BAMF! Let's teleport right into this month's Superhero Sunday the blue skinned horned tail, Nightcrawler.
The History
Nightcrawler created in 1975 by Dave Cockrum and Len Wein for Marvel and the X-Men. Cockrum originally came up with Nightcrawler while stationed in Guam for the U.S. Navy. At that time Nightcrawler's concept was a demon who failed a mission and stayed on earth (Earth616) he also wore trunks instead of the full costume.
Nightcrawler Debuted in "Giant Size X-Men #1" (1975).
Cockrum pitched the character to DC and was rejected but later he started working at Marvel and X-Men with Roy Thomas. It was then he submitted Nightcrawler and had to change him to German decent and thus we got the mutant he is today.
The Character
Nightcrawler is the son of Azazel the demon and the mutant Mystique. He was abandoned in german and raised by gypsy queen. His birth name was Kurt. He would grow up in the circus as a happy child receving his teleportation ability at puberty and getting the name Nightcrawler as a performer. During his time in the circus he picked up his skills with agility and sword skills.
Some time later he gets caught up and hunted in a town who see him as a demon. Kurt was a man of faith and struggled with this identiy and how the people around him would hate him. While being hunted he runs into Professor Charles Xavier the leader of the X-Men.
Nightcrawler meets Shadow Cat (Kitty Pryde) while fighting a sorcerer and he joins the X-Men as it is a place he feels accepted for his abilities and appearance. During his time on the X-Men he would go on a side journey and create a team called Excalibur with Nightcralwer and his N-Men. He lead the team while Captian Britian went off with Meggan. Once they returned Nightcrawler returned to the X-Men.
Nightcrawler would bounce around as team leader of new mutants and being put in various spots with many teams. House of M occurs and there are no more muntants then years later the first Mutant comes by during the Messiah Complex. It was after House of M that Wolverine and Kurt would spend more time on missions together. They had a back and forth friendship and the depth of their friendship was proven during the events of Second Coming in which Bastion attacks and kills Nightcrawler. Cable takes Hope the muntant Nightcrawler and the X-Force were trying to protect.
His death remained from 2010 to 2015. Wolverine goes on a task that Nightcralwer had left for him in a letter and thus trying to live up to all the hope Nightcrawler stood for.
His story is so much more then a few adventures and his character was friends with so many, he also had such an impact on the muntant side of Marvel. He has a mom who has a moral grey line and he father a demon.
Why this hero?
Nightcrawler is a demon creature with the heart of a saint and love for humanity, he is selfless and that was a strong characteristic for me as a kid. I really loved how he was a foil to Wolverine and never gave up on anyone. Also as a kid the blue skinned pointy eared mutant that swung swords and could teleport was "like the coolest thing."
It was of coarse the 90's cartoon that showed me Nightcrawler (im sure the music is now stuck in your head). But I loved him in the comics and future cartoons/movies as well.
Recommended Reading:
- Gaint Size X-Ment #1
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills
- Excalibur
- X-Men: Messiah Complex
- X-Men: Second Coming