Contents 1 HistoryEdit 1.1 Early Years 1.2 Circus Life 1.3 Leaving the Circus 1.4 X-Men 1.5 Secret Wars 1.6 Injured by Nimrod 1.7 Excalibur 1.8 Priesthood 1.9 Astonishing 1.10 Sacrifice 1.11 Wolverine Goes to Hell 2 Powers and AbilitiesEdit 2.1 Powers 2.2 Abilities 2.3 Strength level 2.4 Weaknesses 3 ParaphernaliaEdit 3.1 Equipment 3.2 Transportation 3.3 Weapons 4 NotesEdit 5 TriviaEdit 6 Appearances in Other MediaEdit 7 Nightcrawler's German phrasesEdit 8 LinksEdit 8.1 Discover and Discuss 8.2 Footnotes

HistoryEdit

Every so often, liebchen, since I look like a demon... I have this irresistible urge to play the part.

-- Nightcrawler ^src 

Early Years

In the form of a German noblewoman, the shape-shifting mutant Mystique married Baron Christian Wagner. Meanwhile, Mystique had an affair with the mysterious Azazel from La Isla des Demonas and became pregnant with their child. Azazel told Mystique to raise their child as if it were the Count's. A heartbroken Raven agreed and, while Christian did become suspicious as to the baby's paternity, his sudden "accidental" death ensured no one else heard his suspicions. The baby was born visibly mutated with blue fur all over, pointed ears, iridescent eyes, and a prehensile tail. Due to the shock and the strain of the boy’s difficult delivery, Mystique lost concentration and accidentally revealed her true form. Word spread of her and the baby's condition and mother and son were chased by a torch-wielding mob. Mystique passed out and left young Kurt Wagner floating down a river during her escape^[1].

Circus Life

Miraculously, the baby survived and was saved by Margali Szardos, a sorceress and gypsy queen, who became a fortuneteller at a local carnival as a "cover" for her activities as a sorceress. Margali took the baby back with her to the circus^[1]. Wagner was never legally adopted by anyone but was raised within the circus, mostly with people who had no prejudices against "freaks" save the ringmaster, Herr Max Getmann^[1]. Margali acted as Wagner's unofficial foster mother^[1]. Wagner grew up in Max Getmann's Circus and his two closest friends were his "adopted" brother and sister, Margali's natural children Stephan and Jimaine Szardos. Later, Kurt and Jimaine forged a true friendship as they grew older, and Stephan knew that his magical heritage might lure him to evil one day. So, Jimaine had Kurt promise him a blood-oath, that if he ever killed without reason, Kurt would kill him as well. 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^[1]. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human being wearing a demon-like costume.

As he got older, Kurt's abilities drew less and less of a crowd until one day, Herr Getmann could no longer afford to keep him sedated between acts and decided to sell him. Fearing the worst, Margali worked with Armen Freilich to free Kurt. As he fled, he accidentally knocked over a torch, igniting the circus. Getmann and his men chased Kurt through the forest and were about to shoot him in the face when he teleported for the first time. Astonished and pleased with his escape, Kurt wearily made his way to the nearby Father Wagner's church. Two days later, he was discovered and welcomed and Kurt happily found a home trading shelter for labor. One evening, Armen burst in the door, apparently being chased by Getmann and his goons for escaping. Father Wagner tried to stop them from taking the boys, but the men proved too strong and set the church on fire during the brawl. Kurt ported Armen to a nearby farm before going back and beating on Getmann. Just as he was about to kill Getmann, Father Wagner reminded Kurt of his humanity. With the tides turned, Getmann and his men took aim to kill both Kurt and the Father but were frozen. Professor Charles Xavier had arrived and taken control of the angry mob's minds, programming them all to remember Kurt dying in the fire.

Leaving the Circus

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' freak show. Appalled, Wagner quit and made his way towards Winzeldorf, Germany, where Stephan was. Kurt discovered that Stephan had gone mad and had brutally slain several children. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner found Stephan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Wagner unintentionally broke Stephan'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 psionically paralyzed by Professor 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 Prof. Xavier went to the Bavarian circus so that Wagner could explain to Margali about Stefan's death. However, Margali was not there and she held Wagner responsible for murdering Stefan.

X-Men

Wagner helped Prof. Xavier and Cyclops rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. After most of the original team left for a time, Wagner, along with fellow new recruits Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Banshee, and Thunderbird, stayed at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as members of the new X-Men. The second group of X-Men were mostly adults and required no tutoring from Professor X, but trained in the use of their powers, in the Danger Room. Their next mission was Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men. The team went on to battle Kierrok, Havok and Polaris controlled by Eric the Red, and traveled to outer space to face Steven Lang's Sentinels and rescue their captured teammates. At this time, Kurt met Amanda Sefton and the two began to date. Investigating the murder of an old friend, Eric Hoffman, Kurt briefly battled Spider-Man, until the arrival of The Punisher. The duo battled The Punisher, until the real killer, Jigsaw, was revealed and the trio defeated him. After a trip to Cassidy Keep, the X-Men battled Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy and later had their first battle with Magneto. They then journeyed to the M'Kraan Crystal’s homeworld to battle the Shi’ar Imperial Guard.

After the recent events, Phoenix decided to have a party at her apartment, she shared with Misty Knight, and the X-Men briefly battled Iron Fist, until Phoenix explained he was one of Misty's best friends. After being trapped in the Danger Room, the team then battled Warhawk and were later controlled by Mesmero to perform in a circus until Beast rescued them only to battle Magneto his robot Nanny after. They escaped to the Savage Land and battled Sauron and Garokk, then they arrived in Agarashima, Japan and aided Sunfire in battling Moses Magnum, and finally Calgary, Alberta where they battled Vindicator, who was aided by Alpha Flight. Once they arrived home, they battled Arcade in Murderworld. Around this time, Storm was kidnapped by Arkon the Imperion to power a machine to save his planet and the X-Men rescued her and later traveled to Muir Island to battle Proteus. While meeting Amanda at an airport, Kurt recognized the plane of Arcade and overheard that he had been contracted, by Arnos, to kill Spider-Man and refused. After arriving at Arnos' circus, Kurt impersonated Spider-Man, to draw-out the new assassin, and the duo battled Cutthroat. The X-Men then went on to battle the Hellfire Club Knights, while attempting to recruit Dazzler.

After Nightcrawler and Wolverine sneaked into the Hellfire Club, the Phoenix fell under Mastermind and the Hellfire Club's control and transformed into the Black Queen. After the X-Men battled the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, Phoenix underwent another transformation into the Dark Phoenix and soared through the universe, where she devoured an entire star and the five billion inhabitants of one of its planets. When she returned to Earth, she threatened to kill everyone, but Professor Xavier was able to keep Phoenix under control and helped her will herself back to normal. The X-Men were then teleported away by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Empire had witnessed Dark Phoenix consuming the star and the X-Men were forced to battle with the Imperial Guard over Phoenix's fate. The battle triggered her transformation into Dark Phoenix once more. Phoenix understood that she would never be able to fully control the dark hunger inside and sacrificed herself on moon. Later, Kurt attended "Jean Grey's" funeral. On Kurt’s twenty-first birthday, Jimaine transported Kurt’s soul to a simulacrum of Dante’s hell. There, he faced Margali Szardos, who held Kurt responsible for the death of Stefan. When Nightcrawler convinced Margali that Stefan had gone insane, she forgave Kurt and departed. Jimaine revealed that she had been at Nightcrawler’s side, magically disguised for months as Amanda Sefton, Kurt's girlfriend.

Kurt then accompanied Wolverine to Ottawa, Canada, where he leaned Wolverine’s real name “Logan”, to make things right with Alpha Flight and Department H and together with Alpha Flight they battled Wendigo. Then, The X-Men stopped the attempted assassination of Senator Robert Kelly by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants lead by Mystique. When Nightcrawler encountered Mystique for the first time in his adult life, he was shocked to discover how similar in appearance they were and that she knew his real name. Mystique only told him to ask his foster mother, Margali Szardos, about it, leaving Nightcrawler confused. Later, Kurt attended Dazzler's first show at Numero Uno and battled Amora The Enchantress' Nightgaunts. After Professor X registered an anomaly on Cerebro, the X-Men were sent to investigate James Marks, the product of cross-breeding between an Earth woman and a Dire Wraith, and aided ROM in defeating the child. Kurt began a close relationship with Wolverine and Colossus, even taking a dare from Wolverine to walk down the main street of Salem Center undisguised, in his natural shape. When Miss Locke kidnapped Amanda, Kurt traveled to Latveria where the X-Men defeated a Doombot in the image of Dr. Doom to rescue Arcade. After, the X-Men again battled Garokk, Magneto, and after Storm sensed that Arkon was in danger, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four aided him in battling the Badoon. The team went on to battle the Sentinels and during a coupe, the X-Men battled the alien Brood, Deathbird, and Admiral Samedar to restore Lilandra Neramani to the Shi'ar throne.

After battling in a duel between the Gamemaster and Death, the X-Men battled Dracula and then were sent to the Savage Land, after Angel called and asked for assistance. In the Savage Land, the X-Men were captured, by Sauron and Zaladane, and rescued, by Angel and Ka-Zar. Later, the X-Men went to Limbo where they battled Belasco and Kurt fought an alternate version of himself. Soon, the Brood retaliated by implanting embryos in all of the X-Men, but Storm's new connection to an Acanti saved them all. The X-Men returned home to battle the Brood Queen that was inside of Prof. Xavier and saved his life by transplanting his mind into a cloned body. After the X-Men watched a televised debate, between Professor X and Reverend William Stryker, they received news that Cyclops, Storm, and the Professor had died in a car accident. While investigating the scene of the accident, the X-Men were attacked, by the Purifiers, and rescued, by Magneto. After capturing their attackers, the X-Men and Magneto tortured them for information and rescued Kitty Pryde, who was being pursued by Purifiers. After arriving at Stryker's base, the X-Men and Magneto rescued Cyclops and Storm and Magneto resuscitated them. Professor X was taken to Madison Square Garden, where he was attached to a machine that, using his brainpower, would kill all living mutants. Magneto, with his psi-shielded helmet, was able to distract the Professor enough for the X-Men to destroy the machine. Televised, Cyclops entered into a debate with Stryker about his actions and Stryker pulled a gun, attempting to kill Kitty. Before he could fire, Styker was shot-down, by a police officer. Later at the mansion, Professor admitted that Magneto was right and began to accept his offer to join, until Scott stopped him and stated that he believed in the Professor's dream and will see it come true. The team went on to battle Dracula again. After battling the Morlocks, the X-Men later traveled to Japan to attend the wedding of their team member Wolverine, where they are poisoned by Viper and Silver Samurai. The X-Men again battled with Mastermind and next the Impossible Man. The team went on to battle the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the Morlocks.

Secret Wars

After Professor X was weakened by a severe mental scanning, the X-Men journeyed to New York's Central Park to investigate. The X-Men were joined by the Hulk, Spider-Man, and members of the Avengers and Fantastic Four to investigate an enormous circular construct which had materialized in the park's Sheep Meadow. Upon entering the construct, the adventurers (as well as the construct itself) were teleported to an area of spacetime near a galaxy far from the vicinity of Earth's. Similarly, a large number of costumed criminals, including the Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, Ultron, the Wrecker and the Wrecking Crew, as well as the planet-devourer Galactus, found themselves in another construct within this same area of spacetime. Aboard the constructs the passengers watched in awe as the galaxy nearest to them was annihilated by an unseen force, except for a single star. Then, before their eyes, a planet, which became known as Battleworld, was created to orbit that star. Finally, a rift opened in spacetime, from which poured a blinding light, and the passengers within the constructs heard a voice telling them, "I am from beyond! Stay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!" The passengers were then sent to Battleworld. There, over the next several days, they engaged in a "secret war" amongst themselves; most of the criminals sought to destroy the heroic adventurers in order to gain the prize that the Beyonder had promised. The X-Men, who quickly decided to stay-out of the direct conflicts and become a third-party, were unwelcome by the heroes for siding with Magneto, even battling Spider-Man. After Professor X noticed Galactus was attempting to feed on Battleworld, the X-Men and the heroes battled him. After Dr. Doom absorbed energy from Galactus and Beyonder and killed all of the heroes, Mister Fantastic revived them all. After Beyonder regained his powers, he and Doom disappeared and the heroes willed themselves back to Earth. During the X-Men's return home, there was an energy surge and they were not sent back to Central Park.

The X-Men were returned to Earth and battled a dragon in Japan. After rescuing Rachel Summers from Selene, Kurt battled the Dire Wraiths with Forge and asked Amanda to aide them also. Kurt and the X-Men then battled Kulan Gath with the Avengers and after most of the heroes perished, Magik and Dr. Strange traveled back in time to before it happened, erasing the event. When the Wraith homeworld, Wraithworld, began to approach Earth through hyperspace, the X-Men went to aid ROM and, with the help of Forge, banished them from existence. Kurt took over leadership of the X-Men after Storm had seemingly lost her powers forever. After Kurt battled the Magus, the X-Men next battled Thunderbird, brother to the original Thunderbird and blaming Prof. Xavier for his brother's death, and the Hellions to rescue Banshee. To rescue Banshee, the X-Men had to infiltrate the NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command, and the X-Men were officially outlawed. Around this time, the Mutant Registration Act was passed, that called for all mutants to register with the government, forfeiting their civil rights and illegalizing an unregistered mutant.

After recounting an adventure to his teammate, Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), Kitty, excited by the story, attempted to create a simulacrum of the Well at the Center of Time inside the X-Men's Danger Room (based on Kurt's description). Instead of crafting a simulated hologram of the Well however, Kitty inadvertently opened a doorway into the Well itself. Kitty's pet dragon, Lockheed, flew towards it to investigate, when an alien, green tentacle reached out from beyond and dragged him inside of the vortex. Nightcrawler dove in after to save Lockheed and found himself instantly transported to a bizarre, alien world. Nightcrawler and Lockheed shared several adventures on various worlds, meeting Long John McGurk, Boggies, Jinjav Sabree, and battled the sorcerer Shagreen. At the close of each encounter, he found himself drawn back into a spiraling vortex, only to be literally spat out into a new foreign land. After a great deal of trial and error, Nightcrawler finally succeeded in navigating through the Well and returning home. Later, the X-Men are later caught on camera battling the Juggernaut and Nimrod. After siding with the Juggernaut, it appeared to the public that the X-Men were aiding a felon and they went-on to battle the Beyonder again.

After stopping a scheme of Loki's, Magneto joined the X-Men, per Prof. Xavier's request, and he and the X-Men were attacked by the Freedom Force. At this time, the Beyonder brought a young mutant, named Boom-Boom, to the mansion and the X-Men and New Mutants instinctively attacked them. The X-Men later traveled to Asgard to rescue Storm and the New Mutants from another of Loki's schemes. When both Cyclops and Storm returned to the team, Kurt was more than willing to step down and let them sort out leadership of the X-Men themselves after battling Fenris. While the X-Men later battled the Beyonder again, Kurt was left behind and began to question his faith in religion. Before the team returned, Kurt again battled Arcade in Murderworld, this time, to save Judith Rassendyll.

Injured by Nimrod

After battling Nimrod with the Hellfire Club as allies, Nightcrawler was gravely injured and was lost after he teleported. After being rescued by Colossus, Shadowcat, and Magik, Kurt found that he could not teleport anymore. Later Kurt's abilities returned, but it became more strenuous to teleport and the X-Men were turned to X-Babies by Mojo, when they battled the New Mutants, until they were broken of their brainwashing and defeated the spineless one, Mojo. After, Kurt faced the Marauders in this weakened state, where he overexerted himself into a coma. Kurt was sent to recover on Muir Island and when he awoke from his coma, Shadowcat informed Kurt of the X-Men's apparent deaths during the time he was out.

Excalibur

After having the same continuous dream, Nightcrawler and Kitty summarized that Rachel might have been trying to telepathically reach them. After being attacked by Gatecrasher and the Technet, who were hired by Saturnyne to eliminate Phoenix, Shadowcat and Meggan Puceanu were captured and Kurt went to Captain Britain, who was in a drunken state after the loss of his sister, Psylocke. After leaving Captain Britain, Kurt tracked Rachel to London, where the Technets were fighting the Warwolves over Rachel. The combined efforts of Kurt, Shadowcat, Phoenix, Meggan, and Captain Britain resulted in the defeat of the Technet and the Warwolves. At the urging of Rachel to continue Professor Xavier's dream, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat became founding members of the British-based team Excalibur. After inspecting their new headquarters, at the Braddock Lighthouse, Kurt briefly witnessed Queen Ai'Sha of another reality, but, when he returned with Meggan, they scene had vanished. Kurt found himself attracted to Meggan, but unable to act, due to her relationship as Captain Britain's girlfriend. Later, Kurt attempted to rescue Shadowcat, who was posing as Rachel, from her plan to find the remaining Warwolves, but Kitty was captured. After saving people from a subway train, Kurt followed a mysterious police officer to the Warwolves' hide-out and Excalibur rescued Shadowcat, who's intangibility saved her life, then placed the Warwolves on display at the zoo.

After battling the Juggernaut and a group of escaped prisoners, the team addressed Captain Britain's drinking problems, while moving into their new headquarters, Captain Britain's Braddock Lighthouse. Following a trail of forfeit money, Excalibur traveled to Murderworld and battled the Crazy Gang, to rescue Captain Britain's ex girlfriend, Courtney Ross. While battling the Crazy Gang, Excalibur's bodies were switched with members of the Crazy Gang, with Kurt trading places with Jester. After Kitty entered a virus into the Murderworld computers and sent Arcade into Murderworld, Courtney restored everyone to their respectful bodies. Kurt later accompanied Brian Braddock to the The Flying Finish, where he voiced his concern of the Captain seeing Courtney while dating Meggan. Following Rachel, who sensed her infant brother's telepathic distress, Excalibur traveled to the Empire State Building and battled demons, where Meggan was brought under the demonic influence of the demon, N'Astirh, and became the Goblin Princess. While battling the Goblin Princess, Kurt also rescued Rachel from the marriage to the demon, Crotus, while she had been transformed into a mannequin. Reuniting with Kitty, Shadowcat had acquired Illyana Rasputin's Soulsword and eldrich armor and Kitty returned Meggan to normal.

After the demonic invasion, Kurt left to get the X-Men's old stratojet. Kurt simply teleported into the Skunk Works, a part of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, and started-up the SR-71 Blackbird. After briefly returning to the School for Gifted Youngsters, Excalibur returned home to rescue W.H.O. from the Lightning Force, alternate reality versions of themselves and negotiated the return of Dr. Moira Mactaggert. After returning to the exchange of Dr. MacTaggert and the Highland Flyer crew with the Lightning Force Reichsrail Train, Reichsminister MacTaggart threw a nuclear grenade and Widget teleported Excalibur and Alistaire Stuart into another dimension.

Wagner finally learned that his mother is Mystique. Kurt eventually became team leader and moved the team to the Muir Island Research Center where he briefly reunited with Amanda Sefton, who had taken the codename Day Tripper, and his former X-Men teammate Colossus joined the team as well. Following the disbanding of Excalibur, Kurt returned to the United States along with Shadowcat and Colossus to rejoin the X-Men.

When Kurt faced Astra, the creator of the Magneto clone Joseph, she stunned him with the revelation that she had some part in his birth or some past connection to Mystique. Astra escaped and Nightcrawler was left wondering.

Priesthood

Nightcrawler ended up taking a few leaves of absence from the team, one to enroll in a seminary and become a priest and the other to mourn for Colossus. Kurt returned to the team and eventually gave up on the priesthood.

Azazel claimed to be Wagner's true father, spawning a number of mutants with dimensional powers to help him in his mad quest. It was unclear if Kurt or any of the others believed Azazel's claim. Kurt was a part of Storm's X-Men squad. When not on missions, he taught Drama to students of the reopened Xavier Institute.

Nightcrawler quit the X-Men for a short time, feeling he wasn't needed since Pixie was a better teleporter than him, and planned to return to his homeland Winzeldorf. Another motive for leaving was when the denizens of Winzeldorf invited him to visit the new Nightcrawler Museum dedicated to him. He soon learned that the local townsfolk tricked him and needed Nightcrawler's aid in defeating a monster called the Vielfras. Nightcrawler fought with the creature, but quickly discovered that Vielfras was actually a sixteen-year-old boy named Henrik Weber, who was cursed by a gypsy. After hearing Weber's tale, Nightcrawler sympathized with him, reflecting upon his own mistreatment at the hands of town villagers many years ago. Nightcrawler defended him when the townsfolk tracked them down, but was injured in the fight. Vielfras killed all of his attackers, then himself being unable to endure this monstrous lifestyle. Mephisto appeared to collect Weber's soul as well as the souls of the twelve men Weber had killed earlier, and Nightcrawler returned to the United States and rejoined the X-Men.^[2]

Astonishing

Kurt helped to try and save New York City from a bullet fired from The Breakworld, containing Kitty Pryde. He also tried to save Kitty, his friend, from an untimely death as well, but she bonded with the bullet, the only way to Save New York, and also the world by phasing through it.

Sacrifice

While on the run from Bastion, Kurt used his ability to get Hope as far across the country as possible. Bastion caught up with them, and anticipated one of Kurt's 'ports, putting his arm through Kurt's chest. With the final jump of his life, Kurt brought Hope to Utopia, dying on its shore.

The X-Men were devastated by Kurt's death (especially Wolverine), some blaming Hope or Cyclops. His cremation and eulogy took place on Utopia. It wasn't a Catholic funeral, but it was the best they could do under their circumstances.

Wolverine Goes to Hell

Kurt was next seen during the battle between Wolverine and the demon that was possessing his body. He realized that Wolverine would lose his mind and body if he did not help him. As a result, Kurt went to a special part of Wolverine's mind where he housed his image of Jean Grey so they can defeat the demon. When Kurt and Jean showed up in the battle they asked Kurt if he was a part of Wolverine's mind, however, he replied saying that he is the actual Nightcrawler. After the battle Kurt begged Wolverine to not seek revenge on those who did this to him, however, he refused to listen.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Nightcrawler is a mutant.

• Teleportation: Ability to teleport himself, the clothes, he is wearing, and within limits a certain amount of additional mass which is in contact with him. He teleports by displacing himself into the Brimstone Dimension, traveling through it, and then returning to his own dimension at a certain distance from his point of departure. He consciously determines his point of return. The entire process occurs so quickly that Nightcrawler is unaware of being in the Brimstone Dimension at all. Nightcrawler guides himself through the brimstone dimension by an unconscious, natural direction-finding sense. Although Nightcrawler controls his teleportation ability with his conscious mind, his power to teleport is not psionic. Rather it is the result of an unknown biochemical/biophysical reaction which he triggers mentally.

When he disappears in teleporting, Nightcrawler leaves behind smoke with a stench reminiscent of burning brimstone. This is a small portion of the atmosphere of the Brimstone Dimension that escapes while the aperture is open. His teleportation is invariably accompanied by the muffled sound of imploding air rushing to fill the vacuum left where Nightcrawler's body was. Nightcrawler's powers automatically displace liquids and gases when he arrives in the course of a teleportation.

The longer the distance over which Nightcrawler teleports himself, the harder and more exhausting it is for him to make the teleportation "jump". It is easier for him to teleport between north and south (along Earth's magnetic field lines) than it is for him to teleport between east and west (against the magnetic lines). Under optimal conditions, teleporting only himself and his costume, Nightcrawler can displace himself a distance of about 2 miles east-to-west, and up to 3 miles north-to-south. Making a vertical teleportation upwards is difficult and dangerous. Nightcrawler has made a vertical teleportation "jump" of 2 miles by pushing himself to his physical limits. Before his death Kurt was able to port Hope and himself from Las Vegas to San Fransisco which is 585 miles and he was weakened and near death at the time.

Nightcrawler's momentum is retained throughout the process of teleportation: he arrives with whatever amount of inertia he left with. For example, if he were falling from a great height, he could not teleport himself towards the ground in order to save himself; he would land with the same velocity that he teleported with. He can subtract this inertia by teleporting short distances upwards (as though taking two steps back for every one forward).

The limits to the mass that Nightcrawler can carry with him while teleporting, and the limits to the distance over which he can teleport himself with additional load is unknown. When he transports a passenger over even moderate distances, they both feel weakened and ill, to the point of exhaustion. Teleportation over further distances could be fatal. Through practice, Nightcrawler has increased the mass he can teleport with him. (He once teleported himself and Storm from the center of a small island into the water just off its coast without harming either of them). The upper limits of this capacity are as yet unknown.

Nightcrawler can use his powers offensively by grappling with an enemy and teleporting him or her in a series of rapid jumps. The strain of these "multiple ports" can exhaust foes without superhuman endurance while Nightcrawler remains strong enough to continue fighting.

• Subconscious Spatial Awareness: Nightcrawler has a very limited subconscious extrasensory ability that prevents him from teleporting himself so that his feet, for example, would materialize below the surface of the local ground. Because this ability is so limited, however, Nightcrawler will not teleport into any place that he cannot see or has not seen in the past. If Nightcrawler teleported himself into an unfamiliar area, he would run the risk of materializing partially or entirely within a solid object. If too much of his body materialized within a solid object, he would probably be killed.
  

As part of his power, Nightcrawler has also exhibited a limited ability to sense the teleportation of other beings.

• Micro-Suction Discs: Nightcrawler can stick to objects with the surface of his hands and feet. This enables him to scale surfaces.

• Flexible Bone Structure: 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.

• Camouflage: He has limited abilities to blend into shadows, both as a result of his indigo fur and his connection to the light-bending attributes of the dimension through which he teleports. This is also the explanation for why he constantly appears in shadow, even in direct light.

• 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. It is deft enough to fight with like a sword or blunt object.

• Infrared Vision: Nightcrawler's always glowing eyes grant him a marked degree of heightened night vision as well.

• Superhuman Agility: Nightcrawler's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels beyond the human body's natural limits.

• Superhuman Reflexes: Nightcrawler's natural reaction time is enhanced to a level beyond the human body's natural limits.

  Abilities

• Master Acrobat: Nightcrawler is an Olympic-class acrobat thanks to his flexible spine that allows him to perform contortionist-like feats and to go long periods in a semi-crouching position without injury.

• Master Combatant: He is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and a master at fencing, which he can even perform with his tail, which is strong enough to support his entire body weight.

• Aviator: He has served as the team's pilot and, with Wolverine, has also been the mechanic of the X-Men's Blackbird jet for a long time.

• Medic: He has been the medic when no more qualified X-Men were around to do so.

Strength level

Nightcrawler possesses above average strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. At his peak, Nightcrawler can lift about 250 lbs.

Weaknesses

Despite Nightcrawler's superhuman powers, he is just as susceptible to disease and physical injury as any ordinary human. Also, because he is a Neyaphem, angel's blood, which heals everyone else, hurts him, normally adding to whatever injury he received.

ParaphernaliaEdit

Equipment

Image inducer; at one time he always wore his image inducer in public because he was afraid of how people would treat him because of his mutation. However, after he lost a bet with Wolverine, he went out in public without his image inducer. He expected everyone's reaction to be fear and hate, but it turned out to be a reaction of curious interest. He still has his image inducer, but hardly ever uses it unless he needs to.

Transportation

Formerly X-Men Blackbird, X-Men Stratojet, Professor Xavier's Rolls Royce

Weapons

Fencing foils

NotesEdit

• Citizen of Germany with a criminal record in the United States, later overturned by the courts; still wanted internationally as an outlaw.
  

TriviaEdit

• 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.
• A notable geography error appears in Nightcrawler The Winding Ways. Nightcrawler travels to Bavaria in order to visit his old circus, which he states is located in the Black Forest. The Black Forest region doesn't belong to Bavaria, it actually is part of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
• Dave Cockrum actually designed Nightcrawler while still in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Guam, when a typhoon made it too noisy to sleep. His original vision, a demon who refused to return to hell for punishment after he failed a mission, was meant to serve as sidekick for another of his creations, the Intruder. He later submitted the character for inclusion in DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes series, which he worked on just before coming to Marvel. DC editor Murray Boltinoff rejected the character as being "too funny looking." ^[4]
• A calendar in Kurt's room (Nightcrawler (Volume 3) #12) indicates that his birthday is in November.
• Writer Chris Claremont had several different ideas for Nightcrawler's parentage, including Nightmare as his father, and Mystique as his father (with Destiny as his mother). The Nightmare connection was prevented by then-Dr. Strange (and later X-Men) editor Roger Stern, and the Mystique/Destiny idea was dropped almost immediately.^[5]
  

Appearances in Other MediaEdit

• Nightcrawler in the X-Men films
• Nightcrawler in Spider-Man & and his Amazing Friends
• Nightcrawler in Pryde of the X-Men
• Nightcrawler in X-Men: The Animated series
• Nightcrawler in the Animated Age of Apocalypse of X-Men: The Animated series
• Nightcrawler in X-Men: Evolution
• Nightcrawler in Wolverine and the X-Men
• Nightcrawler in X-Men Legends
• Nightcrawler in Marvel Ultimate Alliance
• Nightcrawler in X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants
• Nightcrawler in X-Men: Madness in Murderworld
• Nightcrawler in the Marvel Heroes (Fantasy Flight Games)
  

Nightcrawler's German phrasesEdit

To keep authenticity, the writers - especially Chris Claremont - made Nightcrawler speak German phrases. But due to poor translation and/or simple lack of proper characters, 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
God in heaven	Gott in Heimel	Gott im Himmel
What?	Vas?	Was? (pronounced Vas?)

LinksEdit

• 1,002 Appearances of Kurt Wagner (Earth-616)
• 413 Images featuring Kurt Wagner (Earth-616)
• 29 Quotations by or about Kurt Wagner (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Kurt Wagner (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Kurt Wagner (Earth-616) 
• Characters killed by Nightcrawler 
• Nightcrawler
• Uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On...Nightcrawler
• Nightcrawler's Fan-Forums
• Bamf Central
• Marvel Directory
• Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #9 (August 1986)
• Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men 2004

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Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} X-Men Origins: Nightcrawler #1
2. ↑ X-Men: Manifest Destiny Nightcrawler
3. ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z hardcover Vol. 8
4. ↑ "How a Typhoon Blew in Success", Wizard Special Edition: X-Men Turn 30, July 1993: Wizard Press.
5. ↑ http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23092

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