| Nightcrawler | |
|---|---|
Nightcrawler. Art by Darick Robertson |
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| 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 character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). During the "X-Men: Second Coming" storyline, Nightcrawler is killed in an attempt to save Hope Summers in X-Force #26 (April 2010).
A mutant, Nightcrawler possesses superhuman agility, the ability to teleport, invisibility in deep shadows, and adhesive hands and feet. His physical mutations include blue skin, two-toed feet and three-fingered hands, yellow eyes, and a prehensile tail. In Nightcrawler's earlier comic book appearances he is depicted as being a happy-go-lucky practical joker and teaser, and a fan of swashbuckling fiction. Nightcrawler is a German Catholic and while this is not emphasized as much in his earlier comic book appearances, in later depictions Nightcrawler is more vocal about his faith.
Since his inception, Nightcrawler has had a regular presence in Marvel-related comic books and video games. He has featured in a small number of the 1990s X-Men animated series episodes and was a regular on its successors, X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men. In 2003, he was a major character in the film X2, and was portrayed by Alan Cumming.
Nightcrawler is originally stated to be from a small village called Witzeldorf in the German state of Bavaria.[1] In the X-Men animated series, it is said to be Neuherzl,[2] and in the movie X2, he makes repeated references to his time in the Munich circus, though it is never explicitly specified from where he originated.
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Co-creator Dave Cockrum originally designed Nightcrawler to be part of a group of characters called The Outsiders (not to be confused with the later team The Outsiders), set in the universe of DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes series.[3] As Nightcrawler had been rejected by DC,[4] when Cockrum started work on the new X-Men in 1975, he brought the character's costume design (and overall unusual look) over to Marvel.[5]
Although an X-Men character for years, Nightcrawler did not get his own comic book title (written and drawn by Cockrum) until November 1985, when Nightcrawler, along with Lockheed, 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 Lockheed managed to get home safely.
A second four-issue limited series appeared in November 2002. Written by Chris Kipiniak and penciled by Matthew Dow Smith, it focused upon Nightcrawler's decision to become a priest and his attempts to fight a group of slave traders.
In September 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. At the time, other X-Men subsidiary titles were steadily losing sales, and the Nightcrawler title was placed on hiatus by Marvel in February 2005, following issue #6; it did not resume publishing until June of that year. Despite the efforts of the creative team with "The Winding Way" story arc to tie in the previous stories, delve into Nightcrawler's past, and involve other X-Men franchise characters, the series was canceled with issue twelve.
Kurt Wagner was born with certain unusual physical characteristics, but his power of self-teleportation did not emerge until puberty.[6] 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 alleged father, Eric Wagner, dead of a heart attack on the road outside, and Kurt's mother lying next to the baby dying. However, this claim was later called into question, and it was subsequently proven [7] that Kurt's mother is Mystique, also known as Raven Darkholme, and his father is the demonic warlord Azazel.[8] Mystique revealed[7] that she threw him into a well after a large 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 Szardos, to raise 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 mutants. 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' star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human wearing a devil-like costume.
Years later, the Texas millionaire Arnos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida, heard of the circus for which Wagner worked 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. Jardine drugged him to prevent escape but a young mutant child with the ability to sense other mutants helped Kurt escape. Appalled, Wagner left and made his way toward Winzeldorf, Germany, where his foster brother 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.[9]
The villagers of Winzeldorf, who assumed from Kurt's appearance that he was 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.[10] 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 the hell from Dante's Inferno in which to punish him years later. Yet through the use of Doctor Strange's all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, she learned the truth, and she and Wagner were reconciled. Wagner was also happily reunited with his foster sister Jimaine, who now lives in the United States and changes her name to Amanda Sefton, later becoming Kurt's girlfriend.[9] Known as Nightcrawler, Wagner became a member of the X-Men.
Some time later, Nightcrawler fought Shagreen the Sorcerer, and became lost in various dimensions in his first major solo adventure.[11]
Shortly after this, and once he had 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 his ability for good.[12] 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.[13]
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 fought Gatecrasher's group of inter-dimensional mercenaries known as the Technet. The heroes work together so well, they decide to form a group they name Excalibur.[14] Captain Britain originally assumes leadership of the group, but Nightcrawler gradually takes the responsibility. While Captain Britain and Meggan's relationship goes through a rocky time Nightcrawler becomes interested in Meggan, a feeling that is reciprocated but never consummated.[15][16][17][18][19][20] During his time with Excalibur, he takes charge of the Technet, renaming them his 'N-Men',[21] and he becomes romantically involved with his teammate Cerise before she leaves to stand trial for the Shi'ar.[22][23][24] 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. Fearing it would be stolen from her, Amanda magically hides the Soulsword inside Nightcrawler's body.
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. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X.[25]
Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. 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 escaping his prison.[26]
At one point there is a slight attraction between Nightcrawler and Marvel Girl—manifesting in a kiss[27] -- but nothing else came of it. Nightcrawler was balancing his feelings towards Marvel Girl and an attraction to Storm at the same time, while Storm was in somewhat of a romantic "friendship" with Wolverine .[27][28][29]
Later, 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.
Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, 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.[30] During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship.[31] While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind.
Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks.[32]
Nightcrawler is part of Wolverine's S.H.I.E.L.D team and helps Mystique track him down.[33] After his memory returns he assists in the final confrontation against Magneto.[34] Upon their return to the true reality, he rapidly teleported around the mansion to find Wolverine on Cyclops's orders, as both men worried that Wolverine would have lost his powers and therefore be vulnerable to the metal poisoning caused by his adamantium skeleton.[35]
When the first mutant since M-Day appears, Cyclops sends Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Angel, Storm, and Colossus to find former Acolytes for information on the Marauders. It was predicted by Blindfold that Kurt would be seriously injured in the upcoming events and indeed this came true when he was shot by the Marauder, Scalphunter. Kurt seems to have nearly fully recovered from his injuries since he, along with Beast, the entire New X-Men team are teleported to Muir Island by Pixie.[36] He takes part in the final battle.
Still recovering from his injuries, Kurt is traveling through Europe along with Wolverine and Colossus. Kurt and Wolverine are currently involved in a "war of pranks" as Peter calls it. One of the many pranks involved Logan hacking into Kurt's image inducer to make him look like Angelina Jolie, which results in a picture of Angelina and Peter appearing in assorted tabloid newspapers. The three of them travel to Russia where they visit the cemetery where Peter's family is buried. Afterwards they go to a local bar, where they discuss the recent loss of Kitty Pryde and the destruction of the X-Men. A fight occurs in the bar, during which their cover is blown. Soon after, the three of them are captured by the Russian government which demands to know why all their mutants were depowered and why Colossus, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler retain their abilities. After a battle with Omega Red, the three heroes return to the US and rejoin the team now living in San Francisco.[37]
Kurt, along with Wolverine and Karma ambush the Hellfire Cult after a series of mutant related hate-crimes happen around San Francisco.[38] He also has taken it upon himself to build a new chapel at Graymalkin Industries, the X-Men's new home and base of operations.
During a training session in the Danger Room, he reveals he is trying to keep himself distracted because whenever he has time to think, he can't help but not think of Kitty, how the X-Men don't need him, and that Pixie is a better teleporter than he is. After battling (unsuccessfully) several simulated villains, he reprograms the Danger Room to show Kitty. He confesses he was sorry he wasn't there for her and hugs the simulation and cries. The simulation of Kitty replies that she misses Kurt too.[39]
Nightcrawler briefly believes that he no longer has a role with the X-Men, especially due to Pixie's abilities in teleporting. A trip back to Germany renews his conviction through an encounter with a boy cursed by gypsies into demonic form, a brush with Mephisto, and a romantic fling before he returns to San Francisco to aid the X-Men against a foe they struggled with lacking his help.[40]
Kurt fights alongside the X-Men when the Skrulls invade San Francisco. He comes across a Skrull bible and, after studying it, he gives it to Beast who figures out how to deal with the Skrulls.[41]
Pixie and Kurt are training when he brings up Pixie's Souldagger. Pixie summons her Souldagger and stabs Kurt in the chest, knocking him out. When Pixie removes her Souldagger, Magik's Soulsword emerges from his chest.[42]
Magik teleports away after taking out Pixie, Mercury, Rockslide, and Beast. Kurt wakes up and stops Pixie from going after her and Pixie breaks down and apologizes for stabbing him. Later the X-Men gather and Kurt is put in charge of a team of X-Men to go help save Magik.[43]
Upon entering Limbo, Kurt, Mercury, Colossus, Rockslide, Pixie, and Wolverine fight their way through many demons. Pixie, Mercury, and Rockslide are horrified at how brutal the older X-Men are towards the demons. An octopus type creature attacks Kurt until Pixie jumps in and kills it with her Souldagger.
Hearing the screams from the castle, Kurt teleports the X-Men into the throne room. Once there, Witchfire turns Colossus and Wolverine against Mercury and Rockslide. Kurt notices Illyana chained to a pillar and she asks him to stab her with Pixie's Souldagger, as it's the only way and he is the only one to do it because he is attuned to magic. She apologizes and he stabs her; at that moment Colossus punches Kurt and Witchfire finished making her fifth and final Bloodstone from the now demonic Pixie.[44]
The fact however that Colossus and Wolverine have not killed him, makes Kurt realize they are not fully under her control. Using Pixie's Dagger, Kurt then pulls Illyana's Soulsword from her, and uses it to free Wolverine and Colossus of Witchfire's control. Unfortunately, the demon manages to use the Bloodstones to summon the Elder Gods. Through their combined efforts, the X-Men and Magik managed to banish both Witchfire and the Elder Gods, but not without losing four of the five Bloodstones. Furious at losing another part of her soul, Pixie flees. Being told by Illyana to let her go, Kurt consoles Magik about the theology of a soul, before she teleports them back to Earth. Kurt, along with Colossus, Cyclops, and the former New Mutants team, convinces her to stay with them and join the X-Men.[45]
After mutants rise from the dead and attack the island Utopia as part of the Necrosha storyline, Cyclops sends Nightcrawler to lead a team of X-Men consisting of Rogue, Trance, Magneto, Husk, Psylocke, Colossus, and Blindfold to investigate Muir Island. It is revealed that Proteus has been resurrected and has taken possession of Blindfold (who had the vision of going to Muir Island in the first place).[46]
Nightcrawler flies with Wolverine and the rest of the team to Westchester when Cable and Hope are detected there. When Nightcrawler finds out about X-Force's lethal methods that have been kept from the rest of the X-Men, he argues with Cyclops. In Chapter Five of the X-Men: Second Coming storyline, Rogue and Nightcrawler fight an enhanced version of Bastion. When Bastion tries to kill Hope, Nightcrawler teleports to her aid, but Bastion detects Nightcrawler's mutant powers activating and extends his arm into the space in which Nightcrawler will materialize. Nightcrawler rematerializes around Bastion's arm, fusing with it, and is mortally wounded. With Nightcrawler's last breath, he teleports the girl to Utopia. As he dies upon their arrival on the island, Nightcrawler tells Hope that he "believes in her." Bastion reboots its system shortly after, with a three-fingered appearance.[47]
Following a mission in which the team crosses over from the Age of Apocalypse universe to assist X-Force in preventing Archangel from destroying the world, the alternate version of Nightcrawler opts to remain in the main marvel universe with X-Force to hunt down fugitives from his timeline, including Sugar Man and Dark Beast. He is openly hostile concerning being mistaken with his alternate self; at one point he roughly shoves Kitty aside when she mistakes him for a returned-from-the-dead main universe Nightcrawler, declaring that he isn't back and doesn't know her.
Kurt Wagner is a mutant whose primary mutant power is the ability to teleport himself, his clothing, and a certain amount of additional mass from one point to another virtually instantaneously. He does this by means of displacing himself through an alternate dimension briefly and reappearing in a desired, pre-selected location. He has been shown to be able to teleport distances of up to two miles (3 km) under optimal conditions, 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 teleports somewhere over 50 miles (80 km)).[48] In a final, dying effort to rescue the mutant messiah Hope, he manages to teleport them both from Las Vegas, Nevada to the mutant safehold Utopia, just off the coast of San Francisco, a roughly 413 miles (665 km) distance. Nightcrawler's teleportation ability is also affected by direction — north-south along Earth's "magnetic lines of force" is easier than east-west against them.[49]
He possesses a limited unconscious extrasensory "spatial awareness" ability which prevents him from teleporting into solid objects within his immediate vicinity, but this ability diminishes the greater 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 at the time or has seen in the past. His power automatically displaces liquids and gases when he "arrives".
The process of teleportation places a strain on his endurance and that of any passengers; carrying mass other than his body and clothing when teleporting adds additional strain through his body. Through practice he has been able to teleport a passenger over a lengthy distance with himself without exhausting himself, but the strain on his body grows as the amount of mass he transports and the distance over which he teleports it increase. 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.
After Nightcrawler teleports, he leaves behind smoke and a faint scent of burning brimstone; this is a small portion of the atmosphere of the dimension he travels 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 (being the sound of air rushing to fill the space he was just occupying). His teleporting also causes a slight change in the atmosphere before he arrives, although only superhumans with heightened senses such as Daredevil can register it.[50]
In addition to his primary power of teleportation, Nightcrawler's physiology is unique in several different ways. His agility far surpasses that of an Olympic level gymnast, and his bone structure allows him great flexibility. His spine is more flexible than an ordinary human, enabling him to remain in a crouched position for a long time and perform contortionist-type feats without causing any damage to his spine. Nightcrawler's agility, balance, bodily coordination, and flexibility are all enhanced to superhuman levels. He has an ability to cling to surfaces with his hands and feet in a manner similar to Spider-Man. He also possesses superhuman dexterity, being able to manipulate items and fence with either hand, both feet, and his tail.
He has the ability to blend into shadows, both as a result of his indigo fur and his connection to the dimension through which he teleports (which allows him to cancel out the photons around him).[51] At one point shortly after his initial introduction, 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.[52]
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 at the same time, and is deft enough to fight with while holding a sword or blunt object. Nightcrawler's eyes (which are constantly glowing) grant him a marked degree of heightened night vision, along with his other heightened senses.
Aside from the abilities granted by his mutation, Nightcrawler is a superb fencer and a very skilled hand-to-hand combatant, to the point of being able to stalemate super-beings as powerful as Captain Britain. He has also served as the team's pilot and medic when more qualified X-Men were not around to do so. He and Wolverine were also the mechanics of the X-Men's Blackbird jet for a long time. He is also recognized by other Marvel characters as the leading authority on teleportation, with Spider-Man and Daredevil contacting him for information and advice following their first encounter with Francis Klum, Nightcrawler deducing from analysis of photographs of a crime scene that a man had been killed by someone else teleporting inside the victim despite having never witnessed such a thing before.
For a long period, Kurt's body housed the Soulsword. Magik states that Kurt is attuned to magic and thus able to wield her Soulsword and Pixie's Souldagger.[44]
Veteran X-Men writer Chris Claremont had intended for the mutant terrorist Mystique and her lover Destiny to have been Nightcrawler's biological parents.[53] Mystique, being a shapeshifter, would have taken the form of a man and impregnated Destiny. Marvel, however, felt the idea to be too controversial,[54] and an alternative origin was developed.
After hinting for many years that Mystique was indeed Nightcrawler's biological mother, it was confirmed by writer Chuck Austen. In 2003, it was revealed that although 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.[8] 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.[55]
Nightcrawler's siblings include his foster sister Rogue and half-brother 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 with an alternate Scarlet Witch;[56] this girl, named Nocturne, is a dimensionally stranded mutant bearing traits similar to Nightcrawler himself. Nocturne has since referred to Nightcrawler as father. The demeanor of Nightcrawler is very similar to that of the Nightcrawler from Nocturne’s reality, so the two develop a close bond that resembles a father-daughter relationship.[57]
Nightcrawler is a mutant born with fine blue-black fur covering his body, two fingers with an opposable thumb on each hand and only two toes, each longer than a normal human being's, on each foot and a third toe-like projection on his heel, as well as pronounced, fang-like canine teeth, yellow eyes, pointed ears, and a 31⁄2-foot-long (1.1 m) prehensile pointed tail which can support his weight.
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, despite his looks, always charming and gallant, and 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) so 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 Catholic beliefs, a direct contrast to his demonic appearance.
Nightcrawler has received positive reception as a comic book character and as a member of the X-Men. Nightcrawler was ranked as the 133rd greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine.[58] IGN also ranked Nightcrawler as the 80th greatest comic book hero of all time describing Nightcrawler as a mutant with the appearance of a demon and the heart of a preacher; IGN also states that as the X-Men enter one of their most uncertain periods, his legacy still looms large.[59] In 2006, IGN also rated Nightcrawler at #7 on their list of Top 25 X-Men from the past forty years stating that religion is one of the few commonalities that could bring mutants and humans together and it is through his faith that Nightcrawler has stayed true to the X-Men for so long.[60] In 2008, Marvel rated their top ten X-Men of all time. Nightcrawler ranked #4 on their list stating that far from a character consumed by doom and gloom, Nightcrawler's chivalry, flair for the dramatic and sense of humor have made him one of the most likable X-Men ever, a character you genuinely look forward to seeing leap into action.[61]