Nightcrawler

Real Name
Kurt Wagner

Occupation
Adventurer; former priest, circus performer

Citizenship
Germany

Place of Birth
Bavaria, Germany

Known Relatives
Azazel (father), Raven Darkholme (Mystique, mother), Graydon Creed (half-brother, deceased), Nils Styger (Abyss, half-brother), Kiwi Black (half-brother), other half-siblings (deceased), Margali Szardos (foster mother), Rogue (foster sister), Jimaine Szardos(Magik, Amanda Sefton, foster sister), Stefan Szardos (foster brother, deceased), Talia Wagner (Nocturne, alternate timeline daughter)

Group Affiliation
X-Men; formerly Neyaphem, Excalibur, N-Men

Education
College-level courses at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

Height
5'9"

Weight
161 lbs.

Eyes
Shining yellow, no visible pupils

Hair
Indigo

Powers
Nightcrawler is a mutant who can teleport by opening a portal into another dimension, travelling through it via an unconscious direction-finding sense, and returning to his own dimension. When teleporting, Nightcrawler leaves behind a small portion of the atmosphere of the other dimension that escapes with a muffled “bamf” sound and smells of brimstone. On returning, his power automatically displaces any extraneous liquids and gases.

Nightcrawler can easily teleport north south along Earth's magnetic lines of force. However, teleporting east west against them or teleporting vertically is more difficult. Under optimal conditions, Nightcrawler can teleport 2 miles east west, 3 miles north south, and 2 miles vertically if he exerts himself. Nightcrawler's momentum is retained when teleporting, so he arrives with the same inertia he left with. He can reduce this by teleporting short distances in the opposite direction.

Nightcrawler has a limited unconscious extrasensory ability that prevents him from teleporting into any area that he cannot see or has not seen in the past, as doing so runs the risk of injury or death by materializing partially or entirely within a solid object.

Through practice, Nightcrawler has increased the mass he can teleport with him, though the limit to the amount of weight he can carry when teleporting and the distance over which he can teleport with such additional loads are unknown. Teleporting with Nightcrawler often leaves a passenger feeling weak and nauseous.

Nightcrawler is also able to cling to solid surfaces via his hands and feet. He can also render himself nigh-invisible in shadows by manipulating the ever-present portal to the dimension he teleports through so as to bend light around himself.

Abilities
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. 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.

Other Info
Kurt Wagner was born in Bavaria to a blue-skinned shapeshifting mutant (aka Mystique). Kurt was shunned at birth due to his having blue skin, pointed ears, fangs, and a long pointed tail. At the time disguised as the Baroness Wagner, Mystique's true identity was revealed after she gave birth to Kurt, and the pair were chased out by an angry mob. Fleeing to the nearby falls, Mystique threw the infant over the edge and fled. Fortunately, Kurt was saved by his natural father, Azazel, and given into the care of Margali Szardos (a sorceress and gypsy queen). (Click on the above characters to learn more about them. Note: Beware of Mystique's and Margali's bio page; both are in revealing outfits.)

Margali took the baby Kurt to the small Bavarian circus where she worked as a fortune teller. Kurt was never legally adopted by anyone, but was raised by all the members of the circus, who had no prejudices against "freaks." Kurt grew up happily in the circus with his two closest friends, Margali's natural children Stefan and Jimaine. Stefan feared that his magical heritage may one day corrupt him, and so he had Kurt promise that if he ever killed without reason, Kurt must stop him. During his formative years Kurt exhibited tremendous natural agility, and quickly became the circus's star acrobat and trapeze artist with audiences assuming that he was simply a normal human dressed in a demon costume. Kurt worked closely with Jimaine, and the pair soon became involved in a romantic relationship. (To learn about Jimaine, click on her name above. Note: Beware of her bio picture which is very revealing).

Years later, the Texas millionaire Amos Jardine heard of the circus Kurt worked for and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus. However, he demanded that Kurt be placed in the circus's freak show, where he was imprisoned against his will and drugged in order to remain complacent. Eventually, a young boy in the circus freed the Nightcrawler. Kurt was able to run away and make his way back to Germany.

In Germany, Nightcrawler discovered that Stefan had gone mad and had brutally slain several members of a lost race of half-human creatures. Kurt found Stefan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage; unfortunately, during the struggle Kurt unintentionally broke Stefan's neck. The villagers of the nearby town of Winzeldorf discovered Kurt and assumed him to be a demon who was responsible for the killings. They cornered Kurt in the town and were about to kill him when they were all psionically paralyzed by Professor Charles Xavier, who had come to recruit Kurt into his team of mutant super-heroes known as the X-Men. Kurt agreed to join the X-Men and went to America. (To learn about Professor X and the X-Men, click on their names above.)

After many adventures with the X-Men, which included a clash with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants during which Kurt first met his mother Mystique (although he didn't know it at the time), discovering his ability to be invisible in shadow, traveling through dimensions with Shadowcat's dragon Lockheed, and more, Kurt was finally severely wounded during the attack on the underground colony of mutants known as the Morlocks by Riptide (a member of a team of mutant assassins named the Marauders). (Click on the highlighted teams, places, and characters above, to learn more about them.)

After hearing of the apparent "death" of the X-Men in Dallas when the team fought the Adversary, Nightcrawler, along with Shadowcat, Rachel Summers, Captain Britain, and Meggan, founded the British super-team Excalibur. (To learn more about Excalibur and some of the team members, just click on their names above.)

After Captain Britain and Meggan were married, Kurt along with Shadowcat and Colossus decided it was time to return to the X-Men. Kurt once more served as a dedicated member of the team until after a battle with Apocalypse that resulted in the seemed death of the first X-Man, Cyclops. (Click on the highlighted characters above to learn more about them.)

Soon after, the ever-devout catholic Kurt left the team to pursue aspirations of becoming a priest. After being saved by the X-men during an attack by a group of evolved mutants known as the Neo, Kurt decided to rejoin the X-Men. Kurt continued his priesthood studies while he was with the X-Men; however, soon after he took a leave of absence to mourn the death of his friend and team mate, Colossus. When he returned to the X-Men, it was as a fully ordained priest after apparently undertaking a ceremony at St. Michael's Church in Brooklyn which was overseen by Kurt's mentor, Father Whitney. Kurt even took to wearing a priest's collar as part of his X-Men uniform. (To learn about the above team, just click on their name above. Also, the fifth picture posted is of Nightcrawler with his "preist uniform.")

At one time, Kurt was manipulated into a ceremony with other teleporters like himself that opened a dimensional portal through which came an army of mutant demons. Nightcrawler learned that the leader of the army, Azazel, was his natural father and the father of the other teleporters. A mutant from biblical times, Azazel sought to use his children's combined powers to return to Earth and enslave humanity. However, Kurt rejected him and, with the aid of his newly-found half-brothers Abyss and Kiwi Black, Azazel was defeated. (To learn more about Nightcrawler's half-brothers, click on their names above.)

Recently, Nightcrawler has met the dimensionally-stranded Nocturne, daughter of a Nightcrawler from an alternate timeline, who has taken to calling him "dad." (Click on the highlighted name above to learn about Nightcrawler's alternate timeline daughter.)

Click the following link to learn more about Nigthcrawler, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Nightcrawler.

Nightcrawler wasn't in the the third X-men movie, X-men: The Last Stand. I always wondered why they dropped the character, because I think most people thought Nightcrawler was pretty awesome in X2: X-men United. I read a post in a chat room on IMDb.com, and one person wrote, "the reason Nightcrawler wasn't in the third X-Men film was because Alan Cumming didn't want to endure the long and uncomfortable make-up procedure. In that film his part wasn't that big so they dropped the character altogether rather than recast it." If that's true, it's kind of interesting and also understandable. It would by annoying to put up with a couple hours of make up every time you went in to do another shoot.