BIOGRAPHY - Page 6
Several weeks later, while the X-Men were investigating and fighting the Church of Humanity, Nightcrawler had a disturbing encounter with the Supreme Pontiff, the head of this troublesome organization. During the few minutes while they were separated from the other combatants, the Pontiff performed some sort of mental attack, taking away that "which means most" to Kurt. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #400]
Afterwards, Nightcrawler began acting strangely and experienced doubts about his place with the X-Men and the church. The media frenzy surrounding the Catholic priests and Stacy X's stimulation of his libido only furthered Kurt's confusion. On one occasion, he claimed that his days as man of the cloth were behind him. [Wolverine (2nd series) #173]
During the X-Men's battle against the X-Corps in Paris, he teleported away and sought refuge in the cabin of an old friend from his circus days, without alerting his teammates to his whereabouts. Once they had located him, the other X-Men convinced Kurt to return with them, but he seemed to fall back to his devil-may-care, swashbuckler attitude. Up until then, Nightcrawler had been acting leader of the field team, but his crisis of fate and self-doubts began affecting his commitment to leadership, causing Archangel to assume the role of co-leader to help support Kurt. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #407-409]
Things came to a head in another encounter with the Church of Humanity, when it became clear the Nightcrawler was suffering from false memories implanted in his mind about his place in the Church. It turned out that the Supreme Pontiff was orchestrating an elaborate plot to bring about the fall of the Catholic Church, and Kurt was to play a major part in it as a mutant scapegoat to usher in a false rapture. The X-Men routed the Church's forces and defeated the Pontiff before their scheme could be put fully into play. However, Nightcrawler's faith may never fully recover from the mental manipulations he went through, and he has officially ended his role in the ministry. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #423-424]
Shortly after Havok woke up from a coma and rejoined the team, the X-Men were visited by the dimension-hopping Exiles. They tried to prevent the essence of an evil Havok from taking over Havok's body, 
but actually arrived too late and a fight erupted. Working side by side, the Exiles and the X-Men were able to cast out the other Havok's consciousness, though, thanks to the possession talent of the Exile Nocturne. Her physical appearance already giving away her relation to Nightcrawler, Kurt was taken somewhat by surprise that she kept calling him "dad." She eventually explained that she was from another reality, her parents being that timeline's counterparts of Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch. Kurt was quite intrigued by the idea and spent a few hours of quality time with his "daughter" before the Exiles had to depart to their next mission. [Exiles (1st series) #29-30]
Not long thereafter, Kurt was forced into fulfilling his father's decade long plan for his existence. Slipping into a trance, Nightcrawler stole an X-Jet in the middle of the night and journeyed to La Isla des Demonas, where he met with dozens of half-siblings, whom his father had sired over the years. Still in a trance, Kurt and the others began opening a dimensional portal when the X-Men arrived and interrupted the process. 
Their intervention led to the deaths of most of Azazel's children, while the X-Men, Nightcrawler and his two surviving half-brothers were tossed through the portal before it closed, trapping them in the Brimstone Dimension, the keystone for Kurt's teleportation power. Meeting his father for the first time, Kurt learned the secret purpose for his birth. Thousands of years ago, his father, Azazel, led a group of "demonic" mutants called the Neyaphim in conflict with an "angelic" group called the Cheyaraphem. Their battles were the basis for many biblical and mythological stories. Ultimately, the Neyaphim were banished to the timeless Brimstone Dimension, cursed to live forever but never return to Earth. Azazel's powers enabled him to personally traverse the dimensional barriers, but he could not bring his followers with him. And so, he concocted a plan to produce a legion of offspring, with powers similar to his, in the hope that bringing them all together at once could create a breach in the dimensions large enough to allow the Neyaphim to return and conquer the world of their birth. Aided by Nightcrawler's two half-brothers, Abyss and Kiwi Black, the X-Men battled Azazel's forces until Polaris, on the other side of the barrier, managed to reopen the rift and bring the X-Men and their allies back to Earth. Most of the Neyaphim were apparently killed, but it remains to be seen if they or the missing Azazel are truly trapped in the Brimstone Dimension again. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #429-434]
In the wake of a mutant terrorist attack on New York, Storm brought her team of X-Men back to residence at the mansion for the first time in months. Nightcrawler ended up being reassigned to this strike force by Cyclops, the new headmaster in Professor Xavier's absence. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #444]
Renaming themselves to the X.S.E. (X-Treme Sanctions Executive), Storm's group was deputized by the world powers to have official jurisdiction over mutant affairs, 
and worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security and similar agencies around the world. There were some unexpected twists when it came to two of his longtime teammates, as he began thinking romantically about his team leader, Storm, and impulsively kissed Marvel Girl in a Danger Room session. In both cases, the ladies seemed to return his affections. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #445, 450]
To make matters even more confusing, after being placed on the X.S.E., Kurt also took the unofficial and unwanted job as the X-Men's resident link to the supernatural, having recently stumbled into some solo cases dealing with ghosts, demons and sorcery. During these adventures, Kurt had to consult his former lover, Amanda, several times for her magical advice and at the same time also started seeing a nurse named Christine Palmer socially, but as close friends only. [Nightcrawler (3rd series) #1-4]
Soon thereafter, Nightcrawler was assaulted by Vermin, though the villain had been acting on someone else’s command. Kurt sensed that it somehow had to do with his past and, along with Wolverine and Christine, he tracked down Jardine, the owner of the circus he had been working for so long ago. There, they were again attacked, but the two X-Men managed to clear their 
path until the sudden arrival of Amanda and Margali. They revealed that there was a shift in the cosmic balance and that powerful forces were at work, and one thing they were after was the Soulsword. Amanda had been its latest keeper but, in trying to keep it safe, she had secretly hidden the enchanted blade in Kurt’s own body, as his soul was pure and unpolluted. Nightcrawler did not have much time to take all this in, for as soon as the Soulsword was drawn, Jardine showed his true colors, revealing he was under possession by a demon named Hive. Although the heroes quickly defeated Jardine, Hive just found himself a new host in Wolverine. While fighting his possessed teammate, Kurt also learned that Hive was also responsible for his brother Stephan’s mad behavior all these years ago. Eventually, Kurt was able to use the Soulsword to purge Hive from Logan’s system, and they returned home to Westchester. [Nightcrawler (3rd series) #7-11]
A couple of days later, during his birthday party, Nightcrawler was approached by none other than Mephisto, who claimed that his recent ordeals were just the tip of the iceberg. The demon asked Kurt not to get involved in the coming conflicts and, in exchange, he would ensure that Kurt and his loved ones would not be harmed. In order to show his good will, Mephisto even offered to raise Stefan Szardos back from the dead, but Nightcrawler knew better than to make a deal with the devil. Once Mephisto had left, the party continued, with Christine and Kurt parting for good, as the nurse wanted to leave New York forever to return to her family in Tucson. [Nightcrawler (3rd series) #12]
Still, Nightcrawler's personal troubles would not prevent him from being there for his teammates and friends. Just like everyone else, he was overjoyed when two of the X-Men’s departed, Colossus and Psylocke, returned from the dead, and he helped bring Betsy up to date on what happened in her absence. While they were training in the Danger Room, Juggernaut suddenly materialized along with Nocturne, her being no longer with the Exiles and as such stuck in the core universe. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #460-461] Kurt was happily reunited with his alternate daughter, and their relationship has only deepened. In fact, he was rather proud that she joined Captain Britain’s new Excalibur team in London and stayed in contact with her through regular phone calls. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #466, New Excalibur #1]