Kurt Wagner

**Kurt Wagner**, also known as ***Nightcrawler*** and formerly known as ***Kurt Szardos***, is a Class 3 mutant from Germany and a member of the X-Men.

## Biography

In the form of a German noblewoman, the shapeshifting mutant Mystique married Baron Christian Wagner. Meanwhile, Mystique had an affair with the mysterious Azazel from La Isla des Demonas and became pregnant with their child. Azazel told Mystique to raise their child as if it were the Baron's. A heartbroken Mystique agreed, and while Christian did become suspicious as to the baby's paternity, his sudden "accidental" death ensured no one heard about his suspicions. The baby was born visibly mutated with blue fur all over his body, pointed ears, iridescent eyes, and a long tail. Due to the shock and the strain of the boy's difficult delivery, Mystique lost concentration and accidentally revealed her true form. Word spread of her and the baby's condition and they were chased by a torch-wielding mob. Mystique passed out and left young Kurt Wagner floating down a river during her escape.

Miraculously, the baby survived and was saved by Margali Szardos, a sorceress and Romani queen who became a fortune teller at Herr Getmann's Traveling Menagerie. Margali took the baby back with her took the circus. Kurt was never legally adopted by anyone but was raised within the circus, mostly with people who had no prejudices against "freaks" except for the ringmaster, Herr Max Getmann. Margali acted as Kurt's unofficial foster mother as he grew up in the circus alongside his two closest friends, Margali's biological children, Stephan and Jimaine Szardos.

Long before his teleportation power emerged, Kurt had tremendous natural agility, and by adolescence, he had become the circus' star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human being wearing a demon-like costume. However, Kurt's abilities began to draw less of a crowd as he got older until one day Herr Getmann decided to sell him, as he could not afford to keep Kurt sedated between acts. Fearing the worst, Margali worked with Armen Freilich to free Kurt. As Kurt fled, he accidentally knocked over a torch and ignited the entire circus. As he was being chased by Getmann and his men, Kurt teleported for the first time. Astonished and pleased with his escape, Kurt made his way wearily to the nearby Father Wagner's church. Two days later, he was discovered and welcomed; Kurt happily found a home trading shelter for labor.

One evening, Armen burst through the door, apparently being chased by Getmann and his men for escaping. Father Wagner tried to stop them from taking the boys, but the men proved too strong and set the church aflame during the brawl. Kurt teleported Armen to a nearby farm before going back and beating on Getmann. Just as he was about to kill Getmann, Father Wagner reminded Kurt of his humanity. With the tides turned, Getmann and his men took aim to kill both Kurt and the Father but found themselves unable to move. Professor Charles Xavier had arrived and taken control of the mob's mind, re-writing their memories to make them all think Kurt perished in the fire.

Years later, Xavier rescued Kurt once again when he was about to be killed by the villagers of Winzeldorf, Germany, where he had accidentally killed his childhood friend and foster brother, Stephan. Xavier had arrived to recruit Kurt into the X-Men. He agreed to join the group, but before they left Germany for America, he and Xavier went to the Bavarian circus so Kurt could tell Margali about Stephan's death. However, Margali was not there, as she had already found out and blamed Kurt for her son's death.

## Relationships

 Foster Mother
 Foster Sibling(s)

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

**Teleportation:** Nightcrawler has the ability to teleport himself, the clothes he is wearing, and a certain amount of additional mass which is in contact with his body. He teleports by displacing himself into the Brimstone Dimension, traveling through it, and then returning to his own dimension at a certain distance from his point of departure. He consciously determines his point of return. The entire process occurs so quickly that Nightcrawler is unaware of being in the Brimstone Dimension at all. Nightcrawler guides himself through the Brimstone Dimension by a subconscious, natural, direction-finding sense. Although he controls his teleporting with his conscious mind, his power to teleport is not psionic. Rather, it is the result of an unknown biochemical-biophysical reaction which he mentally triggers.

When he disappears in teleporting, Nightcrawler leaves behind smoke with a stench reminiscent of burning brimstone. This is a small portion of the atmosphere of the Brimstone Dimension that escapes while the aperture is open. His teleportation is invariably accompanied by a muffled sound of imploding air rushing to fill the vacuum left where Nightcrawler's body was, creating his signature *bamf* sound. As such, Nightcrawler's powers automatically displaces liquids and gases when he arrives in the course of a teleportation. His powers, however, will not displace solids, putting him at risk for materializing in solid matter, which would cause severe injury or death. As a consequence, Nightcrawler typically sticks to line-of-sight teleportation, although he can cover larger distances. Under optimal conditions, teleporting only himself and his clothing, he can displace himself a distance of about two to three miles.

While teleporting, Nightcrawler's momentum is retained throughout the entire process; he arrives with whatever amount of inertia he left with. For example, if he were falling from a great height, he could not teleport himself toward the ground in order to save himself as he would land with the same velocity that he teleported with. He can subtract his inertia by teleporting short distances upwards, as if taking two steps back for every one forward.

**Demon Physiology:** Like his father, Nightcrawler exhibits a demon-like physiology. He has blue fur all over his body, yellow eyes, three digits per hand, two toes per food, a 3'6" prehensile tail, pointed ears, and pronounced fang-like canine teeth. His bone structure allows him great flexibility, enabling him to remain in a crouched position for extended periods of time without harm to his body. He can blend into shadows due to his natural dark blue color, allowing him to become near-invisible. He can see clearly in the dark and possesses superhuman agility and reflexes.

### Abilities

* **Acrobatics:** Nightcrawler is an Olympic-level acrobat due to his flexible spine that allows him to perform contortionist-like feats and go long periods in a semi-crouched position without injury.
* **Combat:** He is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and a master fencer, which he can perform with his tail. He has some martial arts training.
* **Aviation:** He has served as the pilot of the X-Men. Along with Wolverine, he has been trained as the mechanic of the Blackbird jet.
* **Multilingualism:** Nightcrawler is fluent in various languages due to spending his youth traveling through Europe. He speaks his native German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian. Charles Xavier has also given him the knowledge of Russian and Japanese.