Nightcrawler (character)

Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler. Art by Darick Robertson
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975)
Created by	Len Wein Dave Cockrum
In-story information
Alter ego	Kurt Wagner
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men, Vatican, Archdiocese of New York, Excalibur, X-Treme Sanctions Executive
Abilities	Teleportation, Enhanced night vision, Superhuman acrobat/gymnast, Prehensile tail, Ability to stick to walls, Blending into shadows, Skilled in martial arts, hand to hand combat and fencing training

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). Dave Cockrum 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.

A German mutant, Nightcrawler possesses superhuman agility and the ability to teleport. His physical mutations include blue skin, 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 X-Men: Evolution. Alan Cumming played him in the 2003 film X2, his sole appearance in the X-Men film series.

Nightcrawler's origin is located in the German state of Bavaria, in a small village called Winzeldorf (in the X-Men animated series, it is Neuherzl, and in the movie X2, he makes repeated references to his time in the Munich circus, though it is never specified where he originated).

Publication history

Although an X-Men character for years, Nightcrawler didn't get his own book (written and drawn by one of his creators, Dave Cockrum) until November of 1985, when Nightcrawler, along with the Vanisher, accidentally traveled to several alternate dimensions, meeting strange beings such as the Bamfs (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 companion 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.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Kurt Wagner was born with certain unusual physical characteristics, but his power of self-teleportation did not emerge until puberty. Margali Szardos, a sorceress and gypsy queen, allegedly found Wagner an hour after his birth, in a small roadside shelter in the Bavarian Alps. She claimed to have found his father, Eric Wagner, (who was thought to be his father) dead of a heart attack on the road outside, and Wagner's mother lying next to the baby and dying, but this claim was later called into question and has now been shown to be false. This is mainly because it has been proven that his mother is the terrorist Mystique, Raven Darkholme and that is father is the warlord Azazel. Mystique revealed that she threw him into a river after a huge mob found out about Nightcrawler's existence, and Azazel admitted that he secretly saved his son from the fall, giving him to his lover and crony, Margali, to raise for him. Margali took the baby to the small Bavarian circus where she worked as a fortuneteller as a "cover" for her activities as a sorceress. Wagner was never legally adopted by anyone, but was raised by all the members of the circus, who had no prejudices against "freaks." Margali acted as Wagner's unofficial foster mother.

Wagner grew up happily in the circus, and his two closest friends were Margali's natural children Stefan and Jimaine. Long before his teleportation power emerged, Wagner had tremendous natural agility, and by his adolescence he had become the circus's star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human being wearing a demon-like costume.

Years later, the Texas millionaire Arnos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida, heard of the circus Wagner worked for and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus. However, he demanded that Wagner be placed in the circus's freak show. Appalled, Wagner quit and made his way toward Winzeldorf, Germany, where Stefan was. He discovered that Stefan had gone mad and had brutally slain several children. When they were younger, Stefan had made Kurt promise to kill him if he ever took an innocent life. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner found Stefan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Wagner unintentionally broke Stefan's neck.

Then the villagers of Winzeldorf, who assumed him to be a demon who was responsible for the child killings, discovered Wagner. They were about to kill him when they were all psychically paralyzed by Professor Charles Xavier, who had come to recruit Wagner into the X-Men. Wagner agreed to join the group, but before they left for America, he and Xavier went to the Bavarian circus so that Wagner could explain to Margali about Stefan's death. However, Margali was not there. She held Wagner responsible for murdering Stefan, and created a facsimile of Dante's Inferno in which to punish him years later. Yet through the use of Dr. Strange's all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, she learned the truth and she and Wagner were reconciled. Wagner was also happily reunited with Jimaine, who now lives in the United States under the name of Amanda Sefton. Known as Nightcrawler, Wagner became a member of the X-Men.

Nightcrawler remained with the X-Men for years. Eventually, however, he became a founding member of the British-based team Excalibur and was the team's leader, until his return to the X-Men at a later point in time.

Wagner has since learned the identities of his parents, and discovered that Mystique's foster daughter Rogue is his foster sister. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in conquering Earth. He then went to live his life.

Nimrod and The Mutant Massacre

Shortly after this, and once he'd rejoined his teammates, 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 #211).

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

Nightcrawler back amongst the X-Men on the cover of X-Men (vol. 2) #80 drawn by Carlos Pacheco.

For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. But as soon as they returned, they faced a group of imposters following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X.

Priesthood

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.

Team Leader

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.

The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

Afterwards, Professor X recruited him (Uncanny X-Men #475), along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the big fight with Vulcun (Uncanny X-Men #486) Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind.

Back on Earth

Kurt is still part of Professor X's team. He is currently helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks.

World War Hulk

Nightcrawler is one of the X-Men who answers The Stepford Cuckoo's call for help when Hulk attacks Professor Xavier.

Family relations

Eventually, it is revealed that Nightcrawler's biological mother, previously unknown, is the mutant terrorist Mystique, which had 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 revelation that fellow X-Man Archangel's healing blood did not heal Nightcrawler, and in fact caused him great pain.

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.

Nightcrawler’s siblings include his foster sister Rogue and half-brothers Graydon Creed from Mystique, and Abyss and Kiwi Black from Azazel.

It is also revealed that in a parallel universe, an alternate Nightcrawler fathered a daughter to an alternate Scarlet Witch, named Nocturne, a dimensionally stranded mutant baring traits similar to Nightcrawler himself. She has since referred to him as father.

Characteristics

File:Nightcrawler-pics-20060925003847136.jpg

Nightcrawler cover.

---

This file may be deleted after Friday, 3 August 2007.

Nightcrawler is a mutant born with blue-black 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 to almost become a Catholic priest; unfortunately his studies were interrupted by a villainous group known as "The 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 lady's 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 Super-Heroes, 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. Claremont stated that he took the idea that Nightcrawler thought "it was incredibly cool to be blue and furry." He also built up Nightcrawler's stout Christian beliefs, a direct contrast to his demonic appearance.

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 has been shown to be able to teleport distances of up to two kilometers, although it is at his extreme limit, and he can become severely fatigued if he tries to teleport that distance. In one case, however, he teleported somewhere over 50 miles (Uncanny X-Men #467, but revealed in #468). 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 Dead Man Wade's head in this way, killing him. The 616 counterpart has been shown to be capable of this as well, but due to his dislike for violence and killing he rarely employs such a brutal attack.

After Nightcrawler teleports, he leaves behind smoke and a faint scent of brimstone; this is a small portion of the atmosphere of the dimension he goes through when he teleports. His teleportation power is 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 is a superhuman acrobat, possessing enhanced agility, flexibility, speed, reflexes, coordination, and balance. However in spite of all this, while his strength is indeed superior to those of a highly conditioned athlete, it does not reach superhuman levels, though like all mutants, his metabolism gives him greater endurance and faster healing than baseline humans. He has an ability to cling to surfaces with his hands and feet in a manner similar to and on levels nearly equivalent with Spider-Man. He also possesses superhuman dexterity, being able to manipulate items and fence with either hand, both feet, and his tail.

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." His abilities have interacted with Vanisher's on other occasions, such as when the two found themselves transported to various alternate dimensions (Nightcrawler limited series).

Nightcrawler 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 constantly 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 Blackbird jet for a long time.

Other 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 this Nightcrawler hates churches, having had a traumatic experience when he was younger. Nightcrawler is close to his mother, Mystique, and he even calls her mom. Nightcrawler is sent by Magneto to Avalon, an Antarctic utopia 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 and Mystique vow to protect Avalon from the Pale Riders and are joined by fellow mutants Switchback and former Pale Rider Damask to face the Shadow King.

The AOA Nightcrawler 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.

Days of Future Past

Nightcrawler is dead in the alternate timeline Earth-811, but he had a daughter known as Blue. She inherited the power to teleport herself and others, and a similar appearance.

Exiles

Nocturne is a former member of the alternate-reality traveling Exiles, but is now a member of New Excalibur. Like all members of the Exiles she is from an alternate dimension, and in her dimension the Scarlet Witch married Nightcrawler. Nocturne is the daughter of the Scarlet Witch and the Nightcrawler of that reality.

In this reality, Charles Xavier was attacked several years earlier by a Shadow King-controlled Wolverine. Although the Shadow King was expelled from Wolverine's mind, Xavier was fatally wounded in the attack and Logan was left crippled. Shortly after, Jean Grey died and Cyclops, blaming Wolverine for both deaths, abandoned the team, leaving Wolverine and Nightcrawler as the leaders of the X-Men and the Xavier Institute.

The demeanor of this Nightcrawler is very similar to that of the Earth-616 Nightcrawler, so the first time that Nocturne met 616-Nightcrawler she accidentally calls him "Dad." In subsequent meetings Nocturne and 616-Nightcrawler have developed a bond very closely resembling a father-daughter relationship.

Marvel Zombies

Nightcrawler is seen as a zombie on the cover of "Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness" #1. He is bitten by the zombie Fantastic Four.

Ultimate Nightcrawler

The Ultimate version of Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) reveals a much more militant young mutant, only fourteen years old when first introduced in this series of X-Men. His first appearances have him forced to battle the X-Men alongside a team of Weapon X agents.

He had been captured by Weapon X and forced to act as an assassin and Black Ops agent. His Weapon X origins link him more closely with Ultimate Wolverine and Rogue than with his other teammates. Originally speaking only German, he did learn to speak English with the help of Jean Grey’s mental powers. Though Nightcrawler returns home after he escapes from Weapon X, he soon joined the X-Men in order to fight Magneto.

Nightcrawler is originally shown as 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 was Angel who together have "misused" the Danger Room for "Pirates of the Caribbean-like" "role-playing" sessions, as it is shown that he is a fan of the movie and has a fan-crush on Kiera Knightly.

Ultimate Kurt was extremely disappointed when he found out his friend Colossus was gay, and may harbor some prejudice against him because of this. Kurt also had romantic feelings towards Dazzler, and was often seen at her bedside after she was rendered comatose due to injuries inflicted by Deathstrike.

Shortly following Dazzler's awakening, Kurt's irrational increasing obsession with Dazzler prompted him to teleport her to a secluded cave, telling her that the X-Men had been attacked and that he was "protecting" her. The X-Men rescued Dazzler and confronted Kurt upon learning what he had done, resulting in a battle between the X-Men and their disturbed teammate. Kurt was defeated and was afterwards placed in a vegetative state by Charles Xavier in the hopes that Xavier could treat his damaged psyche. At his bedside, Rogue, who had absorbed his memories during the battle, told him she now considered him as much a monster on the inside as he appeared to be on the outside. Whether this statement regarded his activities as a Weapon X assassin or something else she experienced while privy to his memories remains to be seen.

In issue #80 he saves Pyro from the police. Pyro reveals the existence of the Morlocks. Nightcrawler is captured as the Morlocks believe he is a Xaiver spy. Shortly, the X-Men arrive to search for Toad, who was sent as an emissary. A fight ensues. During the battle, Nightcrawler helps his former teammates and managed to subdue Sunder, the leader of the Morlocks. He decided to stay with the Morlocks since they were physically mutated like him. They elect him their new leader

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 acrobatic ability; and control over the inter-atomic bonding between molecules that allows him to cling to any surface. He also has yellow smoke that billows out of his mouth. Most notably, Nightcrawler can teleport short distances leaving a burst of yellow smoke and flames.

Universe X (Belasco)

In the futuristic Universe X maxi-series by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, it is revealed that Nightcrawler became amnesiac and was displaced in time, finally becoming Belasco, a long-time enemy of the X-Men. After his origins are revealed to him by a resurrected Captain Marvel, Nightcrawler/Belasco finally joins the good guys again.

What If?

Nightcrawler has made a number of appearances through the years in the What If? series, consisting of one-issue takes on potential alternate universes. Among his roles were What if the X-Men had stayed in Asgard? (vol. 2 #12), in which Nightcrawler stayed behind on Asgard to swashbuckle and eventually joined the Warriors Three.

In What if the all-new, all-different X-Men had never existed? (vol. 2 #23), an embittered Nightcrawler, having never been recruited by Professor Xavier, was talked into a life of crime by Erik the Red.

X-Men: The End

Additionally, in X-Men: The End, he is shown to be married to a similarly colored warrior from an alternate Earth, the pair have children, including another T.J. Wagner (which is Nocturne's name) however, in this timeline T.J. Wagner is a son. Nocturne is a character in this universe.

Bamf

In Uncanny X-Men #153 Kurt's friend Kitty Pryde tells Illyana a bedtime story. In it she casts him as a cute creature called Bamf. He is only two feet tall and looks like Kurt to his skin and even his tail. He is fun loving. But at first he only existed in a Fairy Tale but Kurt himself met Bamf and the other Characters from Kitty's story in Nightcrawler (First series) #3-4. They aren't made up anymore they were real people from a different universe. The Bamfs even declared him their "Daddy".

In other media

Television

• In the 1980s cartoon television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Nightcrawler was among the X-Men who guest-starred in the episodes "The X-Men Adventure" and "The Education of a Superhero".

• 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.

• In 1992, the X-Men animated series, Nightcrawler made guest appearances in the episodes "Nightcrawler" and "Bloodlines", but never joined the X-Men. He was shown first in an episode that featured him as a monk in a Swiss abbey, persecuted by one of his superiors and the townspeople who believed him to be a demon; Gambit, Rogue, and Wolverine helped him through his trials. The second episode reveals his origins as the birth son of Mystique, discovered by his foster sister Rogue. In the end, after a discussion, Mystique apparently dies to save both of them from Victor Creed.

File:NightcrawlerEVO.jpg

Nightcrawler as he appears in X-Men: Evolution.

• In the X-Men: 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; the inducer "hides" his fur and tail, creating an image that despite those two details is quite similar to Nightcrawler's own. In his undisguised form, Nightcrawler walks on his toes only, forcing his long feet and legs into a shape like those of a faun, another reference to his 'demonic' appearance. He also dates Amanda Sefton, portrayed here as an African-American human girl without any prior ties to him, and dates Nightcrawler not minding his mutation. Mystique is revealed as his mother in X-Men: Evolution, but in the episode "Shadowed Past", it is strongly hinted that he is the product of genetic experimentation by Magneto, who could possibly be his father. He was voiced by Brad Swaile.

• Nightcrawler has been confirmed to appear in the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series. He will be voiced by Liam O'Brien.

Film

File:NightcrawlerMOV.jpg

Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler in X2.

• In the film X2: X-Men United, Nightcrawler is played by Alan Cumming. This version shares much of the same history (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, in the movie Nightcrawler has blue skin instead of blue fur. His skin is also decorated by "angelic symbols" which reflects the spirituality of the character's faith and his devout practice of Catholicism. This form of artistic body modification are self-inflicted brandings or scars: "One for every sin."

In the film, Nightcrawler is brainwashed with a fluid from William Stryker's mutant son in order to attempt an assassination on the President of the United States. The opening scenes of the movie are almost a showcase of Nightcrawler's powers, with him versus the Secret Service, defeating them in a memorable fashion. Storm and Jean Grey are sent to find him and bring him back to the mansion. Wagner goes with them and develops a friendship with Storm. He helps Storm save the children and stop Stryker's Cerebro at the Alkali Lake facility and joins the team at the end, saving Charles when Stryker's Cerebro was destroyed.

He did not appear in X-Men: The Last Stand because, according to the movie's official video game, the character didn't like the violent lifestyle of the X-Men. Furthermore, the crew thought it wasn't worth going through the long hours of preparation given that Cumming didn't enjoy the heavy make-up needed for his character and because Nightcrawler's appearance was only going to be minimal.

Video games

• Nightcrawler has also appeared in a number of video games such as: X-Men for the NES, X-Men: Madness in Murderworld, X-Men the Arcade Game, X-Men, X-Men 2: Clone Wars, X-Men: Mutant Academy 2, and X-Men: Next Dimension.

• Nightcrawler also appeared as a playable character in the famous X-Men Legends and its sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in both games.

• He is also one of the 3 playable characters in the game X-Men: The Official Game which fills in the gap between X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. Nightcrawler is voiced by Alan Cumming, the same one who portrayed him in X2: X-Men United.

File:Nightcrawler UAlliance.jpg

Nightcrawler as he appears in a cinematic for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

• Dee Bradley Baker reprises his role of Nightcrawler in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. In the game, he is kidnapped by Dr. Doom's Masters of Evil (alongside Jean Grey). A cutscene involves him trying to escape Castle Doom only to be shocked by a door. He is forced to teleport to Mephisto's Realm, by use of the Mutant Amplifier. There, he evades Doctor Doom and Mephisto where he was weakened by the Mutant Amplifier's effect and ends imprisoned (along with Jean Grey who was sent to help Professor X protect Nightcrawler) by Blackheart after Professor X's psychic shield around Nightcrawler. After Blackheart is defeated, the player must choose to save only one and thus let the other one fall into the Infinity Vortex. If the player rescues Jean, Mystique will avenge Nightcrawler by infiltrating the X-Mansion at night to vent her frustration on Professor X where he will die in a coma and the X-Men are disbanded forever. However, if Nightcrawler is saved instead, Jean will come back as The Dark Phoenix, with the intent of taking revenge of those that let her die. Nightcrawler (along with his Age of Apocalypse costume and his Ultimate Marvel costume) is now a downloadable character for the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Action Figures

• There have been numerous Nightcrawler action figures produced- most by manufacturer Toy Biz, and the most notable being the figure in the Marvel Legends series.

Music

• Nightcrawler is mentioned in the Weezer song In the Garage, along with his ally Kitty Pryde.

"Nightcrawler" in other languages

Below is a list of translations of the name "Nightcrawler".

• Dutch: Harlekein (Harlequin)

• Danish: Sorte Springer (Black Knight, a reference to the chess piece)

• French: Diablo (from Diable, Devil)

• Finnish: Painajainen (Nightmare)

• In older Greek translations, he was called Nightwalker.

• Hungarian: Árnyék (Shadow, due to his ability to blend into shadows)

• Polish: Nocny Łowca (Night Hunter)

• Portuguese: Noturno (Nocturnal)

• Russian: Ночной змей (Night Serpent)

• Spanish: Rondador Nocturno (Night Prowler)

• Spanish (México): Nocturno (Nocturnal)
• Spanish (Latinamerica): Merodeador (Crawler)

External links

• MDP: Nightcrawler - Marvel Database Project
• Nightcrawler on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
• Ultimate Nightcrawler on the Marvel Character Bio Wiki
• BAMF Central - consolidation of Nightcrawler information about the Fuzzy Elf
• BAMF! - A huge Nightcrawler site, bios and info.