BIOGRAPHY - Page 5
Only shortly afterwards, Nightcrawler learned of the slaughter of his old circus friends. He came to investigate and found Amanda at the carnival. She claimed that Margali was held captive by Belasco and she needed the life-forces to breach the walls between dimensions for a rescue attempt. Kurt accompanied his lover, unaware that it was actually Margali, as she had traded consciousness with her daughter, who, now in her mother’s body, was tortured by the ruler of Limbo. Working together, Kurt and the two sorceresses finally defeated the demon and mother and daughter were restored. Although Margali apologized for the pain she placed her daughter in, Nightcrawler found it hard to forgive her and she departed. With Belasco too having vanished, Amanda was forced to stay behind as new ruler over Limbo. It was too dangerous to leave the magical dimension unguarded as demons and other forces could use it as the perfect launch point for an attack on Earth. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #19]
Back at Muir, Kurt felt like Excalibur had abandoned their American friends when circumstances forced the team to stay out of the battles with Onslaught and Operation: Zero Tolerance. So, when Professor Xavier was MIA following the dismantling of Bastion’s organization, Nightcrawler initiated a search for his lost mentor. Excalibur did discover a remnant Zero Tolerance base, but found the Mimic held captive instead of Xavier. [Excalibur (1st series) #122-123]
Shortly thereafter, Nightcrawler and Excalibur decided to disband, following the wedding of Brian Braddock and Meggan. The three former X-Men on the team - Kurt, Colossus, and Shadowcat - wound up returning to their alma mater and rejoining their fellows in Westchester. Nightcrawler soon fell back into his old role as the devil-may-care swashbuckler of the team and seemed more than willing to leave his leadership days behind him. [Excalibur (1st series) #125, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #360, X-Men (2nd series) #80]
In the middle of the Magneto War, a battle between Magneto and his clone, Joseph, over the magnetic energies of the North Pole, the X-Men had to face Astra, the creator of Joseph. She managed to stun Nightcrawler with the revelation that he "grew up as handsome as expected." Apparently, she had some part in his birth or some past connection to Mystique, but during the confusion Astra escaped and Nightcrawler was left wondering. [X-Men (2nd series) #87]
During the Gathering of the Twelve, Wolverine had been kidnapped by Apocalypse and brainwashed into becoming his first Horseman, Death. Nightcrawler worked with a group of Logan's closest friends in the X-Men, who succeeded in hunting their misguided friend down and undoing the damage done to his mind. [Wolverine (2nd series) #146-147] Following the ensuing war with Apocalypse, Kurt was among the X-Men present when the High Evolutionary dictated that mutantkind was too volatile to work within humanity, and set off a chain of satellites that repressed the x-factor gene in every mutant on the planet. After a few weeks of this "new world order," the X-Men banded together once more to shut down the anti-mutation rays and returned the world to normal.
Nightcrawler decided to leave the X-Men shortly after that and formally enrolled himself in the seminary in order to become a priest. [six-month gap] However, he occasionally met his teammates again, like when N’Garai demons switched personalities with the X-Men only to be rescued by Amanda Sefton, who, now fully accepting her task to guard Limbo, called herself Magik, like her predecessor, Illyana Rasputin. [X-Men: Black Sun #1, 5]
Some time later, Amanda visited Kurt in his church, but an unexpected attack forced her immediate return to Limbo, and the resulting vortex sucked Nightcrawler into the magical dimension as well. He helped his former lover to protect her realm and, even though their new roles placed them further apart than ever, they got along very well. [X-Men: Magik #1-4]
Nightcrawler's absence from the X-Men was short lived because, within six months, the mutant race fell under attack from the Neo, a side branch of humanity's evolutionary tree who blamed mutants for the cataclysmic events triggered in their society by the High Evolutionary's actions. The Neo's Warclan tracked Nightcrawler down to his church, where they critically injured him with a arrow shot in the back. An emergency visit to Cecelia Reyes' clinic soon had them both on the run from the Neo. After Cecelia and the X-Men's old ally, Charlotte Jones, became trapped in the Neo stronghold, Nightcrawler rejoined the X-Men, partially in order to help save them. [X-Men (2nd series) #102-103] After distracting battles with the Goth and Crimson Pirates, Nightcrawler and the X-Men managed to breach the Neo's defenses and save their imprisoned friends. [X-Men (2nd series) #106]
When various alien races decided to turn Earth into a Maximum Security prison for convicted criminals of different species, Kurt was briefly reunited with his old flame, Cerise. However, like before with Amanda, they were unable to return to a full relationship, partially because of Kurt's new status as a priest in training. Once Nightcrawler had explained to Cerise what priesthood meant, she understood and no longer felt rejected by him. [X-Men (2nd series) #109]
All X-Men took it very hard when Colossus sacrificed his life to release the Legacy Cure into the atmosphere. In his anger, Nightcrawler lashed out against some innocent humans and, right then, was approached by Mr. Sinister. The scientist claimed to have the means to create a clone of Colossus, but Kurt thought that this would mean dishonor to Piotr's legacy and so he smashed the vial containing Colossus' genetic material. Afterwards, he decided to take a leave of absence from the team in order to properly mourn for his friend and come to terms with his inner turmoil. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #30]
When Kurt returned in a few months time, he was a fully ordained priest and became an active participant in the X-Men's "away team," based out of various hideouts provided by Worthington Industries in Manhattan. Already in one of their first missions, his priest training came in handy, as he helped a pregnant woman of the mutant society living in the sewers beneath London deliver her baby. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #395]