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The fastball special is probably the most famous tag-team move in superhero fiction where a superstrong hero literally throws a 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 been used by many superheroes, some from companies other than Marvel, since.
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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 typically not in major danger of being severely injured in the move.
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, 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.
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Variations
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Comics
In the great majority of the cases, Colossus hurls Wolverine. However, there has been also one case in Uncanny X-Men 137 (last part of the Dark Phoenix Saga) where the X-Men were on the moon and Wolverine threw Colossus, making use of the moon's weaker gravity. Other variations include Colossus being thrown by Rogue and Colossus throwing Shadowcat.
Another scene involving Wolverine throwing Colossus occurred in an issue of Wolverine, 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.
Another notable fastball special featured Shadowcat and Spider-Man in a Marvel Team-Up special, where Kitty's phased molecules made her fly weightlessly through the air, whereupon she solidified herself and landed with full impact against her target, a rogue Morlock who was attacking surface-dwelling humans.
During the first fight of the X-Men after Operation: Zero Tolerance which included the new members Cecilia Reyes, Maggott and Marrow, a fastball special was performed by Marrow and Maggott, with Maggott throwing Marrow against an enemy in the same manner as Wolverine and Colossus.
In the alternate Age of Apocalypse storyline, the move (with name) had been adopted instead by the X-Ternals, with Guido in place of Colossus and Jubilee in place of Wolverine.
When Nightcrawler, Colossus and Shadowcat returned to the X-Men after the disbanding of Excalibur, Rogue performed what she would later call the Deathstar Drop, as an homage to the fastball special. It basically involved a flying Rogue throwing Nightcrawler.
In Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) 6, Spider-Man throws X-23 into Titannus. Spider-Man jokingly wonders whether the X-Men have trademarked the fastball special, to which X-23 responds that it will be "our little secret".
The move was recently spoofed in the Great Lakes Avengers Christmas Special as the Fuzzball Special, in which Squirrel Girl hurled her current squirrel companion, 'Tippy-Toe', at M.O.D.O.K., causing him to cry 'Not in the face!'. They also have a defensive version of the Fastball Special, shown in Deadpool 10, where Flatman throws Doorman over a hostage (actually, over Blind Al), in theory to teleport the target into safety.
The move has yet to be carried out in Ultimate X-Men aside from cover art, although Colossus mentions having thought up the move in the Return of the King arc. However, in Ultimate Spider-Man, the X-Men made a special appearance alongside Spiderman, Shadowcat's boyfriend, when both parties were kidnapped by Deadpool and the Reavers. During the battle, Colossus threw Shadowcat at one of their antagonisers, completing the move. She stayed intangible the whole way, phasing through the cyborg and thereby shorting it out.
In a Danger Room exercise, the then Archangel performed a variant of the maneuver by flying while holding Colossus in his normal form, then releasing him at high-speed. Colossus then activated his mutant ability and crashed through a wall like a human cannon-ball.
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In other media
In the X-Men Legends series of games, any character with the Might skill—Rogue, Beast, Juggernaut and Colossus—or a Might skill used in a special form—Emma Frost and Magma—can perform the Fastball Special by pushing the Throw button next to Wolverine. Also, in the video game , any character with the Might skill (such as Thing) can hurl Wovlerine towards enemies from a distance, doing damage on contact in the same manner.
In the first X-Men, there is a variant of the move where Jean Grey and Storm cooperate using their powers to throw Wolverine to Magneto's machine in the torch hand of the Statue of Liberty.
In the film X-Men: The Last Stand the move is used twice - when Colossus hurls Wolverine at a Sentinel in a Danger Room sequence and, later, at Magneto. In this incarnation, the fastball special is executed rather like a hammer throw, with Colossus whirling Wolverine around first, like a hammer, before releasing him. This variation may be intended to appear more realistic, especially given Wolverine's increased stature (he's nearly as tall as Colossus himself).
In one episode of the animated series, when the X-Men are attacked by a group of mutants on the back of pterodactyl-like creatures, Wolverine says to Beast "Fix me up a Fastball Special!", whereupon the latter throws him up in the air to take out one of the riders.
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Non-Marvel versions
In the Amazing Joy Buzzards Vol. 1 TPB, published by Image Comics, the Fastball is spoofed when El Campeon throws Gabe into Hypno who is controlling a mob of Zombie Movie Extras.
In the 2005 movie Sky High, during the "Save the Citizen" scene, Will Stronghold uses his superstrength to hurl Warren Peace at the doll substitute using a move similar to Colossus and Wolverine's fastball special.
The Powerpuff Girls performed a fastball special (by name) on the season 2 episode "Stuck Up, Up and Away".
On multiple occasions, the Super Sentai Series, its American counterpart, the Power Rangers, and similar shows have performed the fastball special and numerous variations. In Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger/Power Rangers: Wild Force, one of their finishing blows involves the Megazord throwing (actually, kicking, but thrown once) the Armadillo Zord against the opponent. In the Power Rangers: Mystic Force episode "Inner Strength", Xander in Muscular Mode throws the other four rangers at once over an enemy. In Mirai Sentai Timeranger vs. GoGo-V, the move is performed twice (albeit in variations): first GoRed is thrown by his fellow GoGo-V members at released Londar criminals who had been powered by Pierre's magical cards, and later, GoGreen, GoYellow, and Time Yellow hurls Time Green at a band of Zenitts (Cyclobots in Power Rangers: Time Force) in Edo period Japan.
The fastball special is predated (and perhaps inspired) by the "alley-oop" move often performed by Rocky and Bullwinkle, in which Bullwinkle J. Moose would launch Rocky the Flying Squirrel into the air (since "flying" squirrels can only glide, thus needing either to jump from a height or be launched into the air).
In Final Fantasy: Advent Children, Loz and Yazoo perform the move while attacking Cloud in the forest. The maneuver is also performed on Cloud himself by the entirety of the remainder of the party, including the deceased Aerith.
In Zatch Bell, Kiyo asks Zatch to throw him at Robnos, an enemy momodo, while he has a pipe outstretched and ready to stab him.
In the video game Crash Twinsanity, when Crash and Cortex are playable together, Cortex can be thrown away by Crash Bandicoot like a Fastball Special.
In episode 166 of the web comic Order of the Stick, the group performs a "Tetherball Special", where the party's bard bumps the halfling, who is hanging from a rope, into a sorceress, disrupting her spellcasting. The episode is titled "Wolverine, eat your heart out."
In Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (NES version), one player can perform either a walking or running jumpkick or knee strike towards the other player in which they will catch and propel their partner through the air with a flying attack of their own knocking down any enemies in their path.
In Super Mario RPG, if Bowser is equipped with "Hurl Gloves", he can toss a Mini (or full-sized) version of Mario towards the enemy like a Fastball Special.
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