The older brother of Colossus,[2] Mikhail was a Soviet Cosmonaut and was believed dead after a faulty mission where his space shuttle exploded.

However, it was later discovered that the explosion was set up by the government who learned of Mikhail's powers and wanted to exploit them without him being encumbered by ties to the past.

With the help of Sunfire, Iceman, and Jean Grey to control the energy backlash, Mikhail and the team were able to close the rift and return to Earth, without any loss of life.

[8] Once back, however, Mikhail found it hard to adjust, and eventually went crazy, hearing and seeing his dead companions and loved ones in his mind, torturing him.

He escaped the X-Mansion and fled into the near tunnels, where he met and set himself up as leader of the Morlocks, the tunnel-dwelling mutants beneath New York City.

[10] Mikhail did, however, survive,[11] along with Callisto the former leader of the band of outcasts and a group of Morlocks who later descended to form Gene Nation.

Mikhail goes back and exposes his sister to the virus when she is in her aged form, thinking that with her magical abilities it would shield her from harm and help her to build an immunity.

The pair of X-Men ended up freeing Mikhail from the corrupting influence of a sentient energy native to that dimension and brought him back to the X-Mansion to recuperate when the entire team became embroiled in the gathering of the Twelve.

Colossus joined a strike force of X-Men who traveled to Egypt in order to confront Apocalypse, and his Skrull allies.

He made Piotr snap Kayla’s neck, a water-bending mutant who had begun a relationship with him, and cover up the evidence, thus gaining a mole inside X-Force, Krakoa’s own CIA - and eventually in the Quiet Council itself when Colossus was later elected to a vacant seat.

[22] On his return to Earth, the traumatised Mikhail was shown to possess warping powers that could affect more than just energy, lashing out at a man delivering pizza and turning him into a tree, apparently killing him.

[24] He was able to extract from within his own body the Legacy Virus and transfer it to his sister, Illyana (reasoning that her older form, magically empowered, would be able to protect her and prevent her death).

[25] His apparent atomic or molecular control manifested in the ability to imbue inanimate objects with a degree of life; in his psychosis believing himself to be a god, Mikhail sought to animate a portrait of his deceased sister, but was dissuaded by his brother Colossus.

In various appearances he is shown to be able to manipulate the substance of matter on a subatomic level and warp energy wavelengths, allowing him to fire destructive blasts and teleport through space and dimensions although the full extent and limit of his powers are unknown.

[27] The months of experimental procedures and brainwashing he endured eventually made him lose his sanity, Mikhail went into seclusion and turned his powers into himself, significantly altering his physiology and appearance.

Another of Mikhail's human allies was Bruce Banner, a scientist seeking to mutate himself, who obtained a supply of mutant test subjects in exchange for his aid.

[28] Rasputin abandoned North America and approached the Human High Council with an offering of peace, which he didn't intend to fulfill.

Mikhail was stopped from murdering the Council leaders by Donald Blake, who apparently killed the Horseman by stabbing him through the heart with his cane and pushing him out of the Big Ben, at the cost of his own life.

[29] Mikhail Rasputin appears as a boss in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse voiced by Scott MacDonald.