Art by Alan Davis
- Name: Kurt Wagner
- Code Names: Nightcrawler
- First Appearance: Giant Sized X-Men #1 (Oct ‘75)
- Powers: Teleportation, prehensile tail, being a great acrobat
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men, Excalibur
About
If there is one thing the X-Men stand for, it is equality. They believe in the dream of a world where people aren’t judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. It isn’t to say that there aren’t dangerous mutants, or just plain evil ones, but that they should be judged by more than just their genetic differences. They should be judged by the fruits of their character. It’s a simple message but it is one that still needs said. This core concept is embodied by one of the greatest mutants out there. Kurt Wagner, the incredible Nightcrawler, is the heart of everything the X-Men mean.
Portrayed by Alan Cumming and Kodi Smit-McPhee
Kurt’s first love was the circus. He felt like he belonged there. No one cared about his blue fur or his prehensile tail. They accepted him for the high-flying acrobat he was. His mother, Margali Szardos, was a fortune teller in the Bavaria troupe. She had found him floating down the river as an infant and decided to raise him as her own. Kurt was a loyal brother to her son Stephan and very close with her daughter Jimaine, who joined him in the big top. He quickly became the star attraction for the show. It was a good life.
Art by Todd Nauck and Rachelle Rosenberg
Now Margali’s precognition was more than a parlor trick, she was an accomplished sorceress of The Winding Way and Stephan feared her magic. He made Kurt promise that if he was ever seduced by the dark arts, Kurt needed to put him down. Kurt agreed, never imagining that day would ever come. But Stephan did go mad, killing children in the village of Winzeldorf. Kurt tried to reason with his brother, but Stephan was truly lost and fought back. In the struggle, Kurt broke his brother’s neck in plain view of the villagers. They assumed the demonic figure was responsible for the murders and formed a mob to slay him. Kurt ran but the mob was too much. Suddenly, the men stopped, frozen in place. Kurt looked around confused, only to see a bald man in a wheelchair approaching him with a life-changing offer.
Art by Dave Cockrum and Glynis Wein
More than the circus, Nightcrawler thrived with the X-Men. He was the energetic ball of fun that they needed to face the darkness ahead of them. He grew close with his teammates Colossus and Wolverine, being an ever loyal partner in their escapades. The X-Men let him live out his dreams of being the blue, bamfing Errol Flynn. A daring sword fighter, a suave ladies’ man, and a defender of the downtrodden, Kurt had found his place.
Art by John Byrne, Terry Austen, and Glynis Wein
On Kurt’s 21st birthday, his mother came for revenge over Stephan’s death. After being trapped in the hell from Dante’s Inferno by Margali, Kurt explained the blood pact to his mother and the two came to peace with Stephan’s death. Surprisingly, Kurt’s girlfriend came to the party to reveal that she was not just mild mannered airline stewardess Amanda Sefton, but actually Margali’s daughter Jimaine Szardos in disguise. Everyone just glossed over how in many ways Germany was the Alabama of Europe and they were totally cool with the two dating, mostly because it gave us this amazing panel.
Art by Paul Smith, Bob Wiacek, and Glynis Wein
Life as an X-Man wasn’t always fun and games for the Nightcrawler. An encounter with Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants made him question his true parentage. A battle with the Beyonder made him question his Catholic faith. And the overwhelming anti-mutant sentiment made him question the purpose of the X-Men as a group. He began to push people away and the Mutant Massacre would only make things worse. In the battle, Kurt was gravely injured and had to be removed from active duty and sent to Muir Island for recovery.
Art by June Brigman, Whilce Portaco, and Glynis Wein
Months later, Kurt, alongside his fellow injured teammate Shadowcat, heard of the X-Men’s death in Dallas. They knew the world needed mutant protectors to take their place and formed Excalibur with Rachel Summers, Meggan, and Captain Britain. Excalibur was where Kurt belonged. He got to play the role of cross-time hero, rescuing damsels in distress and buckling swashes wherever he went. He and Meggan developed a close bond, maybe it could have been more, but Kurt was ever the gentleman and didn’t want to upset her relationship with Captain Britain.
Art by Alan Davis and Paul Neary
As time passed on Kurt became very comfortable on this new team. Old friends like Colossus and Amanda joined the group and Kurt blossomed as a leader. His short time leading the X-Men was a disastrous flop but with Excalibur he knew how to take charge. Nothing could last forever though and Excalibur drifted apart. Feeling guilty about not being there for the X-Men during Operation: Zero Tolerance, and frankly missing almost every crossover, Kurt decided that the remaining members of Excalibur should rejoin the X-Men back in Westchester.
Art by Casey Jones, Tom Simmons, and Ariane Lenshoek
It was then he heard the call to serve the Lord. He faith had always been important to him but it wasn’t till now, after a youth of adventuring, that Kurt found his purpose. He quickly completed his training and was an ordained priest of the Catholic Church. Against all logic about what priests actually do, Nightcrawler continued to act as the field leader for the X-Men, but had a crisis of faith when he met the Supreme Pontiff of the Church of Humanity who revealed the truth. Kurt had never been ordained, he was a pawn of the Church of Humanity in a truly bizarre gambit to discredit the Catholic Church. Their plan was to install Kurt as Pope, using an image inducer to hid his appearance. Then at his first communion, replace the wafers with disintegrating tablets and kill all present while at the same time turning off his image inducer and revealing his demonic form. They imagined that this would convince people that the Rapture had occurred and the Kurt was the anti-Christ. It was a pretty horrible plan that made Kurt realize the Church of Humanity didn’t understand the first thing about the Catholic doctrine. It was enough for him to renounce his priesthood, but sadly the worst was yet to come.
Art by Ron Garney, JD Smith, and one of the 3 inkers on Uncanny #424
Years ago while he was with Excalibur, Kurt learned that Mystique was his birth mother and he came to terms with that. He wasn’t ready to discover who his father was. The demonic mutant Azazel forced Kurt to travel to La Isla des Demonas who wanted to use Kurt in a plot to open a wormhole into the Brimstone Dimension. He learned that years ago Azazel seduced Mystique and left the pregnant mutant to fend for herself. Azazel had spread his seed across the world with the intention of using his children to power the wormhole so that his demonic mutants, the Neyaphim, could finally defeat their eons old foes, the angelic Cheyaraphem. The X-Men stopped them but the truth about his history weighed heavy on Kurt.
Art by Phillip Tan
Kurt looked for a place to belong for a while after that. He followed the X-Men to Utopia but he was wary of Cyclops more militaristic style of leadership. He supported his old friend’s decision even if he didn’t agree with him and carried on life as an X-Man. When Hope and Cable returned from the future, Kurt played a key role in the Mutant Messiah’s rescue. He was horrified when he discovered that Cyclops had also sent his secret kill squad, X-Force, to help extract the girl. Worse, he realized that his best friend, Logan, was leading the group. Commissioned assassins wearing an X was too far for him and Kurt swore that there would be stern words when he got back to Utopia. That moment never came. Kurt had spent most of his energy by the time he caught up to Hope in Las Vegas, but the Sentinel Bastion was on their tail. The machine went for the killing blow on Hope, but Kurt teleported in the save her. With a metal arm through his chest, Nightcrawler summoned all his energy, every last drop of blood, sweat, and tears he had and teleported with Hope in tow. Over five hundred miles he jumped, farther than he had ever gone before. It was a job well-done for the good and faithful servant and Kurt went beyond to his eternal reward.
Art by Mike Choi and Sonia Oback
In that timeless place, Kurt waited for years, or maybe just minutes. He sat on the outskirts of heaven, feeling like he left something unfulfilled. Then, in endless paradise, Kurt found his paradise as a galleon waving a demonic banner broke through the horizon. His father Azazel was determined to take over heaven and hell and steal all the souls in the universe and Nighcrawler lept joyously into action. For the first time since his death, he felt alive. Kurt found a way to contact his old friend and the X-Men joined the fray but he knew to ensure the eternal rest of billions, he would have to make a grand sacrifice. He struck a deal with Azazel’s minions, one that would trap Azazel in the physical realm and give Kurt a new body. It would cost him his soul and prevent him from ever returning to Heaven but Nightcrawler was willing to make that sacrifice. Back on Earth he was around those he loved, and that was all that mattered.
Art by Cameron Stewart and Rachelle Rosenberg
Kurt was a hero again, at least until the M-Pox virus was unleashed. The sickness made anti-mutant sentiment skyrocket. In his home of Germany, Kurt found a mass grave where despicable men were dumping the bodies of mutants who were murdered. Fearful men decided that a dead mutant was better than pure humans contracting the illness, and seeing this broke Nightcrawler. He became a holy warrior, pious and deadly, and the X-Men feared for their friend. When they were sent to a future ruled by Apocalypse (no, not the one you are thinking of) his buddy Colossus was converted into a Horseman and stayed that way when they returned. Nightcrawler was able to break out of his depression by breaking Colossus out of his. Kurt looks to be back to his old self with the upcoming ResurrXion launch, ready to adventure into a new era and for the years to come.
Art by Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado
Must Read
This one is a toughie because pretty much every Nightcrawler story that really works is about the same. He gets to be a hero, almost get the girl, and be utterly charming doing it. It is a simple formula that always works. I wavered between Dave Cockrum’s fantastic and fun 4-issue mini-series but it is missing something that Uncanny X-Men #204 isn’t, pathos. This issue finds Kurt at his lowest, it sets up the best mopey Kurt we have ever seen, then totally subverts it but throwing him in a crazy adventure where he gets to save a literal princess while fighting on biplanes. It’s just about the best thing and sums up exactly what people love about the fuzzy blue elf.
Art by June Brigman
Absolutely Must Not Read
I don’t normally have this section, I like being positive, but I need to talk about just why The Draco is the absolute worst thing to happen in X-Men history. It isn’t the art even though Phillip Tan and Takeshi Miyazawa are not doing anywhere near their best work here. It isn’t that it is a mind-numbing seven issues long. It’s that it irrevocably damages Kurt as a character. The entire gimmick of Nightcrawler is that he is a demon looking dude but in reality, he is a good guy. He is the biggest example of not judging a someone based on their appearance. However, when you make his father literally Satan you lose that. Now he looks like a demon because he is a demon. Mobs seem pretty justified when they are aiming their pitchforks at an actual, real life, demon. It misses the point of Nightcrawler so hard it is astonishing that no one in editorial put a stop to it. It’s also an amazingly boring story with art that is so sketchy that you can’t make out what is happening and comes right after Holy War, the second worst Nightcrawler story ever. It’s the pits and deserves every bit of hate it gets. It’s on Unlimited but just don’t do that to yourself.
IT DOESN’T DESERVE A PICTURE
Ranking
You know how I struggle with some of these? Not this time, because I know exactly how good Kurt is. He is pretty much the best. He is too good of a character to be limited to just the X-Men and I would love to see him branch out to the Avengers or a solo book that connects him to the larger Marvel Universe. Kurt is the summation of everything I love in comics, however, writers have struggled to know what to do with him for years. Unlike Cyclops, Kurt hasn’t grown as a character since 1995 and he needs that boost to elevate him to the top spot. For now, he sits firmly as the new number 2 in the Xavier Files.
Nightcrawler was requested by /u/Swaffire, /u/dre500 on Reddit, Eduardo from this site, and Max Dweck who is our newest supporter on Patreon. Thanks to all of you and make sure you check out the YouTube series Max wrote for Marvel (like the actualy company gave him money for it) Marvel TL;DR. Thanks again for your support Max.
If you have a request just submit it at the bottom of this article and I will add it to the list that currently stretches well into 2018! If you want to cut to the front of the line, link Max did, we have a Patreon you can support for just $1 to get a line cutting reward.
With March Madness upon us, and the Master Ranking’s having just over 64 teams, I thought it would be fun to run a tournament based on the current list. During the tournament, you can vote for your favorite character by voting on Twitter! It is gonna run on the same schedule as the NCAA tournament so it will be easy to follow. Check out the official bracket and let’s get ready for some fun!
Download your own bracket to play along at home here
If you email me your bracket I’ll tally up the scores each week and the winner will get to cut in line on a request! Brackets must be in by Thursday (3/16) at Noon EST.
Make sure you check out Legion Quest a new podcast where me and Newsarama reviewer Matt Sibley talk about the FX show Legion. You can follow the show at any of these sources (iTunes | Google Play | Sticher | RSS).
If you liked what you read be sure to follow Xavier Files on twitter, Tumblr, Facebook!
Next week it’s actually Hellion! See you then!
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Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
