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With over 4500 Issue Summaries now online, chances are you may not have read the following Issue Summary:
Avengers (1st series) #313
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Stan Lee's original name for the X-Men was simply "The Mutants". His editor turned down the title name, asking "How will anyone know what a mutant is?" Two decades later, though, the title was used for a spin-off book, "The New Mutants". - Submitted by Frankie Muniz III
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| | Author : Monolith and Peter Luzifer | Last Modified : Dec 10, 2005 |
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Biography Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6
Issue Checklist
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Alternate Versions
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ALTERNATE VERSIONS
 Trying to rescue Illyana Rasputin from her kidnapper, Belasco, an alternate team of X-Men became stranded in the sorcerer’s hellish Limbo. While some of their teammates were killed, Nightcrawler ended up becoming a loyal servant of Belasco, whereas Kitty Pryde was turned into a cat creature, Cat, but remained free. Later on, while fighting over Illyana, Cat phased Nightcrawler’s foot into the ground, effectively trapping him so that she could kill him with her sword. Much later, a similar Nightcrawler was again seen in Belasco’s servitude, though it’s unknown whether the sorcerer resurrected his lackey or if he merely made use of another counterpart of Nightcrawler.
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At one point, Loki offered the X-Men and the New Mutants to stay in Asgard, though he forced all to make the same decision and the ones willing to stay felt that they couldn’t demand from their teammates to abandon Earth. In the alternate reality depicted in What if? (2nd series) #12, Loki allowed them each to chose individually and Nightcrawler was among those to accept the invitation to stay. Asgard was a dream come true for Kurt, as he could now be the daring swashbuckler that he had always wanted to be. Eventually, he even joined the fabled Warriors Three, him being the replacement for Fandrall, who had fallen in love with Rogue and wanted to retire after marrying her.
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In the alternate timeline shown in What if (2nd series) #23, the original X-Men managed to defeat Krakoa all by themselves, and Xavier had no need to recruit Nightcrawler and the other international X-Men. Instead, Kurt was saved from the angry mob chasing him by someone else – Shi’ar agent Davan Shakari, in the guise of Eric the Red.  Next to all humans being afraid of mutants and having treated him rather hostile, Nightcrawler’s hatred towards them was easily fueled. He joined the alien’s fight against the X-Men and, following their defeat, he was the only one to avoid capture. Plotting revenge, Nightcrawler secretly followed the X-Men’s every move for weeks, during which he slowly understood their just cause. Nightcrawler finally made his move when the X-Men were alerted by the Shi'ar to an ancient force, the so-called Chaos-Bringer, residing in Earth’s sun. The only way to destroy it was for it to merge with a willing host, who could then be killed. Cyclops wanted to make the noble sacrifice, but Nightcrawler knocked him out and took his place on the shuttle. By doing so, Kurt hoped to atone for his past mistakes. Additionally, he experienced something incredibly beautiful in the few seconds between merging with the force and being disintegrated by the Shi’ar’s powerful weapons.
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In the multiverse, there are several timelines where Nazi Germany won World War II. One of them, Earth 597, had a version of Excalibur too, though they were called Lightning Force. The line-up included Meggan, Shadowcat, Hauptmann Englande (Brian Braddock) and Nightcrawler. This version of Kurt was a bit cocky and over-confident, and apparently a smoker. Whereas Kurt’s usually rather charming with the lovely ladies, this twisted counterpart of him wouldn’t take No for an answer and tried to rape at least one woman.
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There were numerous other versions of Nightcrawler (and Excalibur) that were introduced either during the Cross-Time Caper or popped up near the main universe Excalibur’s lighthouse, as it was a nexus place. Most of them were unrecognizable and seemed to be based on sentient animal life forms. Kurt’s counterpart of a reality inhabited by sentient dinosaurs called himself “Nightstrutter.” Among the few humanoid counterparts, there was one version of Kurt that showed no signs of being a mutant at all, him looking entirely human. Him being from an Earth where super-powered people were hunted down and genetically changed into baseline humans, it’s rather likely that he underwent such a process himself. However, it didn’t stop him from becoming one of the Justicers, the police officers enforcing this law.
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Nightcrawler married his childhood sweetheart Amanda Sefton in the alternate future timeline known as Days of Future Past. They had at least one child that is known of,  the teleporter named Blue, who inherited her father's unique appearance and operated as a member of the New Mutants under Banshee's tutelage. Not much else is known about Kurt's life in the future, besides the fact the he was among the first to die when the government outlawed the X-Men. Nightcrawler and Amanda were helping Illyana to her school bus from the mansion when Project: Wideawake launched an assault on the Xavier estate. Those three were killed in the initial salvo.
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 In the Age of Apocalypse, Nightcrawler was raised as Kurt Darkholme, and reconnected with his mother much earlier in his life than he did in the main universe. Ironically, this Nightcrawler's demonic appearance led him to the exact opposite conclusions about religion as his counterpart: this Kurt had an intense dislike of churches, and was disdainful of apparently all religions. He was far more brutal as well, skilled at using his teleportation power to dismember and decapitate his victims. After learning that his timeline might be "wrong," Magneto sent Nightcrawler to meet up with his mother and collect the woman known as Destiny, an old acquaintance of Mystique's running a haven for humans and mutants in Antarctica. Unfortunately, Darkholme was tracked by Apocalypse's mercenary band of Pale Riders, who were charged with scorching the haven to the ground. After defeating the Riders and Apocalypse's pet telepath, the Shadow King, Nightcrawler and his allies succeeded in bringing Destiny back to America in time to coincide with Magneto's plans.
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Mystique also had chosen to not give up her son in the alternate reality shown in What If (2nd series) #98. Naming him Michael, Mystique kept her son secret from the public, even from her teammates in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, fearing that he would be hunted down for his demonic appearance.  Later, Mystique adopted Rogue, who snooped around the house and eventually found Michael hiding in the attic of the house. They became friends and planned to flee but they were confronted by the Brotherhood, who, unaware of Nightcrawler’s existence, assumed he was an X-Man being sent to attack them. Avalanche, Blob and Pyro ended up paralyzing Michael in battle and Michael told Rogue to go on for them, to be free, because he was too weak to teleport them to safety. Rogue wouldn’t hear any of that, though, and deeply kissed him, absorbing the last of his powers in order to escape. However, the absorption became permanent, and not only did Rogue keep the demonic appearance but also the personality of her adoptive brother.
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Little is known about the Nightcrawler version of the Mutant X universe. Having stayed with Magneto’s X-Men even after several members quit to form their own group, the Six, Kurt sported some devil-may-care attitude and tended to disobey direct orders. This Nightcrawler was a swashbuckler through and through, and even his costume was reminiscent of the old Errol Flynn pirate movies that he loves so much. The X-Men’s line-up also included Mystique and Rogue, but it was left unclear what, if any, relations Kurt had to them. Nightcrawler died alongside most other heroes of this Earth when they fought the combined threats of the Beyonder, Dracula and the Goblin Force.
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A unique twist in the Earth X reality led Kurt Wagner to become the X-Men's old nemesis, Belasco. Working with Excalibur, Kurt lost his arm following an attack by the Grey Gargoyle and, in a tragically ironic twist of fate, was turned back into a normal human appearance. However, the general populace having been mutated worldwide when the Inhuman Terrigen Mists were released into Earth’s atmosphere, Kurt was again an outsider. Nightcrawler was now hunted down for looking "normal" by a mob altered to  look "different." Thanks to the machinations of Mephisto, he was re-mutated into a new demonic appearance, his memory fogged, and he replaced the true sorcerer Belasco in Pangea just in time to be reawakened by Shanna O'Hara. So, the man who hounded the X-Men, tormented Ka-Zar, and corrupted Colossus's sister Illyana was none other than their own friend and time-displaced teammate. Nightcrawler eventually regained his true memories and identity and began living in New York City, replacing Daredevil as the devilish protector of Hell's Kitchen.
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 In the Ultimate universe, Kurt Wagner, was an innocent German teenager who was captured by the Weapon X project and forced to become one of their mutant agents. However, they couldn’t beat his idealism out of him, for even as Storm sought vengeance against the Weapon X commander, John Wraith, Nightcrawler stopped her from becoming a killer to prevent her sinking to Wraith’s level. Kurt returned to his native Germany, but later joined the X-Men, when they needed help against Magneto and has since attended Xavier’s school. A friendly, humorous young man with a zest for high adventure, Kurt is well-liked among his teammates. He somewhat bonded with Angel, who is the only other X-Man besides him who cannot hide his mutation, and together they “misused” the Danger Room for “Pirates of the Caribbean-like” “role-playing” sessions. He was somewhat saddened by the fact that Warren too, like so many other teammates found a significant other in Dazzler. Kurt refused to believe that Colossus was gay and was troubled when his friend came out.
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Nocturne of the reality-hopping Exiles comes from a reality called Professor W’s X-Men, where time is about 20 years further along than in the main universe. In this timeline, her father Nightcrawler fell in love with and married Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch of the Avengers.  The status of their marriage as of Nocturne's "present" and their living arrangements are unclear, since both Nightcrawler and Nocturne were active members of the X-Men while Wanda was still serving with the Avengers. Kurt is the team's field leader in this reality, where a crazed Wolverine killed Professor X and a distraught Cyclops has turned against the group following the deaths of his mentor and his love, Jean Grey. This Nightcrawler has lost an eye at some point, and is far more serious than he was in his younger, swashbuckling years, due to the responsibility of leadership, compounded with overseeing his own daughter's safety in the field. Although his reaction to his daughter’s sudden disappearance has not been shown, he probably didn’t take it lightly and would be rather distraught or depressed.
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