Fastball Special

Colossus and Wolverine executing the fastball special move. Art by John Cassaday, from Astonishing X-Men #6.

The Fastball Special is a popular tag-team move in superhero fiction. In a Fastball Special, a hero with superhuman strength literally throws a (usually) willing partner toward a target. The maneuver first appeared in the Marvel Comics series Uncanny X-Men #100, when Wolverine had Colossus hurl him in a battle. It quickly became a favorite tactic of the two heroes. It has also since been used by many superheroes, some from companies other than Marvel.

History

When executing the fastball special, Colossus, a large and very strong mutant, takes the much smaller Wolverine into his hands and hurls him forward, like a baseball pitcher would throw a fastball. As Colossus is one of the strongest mortal characters in Marvel Comics, this throw can be superhumanly far, on one occasion even having Wolverine reaching an aircraft in-flight. As a result, Wolverine can reach the target of an attack he may not be able to reach otherwise and do it much faster than he would if he ran there by himself. Furthermore, Wolverine's metal-laced skeleton and his healing factor means that he is usually not in any danger of being severely injured in the move, and quickly heals in the rare instances that he is injured. The fastball special was also used in Here Comes Tomorrow, with Beak using it to drop Wolverine from great height at great speed as opposed to throwing him.

The fastball move was revisited in a scene from the comic book series Astonishing X-Men written by Joss Whedon and drawn by John Cassaday. In the story, Colossus, who was believed to be deceased at the time, had just been discovered and released from imprisonment, and one of those responsible was escaping in an aircraft. Wolverine asked Colossus if he was capable of physical effort after his long imprisonment, and when Colossus replied that he was, Wolverine said, "I have two words for you". The next frame, a full two-page spread (seen in the picture), showed Wolverine in mid-air and Colossus far below in a "follow-through" position, obviously having just launched his teammate; no dialogue was used in this frame, the picture speaking for itself to readers familiar with the maneuver. The move was most recently used in Uncanny X-Men #500, when Emma Frost, who is running from a Sentinel, telepathically asks, "Logan--Piotr--Where the hell are you?!" with Wolverine replying telepathically: "Right here babe, Flyin' to yer rescue" with Colossus throwing Wolverine into a Sentinel in the format of a fastball special.

In the Free Comic Book Day 2009 comic The Avengers Wolverine used the Fastball Special with Luke Cage to defeat the frost god Ymir.

In Uncanny X-Men #137, during the battle with Dark Phoenix on Earth's moon, Wolverine grasped Colossus by his chest and hurled him at Phoenix due the moon's lower gravity.

Another scene involving Wolverine throwing Colossus occurred in Wolverine #176, in which Wolverine is (temporarily) killed and meets up with Colossus in the afterlife, where the duo are attacked by slain villains. Wolverine then promptly picks Colossus up; the confused Colossus asks, "Didn't this used to go the other way around?", to which Wolverine replies "Haven't you learned to improvise since you died?" before hurling Colossus at the angry mob.

In other media

• In Super Mario RPG, Bowser gets a weapon that lets him use Mario in a similar way.

• In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Cloud Strife is thrown from one friend to the next upward into the sky towards Bahamut SIN. With each toss he gains speed, eventually flying fast enough to cut all the way through Bahamut SIN in one swing.

• In the 1992 animated television series X-Men during the episode "The Unstoppable Juggernaut", Wolverine first attacks Colossus and is thrown around during the fight. Wolverine mentions that "He (Colossus) has one heck of an arm" in reference to the fastball special.

• In X-Men: The Last Stand, Wolverine created this move with Colossus at the beginning of the film in the Danger Room fighting against a Sentinel. This move was later used to distract Magneto so Beast could inject him with the Cure. In both cases, instead of having Wolverine resting on his hand, Colossus picks him up by his uniform shirt.

• In "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" episode "A Day Unlike Any Other," the Avengers battle Loki's forces on the Bifrost Bridge. During the course of the battle, Giant Man picked up The Hulk and hurls him towards the frost giants.

• In the Disney film "Sky High", Will Stronghold throws Warren Peace in gym class in order to "Save the Citizen".

• In 2007, the Runaways made the list at number five of ten for best teams, citing the best Runaway's moment was when Molly Hayes and Victor Mancha made their version of the X-Men's "Fastball Special".

• In X2: Wolverine's Revenge, the only way for Wolverine to defeat Juggernaut is by weakening him and then getting Colossus to deliver the Fastball Special.

• In X-Men Legends, Rogue, Beast or Colossus can pick Wolverine up and execute the fast ball special. In the sequel, only Rogue, Colossus, and Juggernaut can execute the move, as Beast is no longer playable.

• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Colossus, Thing, Luke Cage or Hulk can pick up Wolverine to perform the fastball special. Also, any character can pick up Mister Fantastic to perform the move, however he can only be picked up when in his "Pinball" form. To perform the move the player must be controlling the character who will perform the throw (any of the big, strong ones) and press the action key (normally used to grab objects and enemies, aside from opening doors) when next to the character to be hurled.

• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Hulk, The Thing, Juggernaut, Venom, Jean Grey and Spider-Man has a Fusion move with Wolverine, Daredevil, Iron Fist and Mr Fantastic where they execute a Fastball Special if two of the characters are both on the player's team.