Colossus and Kitty Pryde have had many troubles over their time in the X-Men, but one amazing cosplay shows their best selves back together as a team. This cosplay is not only amazingly done, but also aspirational for the character themselves in-universe.
Introduced in 1975 in Len Wein and Dave Cockrum’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, Piotr Rasputin aka Colossus is one of the second generation of X-Men, recruited after the original team’s disastrous encounter with the living island Krakoa. Colossus can turn his skin into “organic steel” that makes him absurdly strong and nigh indestructible. Piotr was notable at the time for hailing from the USSR, often only represented through villains during the Cold War. He quickly developed a relationship with Kitty Pryde, introduced early on in writer Chris Claremont’s landmark run on the Uncanny X-Men, and theirs became a famous comics romance. While the relationship between Colossus and Kitty, or Kate, has often been a strained one, they’re still one of the most well-known X-Men pairings.
Colossus & Kate Pryde Bring Out The Best (And Worst) In Each Other
Throughout their history, Colossus and Kate’s relationship has constantly been on rocky ground, most recently with the characters’ ill-fated betrothal from Mark Guggenheim’s X-Men: Gold, their last major role together in the comics. The age gap between the two characters, with Kitty being originally 13 to Colossus’ 19, has also caused consternation among some fans. However, with Marvel’s sliding timescale, the gap between the characters has functionally shifted to the degree that when they later resume their relationship, most notably in X-Men: Gold and Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men, it hasn’t been a problem.
Arguably though, their relationship is better left in the past. Never is this more evident than in Excalibur Vol 1 #92 by Warren Ellis and Casey Jones, in which Colossus assaults Kitty’s new boyfriend Pete Wisdom, attacking him in a jealous rage after discovering that Kitty’s previous rekindling of her and Piotr’s relationship was partially a front to keep tabs on the mentally unstable Piotr. Boychuk’s cosplay shows the best possible version of the characters, clearly a functional team able to implicitly trust each other without the baggage that has haunted them. Boychuk and Bamzy’s cosplay also isn’t an explicitly romantic one, and highlights that the characters don’t need to be romantically involved to work well together.
In the current Krakoan era of the X-Men, where so many mutant characters are finally able to live their best lives, one can only hope that Piotr and Kate can reach this point in the comics as well. Both are currently serving on the Krakoan Quiet Council, and both have struggled with their own issues, whether it be Kate’s self-destructive behavior or the psychic manipulation of Colossus by his evil brother Mikhail. Healing takes time, and one can only hope that with this era of prosperity for the X-Men, Colossus and Kitty Pryde can finally find their best selves, like in Zak Boychuk’s terrific cosplay.
Sources: Zak Boychuck (1, 2)
