We at Podcast Unlimited like to give our characters a run for their money. And this week, we got a top notch battle brawl with men of steel! And no, we aren’t talking about Superman! Over at Marvel Comics, there are some pretty tough customers. For this “Versus,” we have not only two strong competitors with steel-like skin! We have everyone’s favorite strong man from the X-Men, Colossus! And battling him will be the Avengers very own Luke Cage, also known as Power Man! Since they both have skin that makes it very tough to penetrate, who would you like to see win this match up? We will let you decide – but first, here is a little about each participant!
Colossus
Colossus (Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and illustrator Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). A Russian mutant, he is a member of the X-Men. Able to transform himself into metallic form, he is by far the physically strongest of the team. Even when his powers are not engaged, he is a physically imposing figure of 6 ft 7 in (200 cm). He is portrayed as quiet, honest and virtuous. He has had a fairly consistent presence in X-Men-related comic books since his debut. A talented artist, he only reluctantly agrees to use his powers in combat, feeling it is his responsibility to use his abilities for the betterment of human- and mutant-kind.
iotr “Peter” Rasputin was born on a Soviet collective farm called the Ust-Ordynsky Collective near Lake Baikal in Siberia. He lived there with his mother Alexandra, father Nikolai, and sister Illyana. His older brother, Mikhail, had been a Soviet cosmonaut and had apparently died in a rocket accident. The 2006 comic mini-series Colossus: Bloodline established that the family was descended from Grigori Rasputin.
Peter’s superhuman powers manifested during his adolescence while saving his sister from a runaway tractor. He was then contacted by Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men.
Colossus is a mutant with the ability to transform his entire body into a form of “organic steel”, with properties similar to osmium but of still unknown composition. Colossus must transform his entire body into this armored state; he cannot transform only a portion of his body. When he transforms, he gains approximately 1 ft (30 cm) in height; official figures state his height at about 7 ft 5 in (230 cm) in transformed state versus 6 ft 6 in (200 cm) in normal human form) and his weight is at least doubled. In his armored form, Colossus possesses superhuman levels of strength, as well as superhuman stamina and durability. His physical strength is currently greater than when he first joined the X-Men due to the realignment of his cells by Magneto following an injury during the Mutant Massacre. While in his armored form, Colossus requires no food, water, or even oxygen to sustain himself, and is extremely resistant to injury. He is capable of withstanding great impacts, large caliber bullets, falling from tremendous heights, electricity, and certain magical attacks.While he has great resistance to temperature extremes of hot and cold, extreme heat followed by rapid super-cooling has been shown to cause extreme damage. As he is vulnerable to the anti-metal vibranium in his metal form, his body instinctively shifts to human form when faced with a vibranium weapon.
Colossus is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, having received training from Wolverine and Cyclops. He has had training in acrobatics and sword fighting from Nightcrawler. In his human form, he is still exceptionally strong and in superb physical condition, though not superhumanly so. He has completed college-level courses at Xavier’s school.
As the unstoppable Avatar of Cyttorak, Colossus gained additional superhuman strength and resistance to injury, as well as other mystical powers. Among these is the power to ignore impediments to his movement, hence the “unstoppable” moniker.
Luke Cage
Luke Cage, also known as Power Man (real name Carl Lucas), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Luke Cage first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972) and was created by Archie Goodwin, John Romita, Sr. and George Tuska. He was the first black superhero to be featured as the protagonist and title character of a comic book.
Created during the height of the Blaxploitation genre, Luke Cage is an ex-convict imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, who gains the powers of superhuman strength and unbreakable skin after being subjected involuntarily to an experimental procedure. Once freed, Cage becomes a “hero for hire” and teams up with fellow superhero Iron Fist as part of the duo, Power Man and Iron Fist. He later marries the super-powered private investigator Jessica Jones, with whom he has a daughter. In 2005, writer Brian Michael Bendis added Luke Cage to the lineup of the New Avengers, and he has since appeared in various Avengers titles, and became the leader of a group of reformed supervillains called the Thunderbolts.
Born Carl Lucas and raised in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, he spends his youth in a gang called the Rivals. With his friend Willis Stryker, he fights the rival gang the Diablos and commits petty crimes, often on the behalf of deformed mobster Sonny “Hammer” Caputo. In and out of juvenile homes throughout his teens, Lucas dreams of becoming a major New York racketeer until he finally realizes how his actions are hurting his family. He seeks to better himself as an adult by finding legitimate employment. Meanwhile, Stryker rises through the ranks of crime, but the two men remain friends. When Stryker’s activities anger the Maggia crime syndicate, he is badly beaten in a mob hit, saved only by Lucas’s intervention. When Stryker’s girlfriend, Reva Connors, breaks up with him in fear of his violent work, she seeks solace with Lucas. Stryker is convinced that Lucas is responsible for the breakup, so he plants heroin in Lucas’s apartment and tips off the police. Lucas is arrested and sent to prison where contact with his family is sparse due to the resentment of his brother James Jr., who intercepts Lucas’s letters to their father James and eventually leads each to believe the other is dead.
Lucas is consumed by rage over Stryker’s betrayal and his father’s supposed death, engaging in frequent brawls and escape attempts. Eventually transferred to Seagate Prison off the coast of Georgia, he becomes the favorite target of racist corrections officer Albert “Billy Bob” Rackham, whose sadistic brutality ultimately leads to a demotion that he blames on Lucas. Research scientist Dr. Noah Burstein recruits Lucas as a volunteer for a cellular regeneration experiment based on a variant of the Super-Soldier process he had previously used to empower Warhawk. Burstein immerses Lucas in an electrical field conducted by an organic chemical compound; when he leaves Lucas unattended, Rackham alters the experiment’s controls, hoping to maim or kill Lucas. Lucas’ treatment is accelerated past its intended limits, inducing body-wide enhancements that give him superhuman strength and durability. He uses his new power to escape Seagate and makes his way back to New York, where a chance encounter with criminals inspires him to use his new powers for profit.
Adopting the alias Luke Cage and donning a distinctive costume, he launches a career as a Hero for Hire, helping anyone who can meet his price. He soon establishes an office above Times Square’s Gem Theater, where he befriends film student D. W. Griffith. Burstein, aware of his friend’s innocence, also relocates to New York and opens a medical clinic, assisted by Dr. Claire Temple, whom Cage begins dating. Although Cage is content to battle strictly conventional criminals, he soon learns that New York is hardly the place to do so. Stryker himself has become a Maggia agent known as Diamondback and dies battling Cage. Subsequent opponents included Gideon Mace, an embittered veteran seeking a U.S. takeover; Chemistro (Curtis Carr), whose Alchemy Gun is a weapon later used by others, including his brother after Curtis reformed; and Discus, Stiletto, Shades, and Comanche, all criminals with ties to Cage’s prison days who face him repeatedly over the years.
Luke Cage possesses superhuman strength and stamina, and has extremely dense skin and muscle tissue, which render him highly resistant to physical injury. Cage possesses these abilities as a result of a cellular regeneration experiment which fortified the various tissues of his body. His skin can resist high-caliber bullets, puncture wounds, corrosives, biological attacks, and extreme temperatures and pressures without sustaining damage. A second exposure to said experiments further enhanced his strength and durability.
The same experiment which granted him his great strength and durability has also given him a faster-than-normal recovery time from injury.
Luke Cage is an exceptional street fighter and was a gifted athlete before receiving superhuman abilities. He has also studied martial arts under Iron Fist’s instruction, learning how to couple leverage with his strength in order to increase his combat effectiveness against more powerful opponents.
He owns a jacket that is as durable as his skin, having been exposed to the “Power Man” treatment during his second exposure.
Honestly, this one is a tough one for me! How about you? We leave it to you, the fans, to decide the fate of these characters! Vote below, and let your voice be heard! Please comment as to the reason(s) for your vote. Want to hear more about this piece? Click on over to podcastunlimited.com, and look through our archives for episode 95. You will hear us debate and give our votes.