Colossus Confirmed as Russian in Deadpool Movie

Deadpool is going to be changing some things around in the X-Men movie universe, and their portrayal of Colossus will be one of those. Thanks to the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, we’re now living with an alternate timeline of the X-Men films, allowing them a flexible continuity for some characters can get shifted around a bit.

One of those things? Colossus, who has always been Russian in the comics, will be portrayed as Russian in Deadpool, ScreenRant reports from a set visit. That’s something director Tim Miller said just made sense to him, has a fan.

“I don’t know why he wasn’t like that before. Those are the kinds of things that I think as a fan… nothing against the movies that were made before but I feel like if there’s not a real reason to change those sorts of things then you should stay true to the comics as much as you can. As a fan it bothered me when he didn’t speak with a Russian accent. I expect that,” Miller said.

They’re also going to make him much larger and more imposing, thanks to advances in CGI, using motion capture by Andre Tricoteux, more akin to The Hulk than previous takes on the character.

“In our film I’m glad that we can make him big and massive like I’ve always seen him in the comics but I didn’t hold it against them that he wasn’t a CG character the entire time in the movies because I know how expensive that was,” Miller said. “So I go ‘okay, I get it, you’ve gotta change it for that reason,’ but we don’t have to. The technology has advanced that allows us to do this. But if they change things like that it bothers me a little bit as a fan.”

Just because they’re changing the way Colossus is presented, though, doesn’t mean they’re removing his relationship to the X-Men. Far from it, as Colossus is actually the “manifestation of the rest of that universe,” Miller teased.

“When he shows up you see the Blackbird [the X-Men’s signature plane] in the background. It’s just a nod to the larger X-Men universe that Deadpool really doesn’t want to be part of,” Miller said. “But I like the fact that he’s deliberately chosen not to be part of that world, but it’s still there.”

Deadpool stars Ryan Reynolds and hits theaters February 12, 2016, the first of three X-Men films from Fox in that calendar year.