Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in the comic book Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). By the time of his creation, there was already another Marvel character with the same name, but with a hyphen (Night-Crawler), which was later changed to Dark-Crawler to avoid confusion.
Nightcrawler is a member of a fictional subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who possess an X-gene that can cause possible physical mutations and in many cases grants some form of superhuman ability. Nightcrawler possesses superhuman agility, the ability to teleport, and adhesive hands and feet. His physical mutations include indigo-colored velvety fur which allows him to become nearly invisible in shadows, two-toed feet and three-fingered hands, yellow eyes, pointed ears 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 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. He is the son of Mystique and Azazel.
Since his inception, Nightcrawler has had a regular presence in Marvel-related comic books and video games. He has been 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. He was portrayed by Alan Cumming in the feature film X2 (2003), while Kodi Smit-McPhee played a younger version of Nightcrawler in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Dark Phoenix (2019).
Nightcrawler is originally stated to be from a small village called Witzeldorf in the German state of Bavaria. In the X-Men animated series, it is said to be Neuherzl, and in the film X2, he makes repeated references to his time in the Munich circus, though it is never explicitly specified from where he originated.
Publication history
Dave Cockrum originally created Nightcrawler while he was in the United States Navy, stationed at Guam. He recounted: "I sat up one night in the middle of a typhoon because it was too noisy to sleep, so I stayed up and thought up this character. Originally, Nightcrawler was a demon from Hell who had flubbed a mission, and rather than go back and face punishment, he decided to stay up here in the human world. He was supposed to be the sidekick of another superhero character that I had created named The Intruder." At this point Nightcrawler wore trunks instead of a full costume, but otherwise looked identical to his final version.
Cockrum submitted the character 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. However, DC rejected the character, resulting in Cockrum importing him to Marvel after he began working on X-Men in 1975. Because editor Roy Thomas wanted the new X-Men to be a multinational group, it was decided to make Nightcrawler German.
Although an X-Men character for years, Nightcrawler did not get his own comic book title (written and drawn by Cockrum) until November 1985. In the four-issue limited series Nightcrawler, along with Lockheed, accidentally travel to several alternate dimensions, meeting strange beings such as the Bamfs. After various adventures, Nightcrawler and Lockheed manage to get home safely.
A second four-issue limited series was published in November 2002. Written by Chris Kipiniak and penciled by Matthew Dow Smith, it focuses 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 was published by Marvel, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with covers and pencils by Darick Robertson. The series was canceled with issue twelve.
In 2014, a new Nightcrawler ongoing title commenced, written by Chris Claremont. This was also canceled with issue twelve.
Way of X
Nightcrawler starred in an ongoing book titled Way of X, written by Si Spurrier and illustrated by Bob Quinn. It was announced in January 2021 for an April 2021 debut as part of the X-Men line's Reign of X, following the conclusion of X of Swords crossover. It is billed as a smart, psychedelic tale about faith, science, culture, love and law.
The series featured the return of Legion and the threat of Onslaught to the mutant nation.