Wikia

Kurt Wagner


Alias(es)	Nightcrawler The Incredible Nightcrawler
Appeared in	X2: X-Men United
Status	Alive
Actor	Alan Cumming

"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

―Kurt Wagner^[src]

Kurt Wagner, aka The Incredible Nightcrawler, is a mutant who can teleport himself to wherever he wants as long as he knows where he is going.

Biography

X2: X-Men United

Nightcrawler is brainwashed with a fluid from Willaim Stryker's mutant son, Jason, in order to attempt an assassination on the President of the United States. The opening scenes of the movie are almost a showcase of Nightcrawler's powers, with him engaging the Secret Service, easily defeating them and nearly killing the President.

Later, Storm and Jean Grey are sent to find him and bring him back to the mansion, under Xavier's orders and Wagner returns with them. He helps Storm save children and students from the Xavier Institute who were kidnapped by Stryker's forces and helps Storm stop Stryker's Dark Cerebro machine at the Alkali Lake facility and joins the team at the end. He uses his teleportation to save the lives of three X-Men during the film—Rogue when she is sucked out of the damaged X-Jet and Storm and Charles Xavier when Stryker's Cerebro was destroyed. He is last seen alongside the X-Men confronting the president about the speech addressing mutants that is about to be delivered. It is clear the president recognizes him from earlier.

Character traits

Nightcrawler is a mutant from Germany, where he performed in the circus. He has the ability to teleport. He decorated his blue skin with "angelic symbols" which reflected his faith and devout practice of Catholicism. This form of artistic body modification was self-inflicted brands or scars: "One for every sin".

Real Name: Kurt Wagner
Current Alias: Nightcrawler
Alignment: Good
Affiliation: The Munich Circus, X-Men
Relatives: Mystique (mother, though left ambiguous)
Base of Operations: Cathedral
Place of Birth: Germany

Relationships

Storm - Friend and Teammate
Jean Grey - Friend and Teammate
Cyclops - Teammate
Wolverine - Teammate
Rogue - Save and Teammate
Pyro - Former Teammate
Iceman - Teammate
Mystique - Mother in video game
Azazel - Possible father
John Wraith - Father in video game

Trivia

In X-Men: The Official Game which fills in the gap between X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand, Nightcrawler tells Xavier he does not want to be an X-Man, for their lives are too violent and he is a peaceful man.
It has not yet been stated who is Nightcrawler's father in the film series. Although he and Mystique had a brief conversation in X2, there was no reference to the fact that she is his mother like she is in the comics. However, the introduction of Azazel in X-Men: First Class, as well as the fact that both join Magneto's Brotherhood Of Mutants at the end of the film, means that a relationship between the two could be explored in a sequel.
Another popular theory is that John Wraith, who appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is Nightcrawler's father due to his teleporting abilities. This was even confirmed in the movie's tie-in game but the game is non-canon.