In X-Force #22, the kind-hearted X-Men veteran Colossus visits the most brutal area of Krakoa, causing him to once again question his place.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for X-Force #22, on sale now from Marvel.
Since the beginning of the current Krakoan era, Colossus has been something of an outsider. Piotr Rasputin has sought to live in peace, away from any conflict or violence related to the X-Men. Still, in X-Force #22, by Benjamin Percy, Robert Gill, Guru e-FX and VC’s Joe Caramagna, Colossus makes his way to the Crucible, Krakoa’s most brutally violent arena.
Piotr mainly goes to the Crucible to paint, continuing his peaceful life as an artist on Krakoa. The text piece in the issue sees Colossus bringing plenty of Krakoa’s beauty to life with his painting. This includes the “verdant greens” of the grass and “orange-yellows” of the sunset. Of course, Colossus also makes a point to illustrate the violence of the Crucible.
This is a brutal affair, where mutants who were once depowered fight to their deaths. Afterward, these mutants are resurrected with their powers, becoming whole again. Based on the very idea of the Crucible, Colossus paints a realistically violent picture.
The Silver Samurai’s armor is depicted, along with the slashing of his blade against his opponent. Red paint is splattered across the canvas to depict blood. A mutant walking by asks Colossus why he chose to paint the Crucible, of all things. Piotr responded that he wanted to capture every inch of Krakoa, in both its beauty and ugliness.
This is all a very objective view of Krakoa, which truly reflects Colossus’ place on the mutant island-nation. Ever since 2019’s X-Force #1 (by Percy, Joshua Cassara, Dean White and Caramagna), Colossus has kept his distance from most of Krakoa’s activities. After a disastrous mission of extracting mutants from Russia, Colossus has taken a break from serving Krakoa.
This is reflected in Colossus’ painting of the Crucible, where he sits on the sidelines, capturing the image of Krakoa’s morally ambiguous activities from an outsider’s perspective. Colossus has mainly spent his time either painting on Krakoa or farming Krakoan drugs in the Savage Land, alongside his girlfriend, Kayla.
Based on his recent activity, it’s become clear that Colossus wants no involvement in any form of conflict, remaining away from his fellow mutants’ activities. Colossus has also been viewed as an outsider because of his Russian heritage. When Beast thought that Piotr may have betrayed Krakoa, he tried to shamefully parade Colossus around the island. It’s these kinds of questionable practices that have kept Colossus dubious of Krakoa in general.
In the past, Colossus has discussed how, every time he enters the world of the X-Men, he’s been surrounded by chaos. On Krakoa, a nation which is still growing and experimenting with its practices, Colossus has been surrounded by more chaos than ever. The Crucible, in particular, is a prime example of new rituals with which Colossus is not very comfortable.
Even when he’s painting the Crucible, Piotr describes the event as ugliness, contrasting with the beauty of Krakoa. The Crucible does carry some serious moral concerns, which have been raised by other mutants, such as Nightcrawler and Wolverine.
As something of an outsider, and an objective observer on Krakoa, Colossus seems most suited to call out the “ugliness” of activities such as the Crucible. This scene also says a lot about Colossus’ upcoming role in “Inferno,” which has been teased heavily in X-Force.
It seems that Colossus’ issues with Krakoa are growing over time, clashing with his peaceful, stable lifestyle. In viewing Krakoa from the outside, Colossus is in a position to make a clear judgement about the mutant nation, for better and for worse.
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