GRIGORY EFIMOVICH RASPUTIN
Real Name: Grigory Efimovich Rasputin
Identity/Class: Human (real
life character; see comments) mutant
magic user
(19th century, World War I to
modern era);
citizen of Russian
Empire
Occupation:
Group Membership: Unidentified immortal society (Doctor John Dee, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Comte de Saint Germaine, Yi Yang, possibly others)
Affiliations: Celestial Brides (Elena, many
others), Conquest of Earth-47104, Cossacks, Nathaniel Essex, Czarina
Alexandra Fjodorowna (Alix von Hessen-Darmstadt), Alexa Lukin, Grand
Duchess Anastasia (Nikolaevna), Grand Duchess Maria (Nikolaevna), Grand
Duchess Olga (Nikolaevna), Grand Duchess Tatiana (Nikolaevna), Ivanoff,
Khlyst Sect, Kovlev, Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov),
Tsesarevich Alexei (Nikolaevich);
his corpse fell under the control of the Abyss and the
Shadow Council (Max Fury, others)
he had the hots for Countess Irina (not
reciprocated)
Enemies: Alexevo, Khioniya Guseva, Iliodor,
Ivan (Elena's twin brother), Alexei Khvostov, Kokoutzov, Dr. Stanislaus
Lasavert, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Vladimir Purishkevitch, Lt.
Sergei Suhotin, Prince Felix Yusupov;
his reanimated corpse fought Valkyrie
(Brunnhilde), Venom (Eugene "Flash" Thompson)
Known Relatives: Yefim Rasputin (father, deceased), Anna Purshukova (mother, deceased), Praskovia Dubovina (wife), unidentified number of children (by the Celestial Brides), Grigory Grigorievich Rasputin (son by Elena, deceased), unidentified granddaughter (Larisa's mother, deceased), Anatoly, Vladimir, Nikolai (grandsons, deceased), Alexandra (granddaughter-in-law, deceased), Dimitriy, Konstantin (great-grandsons, deceased), Mikhail, Piotr (Colossus) (great-grandson), Larisa Mishchenko, Klara (great-granddaughters, deceased), Illyana (Magik) (great-granddaughter), Peter (great-great grandson), Yuri and his unidentified mother (deceased), Pavel Plotnick (Mister Rasputin), Lamar Plotnick (descendants), other unidentified descendants (over two dozen, deceased)
Aliases: "Holy Devil," "Dark One," "Doom of Old Russia," Father Grigory, Gregory Rasputin, Grishka the Fool
Base of Operations: A seemingly abandoned building
in Moscow, Russia;
formerly his soul was mobile across Earth in his
descendants;
formerly Vladimir's hut near Lake Baikhal in Siberia;
formerly Berlin, Germany;
place of death Yusupov Palace in Saint Petersburg,
Russian Empire;
formerly the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg,
Russian Empire;
formerly a home in Petrograd, Russia;
formerly mobile across Russian Empire;
formerly Pokrovskoye in Tobolsk Governorate, Russian
Empire
First Appearance: (Atlas) Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 (May, 1951); (Marvel UK; mentioned) Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian (UK) I#85/3 (November, 1984); (Marvel; seen) X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 (November, 2005)
Powers/Abilities: Grigory Rasputin was a Russian mystic with alleged hypnotic abilities and a mutant with regenerative powers that granted him longevity and the power to heal others with a mere wave from his hands. He was very religious and believed his powers to derive from God despite using many practices that were demonized by the church. He was a talented orator and manipulator that gained influence over some of the most powerful people in Russia.
Most of his magical powers were never shown, but he wielded powerful magical items. Among his magic feats was the guardian spell that split his physical form into three demonic beings that could shapeshift into human form. He also taught his magical abilities to others.
With his soul split among his descendants each portion of his soul still possessed enough psychic power to influence their psyche in ways that led to violent outbursts, psychological problems and even self harm.
His original corpse was later empowered by the Abyss and could fire energy blasts from his eyes.
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 198 lbs.
Eyes: Brown (variable)
Hair: Brown
History:
(Historical) - Grigory was born on January 21st, 1869 in Pokrovskoye.
(Historical/OHOTMU HC#8 - Mister Rasputin) - Rasputin was married to Praskovia Dubovina and had seven children with her of whom only three survived to adulthood.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb)) - In his home village Grigory was known as Grishka the Fool, a lazy, drunken womanizer. Then his life changed when he began wandering the monasteries and forests of Siberia where he often experienced visions.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb)) <1897> - He once claimed to have seen the Mother of God, who asked him to wander and cleanse people of their sins.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb) - BTS) - Rasputin was connected to the Khlyst sect, who used dancing and self-flagellation to purify themselves.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb)) <1903> Grigory arrived in Saint Petersburg as a semi-literate peasant that took pride in not changing his underwear for six months.
Over the next years he became one of the most influential men in Russia. It was rumored that he had hypnotic control over the Imperial family and even seduced the Empress.
(Doctor Strange IV#20 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Rasputin wielded the Wand of Xyggondo.
(Cable III#4 (fb) - BTS) - Aternate reality time traveler Conquest formed an alliance with Rasputin and provided him with Cyber-Steeds from the future. Rasputin gave the Cyber-Steeds to the Cossacks and won their loyalty by doing so, which in turn cemented his bond with the Tsar.
(Cable III#4) <December, 1906> - In the Winter Palace Rasputin led Conquest to the Tsar's Chamber of Wonders where many wondrous items were kept, including the part of the part of the Time Sword that Conquest was looking for. Rasputin assumed that Conquest would leave right away, but Conquest stayed a little bit longer...
(Cable III#3-4) - ...to take down the time traveling Cable, who was after him, with the aid of the Cossacks and his Cyber-Steeds.
(Cable III#4) - Cable wasn't stopped that easily and Conquest was forced to flee on a Cyber-Steed to the Winter Palace where Rasputin ordered guards to stop Cable. The guards were easily knocked out and Rasputin decided not to get into a fight with Cable, who still knocked him out. Cable traveled through time to get to the next Time Sword piece before Conquest, who followed him after calling Rasputin a deranged idiot, which didn't sit too well with the Russian.
(Cable III#5 - BTS) - Cable returned to Russia after defeating Conquest and got rid of the technology Conquest had left behind. (see comments)
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb) - BTS) - Iliodor and Khvostov conspired against Grigory Rasputin and paid the price for it.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 / X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb)) <1912> - Czarina Alexandra summoned Rasputin to the Winter Palace. He saved the life of her son Alexei with a wave of hands after Dr. Lasavert, who called Rasputin a charlatan, had already given up hope after the boy didn't stop bleeding after a fall. Rasputin told Czarina Alexandra that she could find him in Petrograd if her son needed him again, but she asked him to stay in Winter Palace permanently.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 - BTS/ X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb)) - Rasputin's influence over Czarina Alexandra and therefore her husband Czar Nicholas grew over the next three years.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 (fb) - BTS) - During this time Rasputin had many competent men dismissed and replaced with people loyal him.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb) - BTS) - <1914> Peasant woman Khioniya Guseva stabbed Rasputin in the gut, but he survived and his wound healed well.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) <1915> - Nathaniel Essex followed rumors about Grigory Rasputin to Russia and found him at the restaurant Yar with his followers. He showed his wound from the assassination attempt and claimed to a woman that God had healed him. Hours later Grigory enjoyed an entertaining magic show by the Romani twins Elena and Ivan, whom Sinister recognized as mutants (he called it the Essex Factor at the time). Grigory became interested in Elena and quickly invited her to his home. He even took her brother Ivan along to give them both a place to stay for the night because Elena was not willing to leave him behind. Outside the restaurant on Gorokhovaya Street Essex approached Grigory, who wondered what he was after, but put their meeting off for the next day. Essex called Grigory a drunken charlatan and provoked him to show his true powers. Rasputin believed him to be another assassin sent by Iliodor or Khvostov and attacked Essex, who was more powerful than Grigory expected. The twins didn't fare any better in defending Grigory, but Essex had no interest to hurt Grigory and just wanted to talk to him about the future.
Grigory and Nathaniel talked through the night about the Essex Factor and how to create a race of superhumans through Grigory's descendants. Nathaniel suggested to Grigory to take as many partners as possible and choose healthy women that possibly even possessed powers like Elena. Grigory promised to care for Elena the most and make her his first bride, which didn't sit well with her twin brother Ivan.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb) / #3 (fb)) - Rasputin took many lovers and they allegedly took part in sacred rituals that purified their bodies and put them in a holy state without sin that would allow them to conceive children that would be like the next "Jesus Christs" or "Mothers of God".
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 (fb)) - Among these brides was Elena, the great-grandmother of Colossus.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Grigory impregnated his Celestial Brides one by one on his battered couch.
In his lab Essex worked day and night to distill the mutant nuclein from the blood of Grigory, Ivan and Elena. Grigory watched as Essex injected the artificially boosted mutant nuclein into the unborn child of one of Grigory's brides. It didn't work for all of them and some of the children died.
Grigory was elated after learning that Elena had finally become pregnant because she was the only one of his wives that he actually cared for. But while Elena was ready to die for him if necessary, her brother Ivan was only willing to die for her, which was good enough for Grigory at the moment.
(Strange Tales I#24/3) - Rasputin told Czarina Alexandra that he knew that many people wanted him dead and she promised him that she would never let anyone harm him because he had saved her son's life. Rasputin noticed that Alexandra's fifteen-year-old daughter Anastasia didn't seem too fond of him though and only confessed her fondness for him after her mother told her to. She was actually afraid or Rasputin.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Essex informed Grigory of the pregnancies' progress and that in a few weeks the first children of a new species would be born.
Meanwhile Ivan secretly met with Grigory's enemies Grand Duke Pavlovich, Prince Yusupov and Dr. Lasavert and told them that Rasputin was revealing the Royal Family's secrets to agents of Germany on a daily basis. They were not surprised.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 - BTS) - Kokoutzov and Alexevo had a meeting with Czar Nicholas. Alexevo blamed Rasputin for getting rid of competent men and replacing them with morons loyal to him while Kokoutzov blamed him for Russia's troubles in the war against Germany. Czar Nicholas promised to banish Rasputin only to prove to his detractors that they were actually losing the war due to the Parliament's stupidity.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - One of Rasputin's spies informed him of the Czar's promise to Kokoutzov and Alexevo to exile him. He sent Ivanov and Kovlev to kill them before they reached the parliament. In return he promised Ivanoff and Kovlev to speak with the Czar about promotions for members of the secret police, including them.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 - BTS) - Purishkevitch addressed the ministry at the Parliament to convince them that Rasputin actually conspired against Russia with Germany and was paid by them with gold. Kokoutzov and Alexevo were killed by Ivanoff and Kovlev before they reached the Parliament to inform the ministry of the Czar's promise to banish Rasputin. Purishkevitch found new allies after the deaths of Kokoutzov and Alexevo in Prince Yusupov, who wished to assassinate Rasputin to save his family and Russia from Rasputin's influence. He revealed to Purishkevitch that Rasputin was interested in his Countess Irina and planned to lure him to Yusupov Palace by claiming that she wanted to meet Rasputin there. Instead of her Rasputin would find Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitri, Dr. Lasavert and Lt. Suhotin waiting for him. Purishkevitch liked the idea and was willing to join them at the palace.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Ivan told Grigory that Prince Yusupov's wife Irina was willing to become one of Grigory's Celestial Brides.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - <December 30th, 1916> Even though he was a bit surprised that Countess Irina, who had up until now avoided him, suddenly wanted to meet with him, Rasputin was elated and followed Yusupov to Yusupov Palace where Lasavert, Dmitri Pavlovich, Dr. Lasavert, Lt. Suhotin and Purishkevitch were already waiting for him.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - Yusupov arrived with Rasputin and offered him some cakes before Irina arrived to have supper with him. Rasputin ate the cakes, unaware that they had been poisoned by Dr. Lasavert with cyanide.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Ivan allegedly offered Grigory some of Prince Yusupov's finest wine, which had also been poisoned with potassium cyanide.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - Fifteen minutes later Yusupov returned to inform Rasputin that Irina was a bit delayed because she was tied up in conversation with an old Duchess.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 / Strange Tales I#24/3 / X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - To Prince Felix Yusupov's surprise Rasputin survived the poisoned cakes.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Felix informed the others that the poisoned wine wasn't working either.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 / Strange Tales I#24/3) - It was decided that Yusupov would shoot Rasputin.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Yusupov allegedly handed a gun to Ivan and asked him to shoot Rasputin.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - Yusupov returned to Rasputin to tell him that Irina was not coming and then shot Rasputin...
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - ...and Ivan allegedly shot him in the head...
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 / Strange Tales I#24/3) - ...in front of Purishkevitch, Lasavert and Pavlovich, but Rasputin just got up again.
(Strange Tales I#24/3 - BTS / X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - They beat him with clubs, but he ran away.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - He was hit by more bullets from Yusupov and Lt. Suhotin while he ran downstairs...
(Strange Tales I#24/3) - ...and then tumbled down the stairway of Yusupov Palace...
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - ...he still managed to escape the palace and was shot three more times outside at the fence by the Grand Duke Purishkevitch.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2) - The conspirators drove Rasputin's corpse to a bridge over the Malayka Nevka River, but were spotted by soldiers. They were happy that Rasputin was dead and told them to just dump the corpse over the bridge into the icy waters below.
(Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 / X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - They dumped him into an ice hole at the Malay Nevka River.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Thirty minutes later Rasputin crawled from the ice hole, returned to Essex's lab and told him to summon the Celestial Brides.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3-4 (fb)) - The Celestial Brides gathered around Rasputin for a mystic ritual. When Rasputin died, part of his soul entered each of his Celestial Brides and his unborn children.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 (fb)) - Elena was holding Grigory's hand when he took his last breath.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#5 (fb)) - The Celestial Brides accompanied Sinister and Elena back to the river where they dropped Rasputin's corpse back into an ice hole.
Three days later Rasputin's corpse was found on the shore.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#5 (fb) - BTS) - The citizens of Saint Petersburg swarmed the river and drank the water because they believed them to be blessed after Rasputin's corpse was inside.
(Strange Tales I#24/3) - <January 23rd, 1917> The police found Rasputin's corpse in the Malaya Nevka River.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 (fb)) - Elena gave birth to Grigory's son and named him after his father.
(Strange Tales I#24/3) - Anastasia escaped Russia, but even after World War I she was still haunted by Rasputin's ghost during her final days in Berlin where nobody believed her claims of who she was.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4 (fb) - BTS) - His soul became further divided and weakened over the years with each new descendant of his Celestial Brides. But even a small part of Rasputin's soul could control those of his descendants with a weaker mind and he tried for years to influence all his descendants to end their lives until only one of them was left.
Throughout the 20th century Nathaniel Essex followed the progress of Rasputin's descendants with great interest even though he was completely unaware that part of Grigory's soul was in all of them.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 (fb) - BTS) - Due to Grigory's influence all his descendants went through periods of uncontrolled violence and suffered from paranoia, manic depression and self-hatred. Some even committed suicide.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#5 (fb) - BTS) - Grigory fell in love with pop songs from ABBA and especially Boney M.'s Rasputin because it was about him.
(Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian (UK) I#85/3 (fb) - BTS) - Rasputin (presumably one of his descendants under his control; see comments) joined a group of immortals.
(Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian (UK) I#85/3) - Rasputin had been mad, of course. It had been the sheer force of his life that had thrust him into immortality. His mind had survived and his energy had been able to spread out in eternity and relax. Rasputin lived in Berlin now, studying the siege mentality.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Yuri's mother committed suicide due to Grigory's influence. Her son grew up with her husband Grisha and his second wife and eventually became known in the area around Tomsk and even far away for his healing powers.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4 (fb) - BTS) - Over the years Sinister visited Colossus' mad uncle Vladimir from time to time, even though he lacked a mutant ability, because he found his company relaxing.
Grigory's voice was always in Vladimir's head and made people think that he was mad. The voice grew louder over the years until his memories of Grigory's plans with Essex and the coming of Apocalypse returned. At some point The small part of Grigory inside Vladimir gained full control over his body because his mind was so weak. He tried to tell his own children that the voice in his head was their ancestor Grigory, but they mocked him, even though he knew that they all heard Grigory's whisper because part of him was in all of his descendants. He even poisoned the soup of Vladimir's children to kill them, but they survived after a few days of feeling sick. They avoided coming near Vladimir ever since.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4 (fb)) - Grigory, in control of Vladimir, was fishing nearby Vladimir's hut when he received another visit from his old friend Nathaniel. Nathaniel Essex, now known as Mister Sinister, was surprised that he was apparently talking to his old friend Grigory Rasputin, who then explained the whole spiel about how he was part of all his descendants, how he could control Vladimir and that the only way to be reborn for real was to eliminate his bloodline because each time one of his descendants died, that part of Grigory's soul would leave their body and rejoin the others, until only one was left for him to be reborn in. Grigory wanted the final surviving Rasputin to be the most powerful among them. He even asked Sinister to kill Vladimir, but decided that he would kill himself eventually by self-immolation. Sinister went into the world to find out if Vladimir was telling the truth and not just a rambling madman.
Sinister began killing Grigory's descendants and each time saw in their eyes how they welcomed their death because it brought Grigory Rasputin one step closer to resurrection.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 (fb) - BTS) - Sinister killed descendants of Grigory Rasputin, including Vladimir's children Dimitriy, Klara and Konstantin.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4 (fb)) - Grigory's descendants grew fewer and at some point during this killings Sinister made the decision that Mikhail Rasputin should become Grigory's vessel. He visited Grigory, still in control of Vladimir, to tell him his plan. Grigory revealed that Mikhail was still alive, but in a self-imposed exile in another dimension. Vladimir's call awakened Grigory's spirit in Mikhail's mind and he returned to Earth to join Sinister in his quest to kill Grigory's descendants.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4 (fb) - BTS) - Mikhail joined Sinister in the remaining killings.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 (fb) - BTS) - After three months more than two dozen of Grigory's descendants had been killed by them.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1 - BTS) - Sinister killed the healer Yuri near Tomsk, Russia.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2) - Grigory, in control of Vladimir, went hunting in the forests near Lake Baikhal in Siberia. He danced and sang Rasputin by Boney M. while picking up a rabbit from a trap. He thought he heard something in the forest, but nobody was there yet, though he knew he would soon receive visitors.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2 - BTS) - In Moscow Colossus met with Larisa to learn about the murders and their familial connection to Grigory Rasputin. According to Larisa only three of Grigory's sacred bloodline were left, including her, Colossus and Vladimir. Outside her hideout Colossus was influenced by the portion of Grigory's soul inside him when he believed two men were going to kill his cousin Larisa and nearly killed two men, who turned out to just be policemen. Larisa called an ambulance for them. Sinister and Mikhail watched them from a nearby roof, but didn't go after them because they knew they were going to visit Vladimir. Sinister and Mikhail headed there as well, but had to take a break when Grigory's voice became too painful for Mikhail to endure. Sinister promised that the voice would not be a problem anymore after Colossus' death.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2) - Vladimir, under Grigory's influence, made some soup for his guests and put on some music from ABBA as ambiance after Colossus and Larisa arrived. He revealed that he knew that they were coming because he felt it because Grigory was calling them there. Sinister and Mikhail teleported in shortly after and were revealed as the killers of Grigory's descendants by Vladimir.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3 - BTS) - Influenced by Grigory's soul Colossus nearly lost control again. Mikhail didn't apologize for aiding Sinister in killing their relatives and even warned Colossus that he should trust nobody these days.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3) - Vladimir, under Grigory's influence, threatened to cut Larisa's throat with a knife and wasn't scared of Colossus' threats. Sinister asked Vladimir not to kill Larisa yet because Colossus would got into a rage and hit them all. Vladimir made it clear that he was not their uncle Vladimir anymore because he had fallen under the control of the voice in his head. Sinister then gave them a history lesson about how he became an acquaintance of Grigory Rasputin. Vladimir, under Grigory's influence, dosed himself with gasoline after Sinister was done talking and then set himself on fire to kill himself and get Grigory one step closer for his true resurrection.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4) - Vladimir died and the remaining survivors Larisa, Mikhail, Peter from the Savage Land and Colossus were almost driven mad by Grigory's soul. Sinister explained to Larisa, Mikhail and Colossus how he had learned from Vladimir, who was under Grigory's control, how to resurrect Grigory and then killed Larisa. Colossus nearly choked Sinister to death, but Mikhail asked him to let Sinister go and instead fight him to the death to end this. They fought throughout dimensions until Mikhail trapped Colossus in a cave only to end up at Colossus' mercy, who was going to crush him with a rock.
(X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#5) - Colossus resisted Grigory's influence and didn't kill Mikhail, who left him behind in the cave and then returned to Sinister. He told Sinister that Colossus was as good and dead and Sinister already made plans for a new lab he and Grigory could work in, but Mikhail had no interest working with Sinister and freed Colossus. Both resisted Grigory's influence and Mikhail went into extradimensional exile again where Sinister would never be able to find him. Before he left he told his brother Colossus to have many children to disperse Grigory's soul once again and weaken him.
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BTS - Grigory returned nonetheless from the dead. (see comments) (Captain America IX#6 (fb) - BTS) - Alexa Lukin first approached Grigory Rasputin when her husband Aleksander Lukin got merged with the spirit of the Red Skull (Johann Shmidt) in hope she could learn a way to divide their spirits. Rasputin taught her magic until she knew all he could teach her. (Captain America IX#6 (fb)) - After her husband's death Alexa Lukin approached Rasputin in a dilapidated building in Moscow, but found him split into three bodies due to a guardian spell. They told her to walk away, but she wouldn't listen and they shot at her with guns. She deflected their bullets with magic and then asked them to drop the charade. The split bodies instead turned into demonic beings, but decided against attacking her any further when she threatened to tear Rasputin from their forms if she had to. They merged to become Rasputin, who apologized to Alexa for the guardian spell that fed on his baser parts of his mind. He assured her that he would've prepared a more suitable welcome if he had known that she were visiting, but Alexa actually expected the kind of welcome she received because that was just the way her old teacher was. He was of the opinion that she already knew far more than he ever did and was not her teacher anymore. Alexa was there to bargain with Rasputin to help her bring back Aleksander, who had died. Even though Rasputin himself had escaped death many times there was nothing Alexa could say to him that convinced him to aid her in resurrecting him or join her cause to safe Russia in any way. He warned her that even if Aleksander returned he would not be the same and still be merged with Johann Shmidt's spirit. Alexa didn't care and Rasputin sent her to find Selene Gallio instead because she not only knew how to bring Aleksander back but also matched Alexa's other ambitions. |
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(Secret Avengers I#29 (fb) - BTS) - The Shadow Council revived Grigory's corpse and his zombified form fell under their control. (Secret Avengers I#29) - Zombie Rasputin above Moscow in the Shadow Council's Skychurch, but Venom and Valkyrie were sent quietly subdue him and pilot his vehicle into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Venom instead tossed three Shadow Council agents into the Skychurch's gravity turbine and smashed the ship's control while throwing punches with Rasputin. Valkyrie tried to fix the control panel while Venom continued his fight with Rasputin, who blasted him with mystic eye beams filled with the energies from the Abyss. Zombie Rasputin was surprised that Venom resisted the Abyss' control and was shot in the head and killed again by Venom. Venom and Valkyrie managed to safely crash (that is a bit of an oxymoron) the burning Skychurch with the help of the flying horse Aaragorn in a rural area away from Moscow. (Secret Avengers I#30 - BTS) - Whiplash (Ivan Vanko) forwarded a report from the Shadow Council in Moscow to Max Fury that informed them of Rasputin's demise at the hands of Venom, Valkyrie and her horse Aragorn. |
(Captain America IX#6 (fb) - BTS) - Alexa finally followed up on Rasputin's reference and approached Selene Gallio. During Hydra's takeover of the United States of America, Alexa felt that it was time to bring Aleksander back from the dead.
Comments: Adapted by Carl Wessler, Pierce Rice & John Tartaglione.
Because the Marvel version includes things that were disputed and sometimes even proven to be untrue, I will just not add anything aside from what was seen in the comics in this profile. His original wife was at least mentioned in the handbooks so she and probably also her children seemingly all existed in the Marvel Universe as well.
Strange Tales I#24 mentioned he was assassinated on 01/20/1917, which is not correct according to the real world and other Marvel stories. Maybe the writer tried to take into account the Gregorian calendar and mistakenly corrected the date that had already been corrected ages ago. His assassination according to the Gregorian calendar occurred on 12/17/1916. And BTW I always feel like a complete jerk for using the American system for dates for European characters.
Strange Tales I#145 mentioned Grigory as an ancestor of Mister Rasputin. His handbook profile assumed that he was possibly a descendant via Grigory's early marriage to Praskovia Dubovina and therefore was not targeted by Sinister, which led to his survival and later appearances.
The Amazing Detective Cases story was seemingly inspired by the memoirs of Felix Yusupov, one of Rasputin's murderers. This one falls definitely under the dictum that history is written by the winners and his account should be taken with a grain of salt.
The three versions of Rasputin's death seen in Marvel Comics are all a bit different from each other. The X-Men: Colossus Bloodline version retconned Ivan into the conspiracy, but IMHO is the most questionable version because it was told by Sinister, who was not even present and he could've been lied to like Elena did when she told him that she had killed Ivan. This version also gets rid of a few people involved in the conspiracy that were just there in real life.
The Rasputin mentioned in the Night Raven story was likely weak-willed madman Vladimir under control of his grandpa. What was written about him in this story inadvertently sounds like foreshadowing to everything we learned about Rasputin and his descendants in X-Men: Colossus Bloodline.
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline established that he was related to Colossus' entire family and that they were descendants of Grigory's Celestial Bride Elena. Some of the other Celestial Brides had children as well and this is how you get to victims like Yuri.
Sinister was pretty sure that Colossus, Larisa and Mikhail were the last descendants of Grigory after Vladimir's fiery death. I assume he didn't know about Colossus' son in the Savage Land unlike the readers, who were reminded of him at the beginning of #4 where he was shown to be alive. I think young Peter's existence screwed up Sinister's plan...but maybe not Grigory's.
Magik (Uncanny X-Men I#303) and Colossus (Uncanny X-Men I#390) had both been dead at some point before X-Men: Colossus Bloodline! Did Grigory's part of his soul just return to them when they were resurrected or where Mikhail and little Peter from the Savage Land the last actual viable options at the end of X-Men: Colossus Bloodline?
Cable promised to clean up the timeline after defeating Conquest and collect all the technology Conquest had left with his allies. This very likely included the robot horses used by the Cossacks.
Does the Captain America retcon
work? Rasputin was alive around the time of the Captain America:
Winter Soldier arc (published in 2005) by Ed Brubaker. It was after
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline, but before his corpse was seen under the
Shadow Council's control in Secret Avengers. It would work if
Grigory took possession of a new body and IMHO that body is young Peter,
but that is just my opinion.
I could also blame SECRET WARS III as I
usually do because the comic was published after that storyline and
probably screwed up Rasputin's previous known history as it did with
many other characters.
There is a teeny-weeny part of Grigory Rasputin BTS in all appearances of his descendants, including Colossus, Magik and Mikhail...until they died at some point.
The Who is Who of his historical enemies:
This profile was completed on 12/07/2025 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Grigory Rasputin has no known connection to:
images (without ads)
Captain America IX#6, p9, pan1 (main)
Captain America IX#6, p8, pan2 (head shot)
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#2, p4, pan4 (Grishka the Fool)
Cable III#4, p1 (allied with Conquest)
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3, p10, pan1 (right before meeting
Nathaniel Essex)
Strange Tales I#24/3, p1, pan1 (1916)
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#4, p7, pan2 (controlling Vladimir)
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#3, p2, pan2 (Grigory's soul, madness in
the eyes)
Captain America IX#6, p6, pan4 (as terrorists)
Captain America IX#6, p7, pan2 (as demonic beings)
Secret Avengers I#29, p4, pan3 (resurrected corpse, serving Shadow
Council)
Appearances:
Amazing Detective Cases#6/2 (May, 1951) - Carl Wessler (writer),
Pierce Rice (pencils), John Tartaglione (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Strange Tales I#24/3 (December, 1953) - Carl Wessler (writer), Sam
Kweskin (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian (UK) I#85/3 (November, 1984) -
Jamie Delano (writer), Ivan Allen (artist)
X-Men: Colossus Bloodline#1-5 (November, 2005 - March, 2006) - David
Hine (writer), Jorge Pereira Lucas (artist), Mike Marts (editor)
Secret Avengers I#29-30 (September-October, 2012) - Rick Remender
(writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Doctor Strange IV#20 (August, 2017) - Jason Aaron (writer), Chris
Bachalo & Kevin Nowlan (pencils), Al Vey, John Livesay, Tim
Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba & Kevin Nowlan (inks),
Nick Lowe (editor)
Cable III#4 (October, 2017) - James Robinson (writer), Yildiray
Çinar (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Captain America IX#6 (February, 2019) - Ta-Nehisi Coates (writer),
Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Gerry Alanguilan (inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
First Posted: 09/09/2026
Last updated: 12/07/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and ©
1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like
this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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