaneously into his armored state, and can remain in that form for an as yet undetermined amount of time. Once in his armored form, Colossus remains so until he consciously wills himself back to normal. If he is rendered unconscious, however, he spontaneously reverts to his normal form. In his armored state, Colossus retains his normal human mobility, though his endurance and speed are enhanced. He does not need to breathe while transformed, but it is believed that he could not survive for long in a vacuum. 2.25m when transformed