Fastball Special

The Fastball Special is a popular tag-team move in superhero fiction. In a Fastball Special, a hero with superhuman strength 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 since been used by many superheroes, some from companies other than Marvel.

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 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.