Nightcrawler (comics)

Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) is a fictional comic book superhero, and a member of the X-Men, appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975).

A German mutant, Nightcrawler possesses superhuman agility and the ability to teleport. His physical mutations include blue skin and hair, yellow eyes and a prehensile tail. This demonic appearance belies his heroic swashbuckling nature and devout Catholicism.

Since joining the team, Nightcrawler has been a constant presence in X-Men-related comic books and video games. He has featured in a few episodes of the 1990s X-Men animated series and was a regular on its successor Evolution. Alan Cumming played him in the 2003 film X-Men United, his sole appearance in the X-Men film series.

Publication history

Although an X-Men character for years, Nightcrawler didn't get his own book until November of 1985, when Nightcrawler received his first limited series. This four-issue limited series was written and drawn by Dave Cockrum and follows on from another Cockrum story involving Wagner and X-Men villain the Vanisher, in which the Vanisher had gone up against the Russian super-heroine Darkstar and been trapped literally halfway through his escape by her Darkforce powers. When Kurt touched him, they were both transported to another dimension in which neither man's teleportation powers worked and which was populated exclusively by women. Only by visiting the Oracle of this dimension (whom Kurt would revisit in the first limited series) could they return to the 616 universe. In the limited series, Nightcrawler and Lockheed were accidentally sent to another dimension. Attempts to return them only resulted in them being sent to other dimensions, including a dimension where the Bamfs lived. Bamfs are small elf-like beings that strongly resemble Nightcrawler (the Bamfs originally appeared in a story fellow X-Man Kitty Pryde told Illyana as a bedtime story in X-Men#153). After various adventures, Nightcrawler and his friend managed to get home safely.

A second four-issue limited series appeared in November 2001. Written by Chris Kipiniak and pencilled by Matthew Smith, it focused upon Nightcrawler's decision to become a priest and his attempts to fight a group of slave traders.

In September of 2004, the first Nightcrawler ongoing title book was published by Marvel. Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with covers and pencils by Darick Robertson throughout the series duration, it featured the story arcs "The Devil Inside", "Ghosts On The Rails", "The Winding Way", and the final twelfth issue entitled "Happy Birthday, Kurt!". At the end of "The Winding Way", Nightcrawler came into possession of Magik's Soulsword, which was stored inside his body. The Soulsword has several magical properties such as dispelling and blocking magical effects and severely damaging magic users while passing through normal humans and mutants harmlessly.

The series followed Kurt through mystery stories of a supernatural nature. With other X-Men derivative titles steadily losing sales, the book was placed on an unexplained hiatus by Marvel in February of 2005, following issue #6. It returned in June with an also unexplained lack of publicity or support. Despite the efforts of the creative team with the "The Winding Way" story arc to tie in the previous stories, delve into Nightcrawler's past, and even involve other X-Men franchise characters, the series was slated for cancellation with issue twelve.

Character biography

History

Origin

Born in Germany, Kurt Wagner is abandoned as a child by his mother, Mystique. He is taken in by the gypsy witch, Margali Szardos, who raises him as a gypsy. Wagner spends some time in the circus under the title "The Amazing Nightcrawler" utilizing his amazing acrobatic prowess, but leaves when, as elaborated in the X-Men Annual #4 titled 'Nightcrawler's Inferno' (1980), he is forced to kill his foster brother Stefan, a mad child murderer. He is presumed evil due to his devilish appearance and hunted by a mob of nearby villagers for murdering Stefan. Professor Charles Xavier rescues him and invites him to join his second team of X-Men. There, Wagner adopts the codename "Nightcrawler."

The All-New All-Different X-Men

With the X-Men, Nightcrawler at last finds a home and a family, and his humorous, swashbuckling Errol Flynn-like nature comes to the fore. He finds a close friend in his fellow X-Man Wolverine and has a romantic relationship with his foster sister, who lives under the identity of Amanda Sefton in the United States. He also reconciles with Margali, who had cursed him into a hell-like pocket dimension, mistakenly believing that he killed her son Stefan in cold blood. With the help of his fellow X-Men and Dr. Strange, the mistake was cleared.

Nightcrawler quickly becomes a valued member of the X-Men and later leads the team temporarily when Storm leaves the team to cope with her loss of powers. This foreshadows the role he later assumes as leader of the X-team Excalibur.

During his original time as an X-Man, Kurt went through a period of self doubt following the Beyonder's decision to leave him behind when he teleported the rest of the team to a crisis in San Francisco. He spent the night outside Amanda Sefton's apartment in the rain whilst he tried to understand the Beyonder's reasons. The two argued and she left him. Kurt then got caught up in a plot by the madcap assasin Arcade to execute a young lady (who turned out to be an Eastern European princess) and, in a bid to prove to himself that he wasn't a coward, he rescued her single-handedly (Uncanny X-Men #204).

Shortly after this, and once he'd rejoined his team-mates, a tactic designed to disable the super-Sentinel Nimrod backfired and Kurt found himself at the mercies of an angry mob (in a nod to his first appearance in Giant Sized X-Men #1) without his teleportation ability. He was rescued by Shadowcat, Colossus and Magik but feared he had lost this ability for good. His power returned but left him drained and vulnerable when he used it, again leading to self doubt about his worth to the team. It may have been these feelings that led him to use his "multi-port" stunt to disable Vertigo during the Mutant Massacre. This tactic left him unable to escape Riptide's attack, leading to horrific injuries and his subsequent coma (Uncanny X-Men #210).

Excalibur

While he recovers from these injuries, his fellow X-Men are apparently killed on a mission in Dallas. Not long after, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat leave to join Captain Britain in an adventure in the UK. They work together so well they decide to form a group they name Excalibur. Captain Britain originally assumes leadership of the group, but Nightcrawler gradually takes the responsibility. During his time with Excalibur, he takes charge of the group of interdimensional mercenaries known as the Technet, re-naming them his 'N-Men', and he becomes romantically involved with his teammate Cerise before she leaves to stand trial for the Shi'ar. Later, his former girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, joins the team and the two continue their previous relationship. She leaves the team to take control of Limbo, a task that keeps her away from Earth, but the two remain close friends.

Returning to the X-Men

Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men. For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths.

Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is revealed to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. This and the controversial "truth" behind Kurt's parentage are revealed by writer Chuck Austen.

Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control.

Currently, he has been recruited by Professor X (Uncanny X-Men #475), along with Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire.

Family relations

Eventually, it is revealed that Nightcrawler's biological mother, previously unknown, is the mutant terrorist Mystique, which been hinted at to varying degrees since they first appeared together.

It is also revealed that though Mystique was married to a wealthy German, Herr Wagner, Nightcrawler's father was, Azazel, a member of a race of demonic-looking mutants dating back to Biblical times who were banished to another dimension by another race of angelic mutants. The storyline was furthered by the relation that fellow X-Man, Archangel's healing blood did not heal Nightcrawler, and in fact caused him great pain. The storyline that revealed Nightcrawler's father, The Draco, written by Chuck Austen, received negative response from fans. Following the revelation of Nightcrawler's origins, many fans have expressed their desire for the storyline to be retconned in some way that denies Azazel's fatherhood.

Veteran comic book writer Chris Claremont had originally intended for Mystique and Destiny to have been Nightcrawler's biological parents. Mystique, being a shapeshifter, would have taken the form of a man and impregnated Destiny. Marvel, however, felt the idea to be too controversial and an alternative origin was developed.

Mystique is credited as his mother in Evolution, but in the episode "Shadowed Past" it is strongly hinted that he is the product of genetic experimentation by Magneto.

Also Nocturne, the daughter of an alternate dimension-version of Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch, ended up on Earth-616, the home of the mainstream Nightcrawler. Despite the fact that Nocturne is not really related to mainstream timeline Nightcrawler, she still feels a strong connection to him and often calls him "dad". Nightcrawler in turn has taken a liking to her and the two have become close friends.

Characteristics

Nightcrawler is a mutant born with blue fur covering his body, two fingers plus a thumb on each hand and only two toes on each foot and a third toe-like projection on his heel, as well as long canine teeth, yellow eyes, pointed ears, and a prehensile pointed tail.

Among his more ironic character traits, Wagner is an extremely religious man. A devout Catholic, his demonic appearance obviously makes it very difficult to attend masses. Despite this, as mutants in the Marvel Universe become more accepted, he even managed almost to become a Catholic priest, unfortunately his studies were interrupted by a villain known as "Neo."

In contrast, Nightcrawler also has a knack for the spontaneous and exciting. He sees himself as a swashbuckler, usually comparing himself to Errol Flynn. He is a ladies man in a way, despite his looks, always charming and gallant. Several storylines contain Kurt's love life as a conflict to his religious nature. His days in the circus make him a gifted performer and showman. Kurt is also a jokester. He has a great sense of humor for someone in his situation. He always plays pranks on people, some even call him "Trickster" because his combined teleporting abilities and playful disposition enable him to play quite the joke.

Wagner has used a personal holographic device called an image-inducer on several occasions to produce a holographic image of himself as an ordinary human (occasionally Errol Flynn himself) that he might interact with non-mutants in a normal fashion. After losing a bet with his friend Wolverine, however, Nightcrawler was made to walk through town in his normal form for all to see. To his shock the reaction of the average person on the street was simply one of startled interest. He was even able to sneak a kiss from a surprised but unafraid woman. Kurt was, eventually, attacked by a carload of anti-mutant bigots but he prevented Wolverine from tearing them to shreds, preferring to be merciful to the ignorant. The entire experience emboldened him, and he has since largely forsaken the use of this device, using it only when absolutely necessary.

When Nightcrawler was first submitted as a character it was for DC's Legion Of Superheroes but DC turned him down believing his look was too "Alien" Len Wein later sold the character to marvel as an X-Men character, Len Wein has said that he wrote him as "a kind of tragic monster" and this was fairly apparent from his first scenes in Giant Sized X-Men #1 involving his flight from the mob and his subsequent reaction to them wanting to burn him down from the rooftop - it was Chris Claremont's scripting that evolved him into the swashbuckling hero he is today.

Powers and abilities

Kurt Wagner is a mutant with several superhuman advantages. His greatest power is his ability to teleport himself and some additional mass from one location to another. He does this by means of entering an alternate dimension briefly and reappearing in a desired location. He possesses a limited "spatial awareness" which stops him from teleporting into solid objects within his immediate vicinity, but this ability diminishes the farther the distance he teleports. Because teleporting into other solid matter would cause severe injury or death, he will only teleport to an area he is familiar with or that he can clearly see. His power automatically displaces liquids and gases when he "arrives". The process of teleportation places a tremendous strain on his endurance and that of any passengers. Extensive training has raised his tolerance for teleportation, but most of his passengers lack this tolerance. Therefore, one of his tactics is to grab opponents and make several quick teleportations with them. They usually are weakened or even pass out from the strain. His more ruthless counterpart in the Age of Apocalypse story line used this same trick with a small twist, generally bringing only certain parts of his opponents with him. He removed Deadpool's head in this way, killing him. He appears to always be "breathing fire" when teleporting. Presumably this is simply an optical illusion of his teleportation powers, as it does not appear to have any adverse effects on anything Kurt comes in contact with as he does so. After Nightcrawler teleports, he leaves behind a faint scent of brimstone said to be transported from the alternate dimension through which he travels. His teleportation power seems to be due to a biophysical/biochemical reaction he consciously triggers within himself. A loud "bamf" noise is always present whenever he teleports (it being the sound of air rushing to fill the space he was just occupying).

Nightcrawler has physical abilities that surpass those of an olympic level gymnast. Nightcrawler's bone structure allows him great flexibility. He can remain in a crouched position for a long time and perform contortionist-type feats without causing any damage to his spine. He has enhanced reflexes. However in spite of all this, while his durability, stamina, and physical strength are indeed superior to those of a highly conditioned athlete, they do not reach superhuman levels. He has an ability to cling to surfaces with his hands and feet in a manner similar to and on levels equivalent with Spider-Man. He has limited abilities to blend into shadows, both as a result of his indigo fur and his connection to the dimension through which he teleports -- this is also the explanation for why he constantly appears in shadow, even in direct light (described in Excalibur #65). In his earliest incarnation, it was suggested that he could actually travel through shadows (in much the same way Psylocke did after exposure to the Crimson Dawn) and this was shown in Bizarre Adventures, but never really touched upon after that. In the story, Vanisher removes some of the Darkforce that formed his costume and threw it at Kurt, who disappeared. He then reappeared from within the Darkforce on the ground, saying that it was like "a pool of shadow" and that he "fell right through it." He has a prehensile tail, allowing him to grab onto objects with relative ease. His tail is strong enough to not only support his body weight but also lift an adult man completely off the ground, and is deft enough to fight with as a sword or blunt object. Nightcrawler's always glowing eyes grant him a marked degree of heightened night vision and it has been suggested that he has the ability to see in the infra-red spectrum as well.

Aside from the abilities granted by his mutation, Nightcrawler is a superb fencer and hand to hand combatant. He has also served as the team's pilot and medic when no more qualified X-Men were around to do so. He and Wolverine were also the mechanics of the X-Men's jet for a long time.

Alternate Versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse miniseries, Nightcrawler is similar to his 616 counterpart, but much darker and more violent, and he carries two sabres at all times, denoting his skills as a swordsman. Another important difference is that the (AOA) Nightcrawler hates churches, having had a traumatic experience when he was younger. (AOA) Nightcrawler is close to his mother, Mystique, and he even calls her mom. Nightcrawler is sent by Magneto to Avalon, an Antarctic uptopia where humans and mutants peacefully coexist, to bring Destiny back to the United States to confirm Bishop's claims. While there Avalon is attacked by Apocalypse's Pale Riders. Nightcrawler, Mystique and fellow mutants Switchback and Damask form "X-Calibre" to defeat the Pale Riders and the Shadow King.

Ultimate Nightcrawler

The Ultimate version of Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) reveals a much more militant, young mutant. Originally speaking only German, he did learn to speak English with the help of Jean Grey’s mental prowess. His Weapon X origins link him more closely with Ultimate Wolverine and Rogue than with his other teammates. Though Nightcrawler returned home after he escaped from Weapon X, he soon joined the X-Men in order to fight Magneto.

Nightcrawler is a friendly, humorous man with a zest for high adventure which has gained him the friendship of many of his fellow X-Men. One of Kurt's more notable friends is Angel who together have "misused" the Danger Room for "Pirates of the Caribbean-like" "role-playing" sessions. He also was friends with Colossus until recently when Colossus revealed he was gay. Kurt now sees their friendship as dead as he hates the way that he was lied to, and does not approve of Colossus’ lifestyle. Kurt also has romantic feelings towards Dazzler, and can often be seen at her bed side as she is in a coma.

Ultimate Nightcrawler's powers are very similar to his 616 counterpart. Kurt's demon-like physiology grants him dark, indigo fur; a prehensile tail; superhuman reflexes and agility; and control over the inter-atomic bonding between molecules that allows him to cling to any surface. Most notably, Nightcrawler can teleport short distances leaving a burst of yellow smoke and flames.

Trivia

In Dutch comics, Nightcrawler is known as Harlekein (Harlequin). In French, he is known as Diablo (Devil), in Finnish, he is Painajainen (Nightmare) and in Spanish and Portuguese he is called Nocturno (spelled Noturno in Brazilian Portuguese). In Danish comics he was originally known as Sorte Springer ("Black Knight" a reference to the chess piece). In older Greek translations he was called Nightwalker.
Nightcrawler's origin is located in Bavaria, but the exact location seems to change with every incarnation. In the comics, he comes from a small village called Winzeldorf, and in the X-Men animated series, it is Neuherzl. In the movie X2, he makes repeated references to his time in the Munich circus, though it is never specified where he originated.
Dave Cockrum actually designed Nightcrawler to be used in DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes series. Cockrum was working on the series just before he went to Marvel, and Nightcrawler's costume design (and overall unusual look) fit well into the Legion's design scheme. Nightcrawler was brought into the team as the more extreme-looking Vampyre was deemed to be "too horrific."

Nightcrawler's German phrases

To keep authenticity, the writers - especially Chris Claremont - made Nightcrawler speak German phrases. But due to poor translation, these phrases were often a source of unintended comedy for native German speakers. Notable errors were:

English word	False translation	Correct translation
Kitten	Katzchen (his pet name for Kitty Pryde)	Kätzchen
Darling	Leibchen (Shirt)	Liebchen or Liebling
Understood?	Verstehen? (To understand)	Verstanden?
My	Mien	Mein
What?	Vas?	Was? (pronounced Vas?)

In addition, the X-Men writers often did not realize that German nouns have three different grammatical genders, causing Nightcrawler to talk with obvious grammatical errors. Also, in German one would mostly say 'wie', meaning 'how', rather than a direct translation of 'what', but 'was' is also used in German. The same rule applies in other languages, such as Spanish, where the replacement of the English query 'what?' would be '¿cómo?' (meaning 'how') instead of '¿qué?' (meaning 'what') - '¿qué?' is also used, but it is considered rude.

Appearances in other media

In the 1980s cartoon television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Nightcrawler was one of the X-Men who appeared though only briefly. He appeared in the episodes called, "The Education of a Superhero" and "The X-Men Adventure".

Nightcrawler also appeared in the 1989 cartoon Pryde of the X-Men, the pilot episode of an unproduced X-Men cartoon series. This was eventually released on VHS and included a number of other X-Men cartoons.

In 1992, the X-Men animated series, Nightcrawler only made guest appearances in the episodes "Nightcrawler" and "Bloodlines" in seasons three and five, but never joined the X-Men.

In the Evolution animated series, Nightcrawler is a student at the Xavier Institute with much the same nature and demeanor as his older comic book counterpart although he does not appear to be religious and is more insecure about his appearance. The show has, like the comics, revealed that Mystique is his birth mother and Rogue his foster sister. When Mystique was turned to stone, he tried to be there for both his mother and Rogue. He uses a holographic inducer to look human which he uses to go to school. He was voiced by Brad Swaile.

In the film X2: X-Men United, Nightcrawler is played by Alan Cumming. This version shares much of the same history (of the circus, Catholicism and being native to Germany) with the comic book inspiration; his scenes with Mystique leave it ambiguous as to whether or not any subsequent sequels will reveal her to be his mother. Unlike the traditional versions, the movie Nightcrawler has blue skin instead of blue fur. However, his skin is decorated by "angelic symbols", small scars he inflicted on himself, "One for every Sin." In the film, Nightcrawler is brainwashed with a fluid from William Styker's mutant son to kill the President. Storm and Jean Grey are sent to find him and bring he back to the mansion. Wagner goes with them and develops a friendship with Storm. He helps Storm save the children and stop dark cerebro at the Alkali Lake facility and joins the team at the end.

Nightcrawler has also appeared in a number of video games such as: X-Men for the NES, X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (C64/PC), X-Men the Arcade Game, X-Men (Genesis), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (Genesis), X-Men: Mutant Academy (PS1), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (PS1), X-Men: Next Dimension (various), X-Men Legends (various) X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (various).

Nightcrawler is also one of the 3 playable characters in the game The Official Game which fills in the gap between X2: X-Men United and The Last Stand. After a harrowing confrontation with Jason Stryker, Kurt decides life as an X-Man is too violent for him. He quits the team, explaining his absence in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Nightcrawler is also mentioned in the Weezer song "In the Garage".

There have been numerous Nightcrawler action figures produced- most by manufacturer Toy Biz, most notable his figure on the Marvel Legends series.

External links

Nightcrawler - Marvel Database Project
Uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On...Nightcrawler
Nightscrawlers Fan-Forums
Bamf Central

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