I have a twelve inch Nightcrawler Action Figure in my Xmen Action Figures Collection. Nightcrawler’s real name is Kurt Wagner, and he made his Xmen debut in Ultimate X-Men #32. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur. Originally appearing in Marvel Comics, he was created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum.
A mutant, Nightcrawler has superhuman nimbleness, the power to teleport, invisibleness in thick shadows, and gluey hands and feet. His tangible mutations are three-fingered hands, blue fur, a prehensile tail, and yellow eyes. In Nightcrawler’s earliest comicbook appearings he’s showed as being a carefree prankster who is a fanatic of swashbuckling tales. Nightcrawler is a German Catholic and although this isn’t stressed as much in his earliest comicbook appearings, in subsequently depicting Nightcrawler is more outspoken about his religion.
Since his origin, Nightcrawler has had a fixture in Marvel comicbooks and videogames. He’s shown in a few of the ninety’s X-Men animated serial installments. He was a steady on its replacement, X-Men: Evolution. Nightcrawler was a starring character in the movie X2, and was depicted by Alan Cumming and he’s a popular Xmen Action Figure. IGN placed Nightcrawler at number seven on their Top twenty-five X-Men list from the preceding 40 years. Marvel placed Nightcrawler number four on their top ten X-Men ever list.
Nightcrawlers story began when he was birthed in Bavaria to the blue mutant afterward called Mystique. Kurt Wagner was cast out at birth owed to his featuring pointed ears, blue skin, a long pointed tail and fangs. I knew a kid like that in school, we didn’t shun him. Nice fellow. At the time veiled as the Baroness Wagner, Mystique’s genuine identity was disclosed after she had Kurt, and the couple were chased by an furious group of people. Escaping to the falls, Mystique tossed the baby Kurt over the edge and ran. Kurt was salvaged by his birth-father, the being called Azaze. He was handed over into the guardianship of Margali Szardos who was a gypsy queen sorceress.
Margali brought infant Kurt to the little Bavarian circus where she was employed as a fortune teller which was a cover for her actions as a sorceress. Kurt was never officially adopted, but was brought up by all the circus folk, who didn’t have any biases against so-called freaks. Kurt was raised happily in the circus with his 2 dearest friends who were Margali’s biological kids Stefan & Jimaine. Stefan was afraid that his magic heritage might corrupt him one day. So, he made Kurt vow that if he ever murdered without cause for Kurt to contain him. During his young years Kurt demonstrated enormous raw agility, and promptly became the circus’s sensation as an acrobat & trapeze artist. Audiences assumed that he was just a average man dressed in a devil costume. Kurt worked intimately with Jimaine, and the couple before long became tangled in a loving relationship.
Years later, the Lone-Star State millionaire Amos Jardine, who had a big circus founded in Florida, found out of the Kurt’s circus and purchased it. Jardine meant to relocate the finest acts into his American circus. But, he insisted that Kurt be positioned in the freak show part of the circus, where he was held captive and doped so he’d stay complacent. In time, a youth would liberate Nightcrawler, who’d threaten Jardine to make him remain a more benevolent proprietor to his circus buddys.
Nightcrawler then escaped to Germany where he found out that Stefan had gone crazy and had savagely murdered numerous members of a forgotten race of half-human beings. Kurt discovered Stefan and battled him, desiring to cease his violent disorder, but in the struggle Kurt accidentally broke Stefan’s neck. The people of the close town of Winzeldorf found Kurt and beleive he was a demon who was accountable for the slayings. They trapped Kurt in the town and were almost going to obliterate him when they were entirely psionically frozen by Professor Charles Xavier. The Professor had come to enlist Kurt into his squad of mutant superheros called the X-Men. And, so there he stands twelve inches proud and tall as an Nightcrawler Action Figure. I swear he just winked at me.
