Who's Who: Colossal Boy

Colossal Boy
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Gim Allon

Super-Power(s): Ability to grow to colossal height, with proportionate strength 
Planet of Origin: Earth

Legion Seniority: Colossal Boy joined at the same time as Chameleon Boy, but they were admitted  alphabetically, making him Member #7.

Legion Log 
Colossal Boy made his debut appearance as a guest-star in a Supergirl story in Action Comics #267. At this time he was already shown to be a member, along with Chameleon Boy and Invisible Kid. It was also later shown that he had been one of the members at the time Superboy was inducted. 

At the time he joined he was incorrectly described as having a hereditary power. It was later established that he had received his super-power while on vacation on Mars when a stray meteor crash landed near him and the radiation affected him. Up until that time Colossal Boy had intended to join the Science Police, but after discussing his options with his mother and father (a university professor and an admiral in the UP Fleet) he decided to try to join the Legion. When he joined he became the first Legionnaire from Earth. 

Although the religious beliefs of most Legionnaires are not established, Colossal Boy has been shown to be Jewish.

Colossal Boy served with distinction for six years before a group of criminals black-mailed him into betraying the Legion by threatening to kill his parents. He played a lone-hand on that case, instead of trusting his team-mates, and learned a valuable lesson about trust and honor. He served with the Legion for another seven years, up through The Magic Wars.

Colossal Boy's best friends in the Legion are Chameleon Boy and Sun Boy. However, Colossal Boy is neither as paranoid, analytical, or intense as Cham, nor as flamboyant or hedonistic as Sun Boy. He showed how much he loved Cham first by volunteering to be a part of the rescue mission following his ill-fated Khund mission, and a few years later by following him in his attempts to track down Starfinger.  

For many years Colossal Boy had an unrequited crush on fellow member Shrinking Violet. During the aforementioned rescue mission to the Khund homeworld, Colossal Boy admitted his feelings to her and was surprised to see that they were reciprocated. Later, it was revealed that the woman he thought was Shrinking Violet was in fact a Durlan spy named Yera paid to impersonate Violet. By the time Colossal Boy found out her true identity, they had already married. Instead of annulling their marriage, however, they both decided to make an attempt to stay together.

During and after the five-year gap following the Magic Wars, Colossal Boy, wracked with pain after his torture at the hands of Starfinger II, returned to the Science Police, quickly achieving the rank of Captain.

Colossal Boy was also one of the members of the SW6 Legionnaires, and appeared in Legionnaires when it was spun-off into its own series, taking the name Leviathan. This version of Gim had a crush on SW6's Lightning Lass AKA Gossamer. He is aged to dust by Glorith at the end of the original continuity. This made the adult Gim Allon fade away, revealing the time paradox nature of the SW6 Legionnaires.

After the Reboot, Leviathan is from Mars, not Earth, but still a Science Police officer who gained powers after grazing a meteor. He was the team's first official leader, assigned by Earthgov, but quit after a single mission, in which Kid Quantum was killed. He became Cosmic Boy's deputy. He was in love with Kinetix, though Violet was in love with him. He ended up dying a heroic death at the hands of Doctor Regulus, a death engineered by the Emerald Eye of Ekron because it was Gim's "heart's desire".

After the Threeboot, Gim Allon is part of a race of giants who live in Antarctica, descendents of a people enlarged by Bizarro-Brainiac, with a particular mutation: He can shrink down to a size of about 6 feet. Calling himself Micro Lad, he joins the Legion, though they tended to call him Colossal Boy instead. He was bit dim, but loyal to his friends, with a romantic interest in Atom Girl AKA Shrinking Violet. In this continuity he had a younger brother, where previously he had always been an only child.

After Infinite Crisis, Colossal Boy's original history has more or less been reestablished. He is still a member of the Legion, along with his wife Yera, now known as Chameleon Girl.

Colossal Boy has had a cameo in Justice League Unlimited, and appears as a semi-regular character in The Legion of Super-Heroes animated series, voiced by Adam Wylie.

Important Colossal Boy Stories: 

Action Comics  #267

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1)

Colossal Boy's debut appearance, already a Legionnaire

Adventure Comics  #323

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 3)

Cameo appearance in the flashback shows Colossal Boy
was already a member when Superboy joined

Adventure Comics  #341

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 5)

Colossal Boy leads the fight against Computo

Adventure Comics #371-372 

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8)

Legion of Super-Villains kidnaps Gim's parents, blackmailing him into 
betraying the Legion

Superboy/Legion  #195

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)

Colossal Boy wears the first of his new uniforms; 
it lasts one issue and is retconned out of existence in #201

Superboy/Legion  #201

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)

Colossal Boy in his more famous Dave Cockrum uniform

Superboy/Legion  #215

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 11)

Mike Grell re-designs a top-heavy Colossal Boy uniform

DC Special #21 Super-Star Holiday Special

Colossal Boy is revealed to be Jewish

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2)  #298

Colossal Boy secretly marries the woman he thinks is Shrinking Violet

Legion of Super-Heroes(v2)  #301

Colossal Boy wears his first Keith Giffen designed uniform
(miscolored here)

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2)  #305

Shrinking Violet is revealed to be a Durlan named Yera...
AND to be Colossal Boy's wife!

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #308

 
Colossal Boys' parents meet his wife, Yera,

welcoming her into the family

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3)  #14

Colossal Boy returns to his 2nd Dave Cockrum uniform

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3)  #26

Colossal Boy stands up to the Emerald Empress' new Fatal Five

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3)  #39

Flashback "origin" story of how Gim was about to join the
Science Police at the time he gained his growing powers

LSH(v3) 48 thru Legion Of Super-Heroes Annual #4 (1988)

Colossal Boy goes undercover to help Chameleon Boy capture Starfinger

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #13

Gim Allon still acts heroically as a Science Police Captain (Five Years Later)

Legionnaires #3

SW6 Gim now calls himself Leviathan and proves his mettle facing a new Fatal Five

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #60

Leviathan is aged to death by Glorith, proving SW6 Legionnaires are temporal clones

Legionnaires #0

Reboot Gim gets his invitation not just to the Legion, but to become its Earthgov-appointed leader

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #62

When Kid Quantum dies, Leviathan quits as leader

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) Annual #3

The secret origin of (Reboot era) Leviathan

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #83

Leviathan is killed by Dr. Regulus, though the responsibility is shared by Violet and the Emerald Eye

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #1

Gim Allon serves in the Threeboot Legion as Micro Lad through the course of the entire era

Legion: Secret Origin #4

Colossal Boy joins the Legion, as told post-Infinite Crisis

Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon (2007)

Colossal Boy, voiced by Adam Wylie