X-Men’s Nightcrawler Has Forgotten His Most Important Story

This article contains spoilers for Way of X #1

Marvel’s X-Men relaunch has forgotten Nightcrawler‘s most important story. Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men relaunch has been a tremendous success, but there are a handful of characters who sadly haven’t really flourished in the age of Krakoa. Kurt Wagner is the most prominent of these, with Nightcrawler feeling oddly out of character in X-Men #7, where he even contemplated founding a mutant religion. “Every day, there’s some new, amazing thing to believe in,” he observed, “and all it costs is the suspension of everything I used to believe.“

Fortunately, the story of Nightcrawler is being continued by Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn in Way of X, and Spurrier has a much better grasp on the duality of Kurt Wagner’s nature – his reflective faith coupled with his enthusiastic love of life. What’s more, once again Spurrier uses Nightcrawler as a lens to explore some of the more troubling aspects of the nascent mutant society. He’s particularly uncomfortable with the Crucible, and this time the data pages shine a light on some of the more painful implications of this brutal arena. But even Spurrier’s ongoing Nightcrawler story has one major problem – it ignores the most important Nightcrawler story of the last 20 years.

In one key scene, Doctor Nemesis confronts Nightcrawler with what he clearly considers an important point. “I mean, really,” he complains. “You leotard-wearing types have locked horns with more actual gods than I’ve endured suboptimal lattes. Why is it that the only one of whom we’ve seen no trace is the very one you continue to honor?” That argument would be a powerful one against many of Marvel’s Catholic superheroes, but Nightcrawler would be able to refute it pretty easily. Spurrier, like Hickman before him, appears to have forgotten Nightcrawler’s most important character arc in the last 20 years; he sacrificed himself in the “Second Coming” epic, and later comics revealed he actually went to heaven. The X-Men literally had to travel to heaven, and fight a war in the spiritual realms, in order for Kurt to come back – albeit at a cost. So it’s weird seeing Nightcrawler struggle with his faith in this way, and not have a response to Doctor Nemesis.

Way of X #1 is a solid comic, and Spurrier’s portrayal of Nightcrawler is infinitely better than the one seen in X-Men #7. While Hickman showed Kurt as disturbed by the Crucible, Spurrier goes further and shows him rejecting it outright, even attempting to intervene to prevent what – to him – seems like a clear act of barbaric cruelty. That’s much more in character because there’s simply no way Kurt Wagner would stand by and watch people being killed. Ironically, though, the fact Spurrier gets the character so much better simply makes this oversight all the more notable.

It will be fascinating to see what Spurrier has in store for Nightcrawler, a mutant whose story has always seemed intriguing but simply hasn’t been developed so far in the X-Men relaunch. Hopefully this particular oversight will soon be rectified.

About The Author

Thomas Bacon
(4893 Articles Published)

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

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