Nightcrawler (character)

Nightcrawler is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in the comic book Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). By the time of his creation, there was already another Marvel character with the same name, but with a hyphen (Night-Crawler), which was later changed to Dark-Crawler to avoid confusion.

Nightcrawler, the superhero identity of Kurt Wagner, is a member of a fictional subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who possess an X-gene that can cause possible physical mutations and in many cases grants some form of superhuman ability. Nightcrawler possesses superhuman agility, the ability to teleport, and adhesive hands and feet. His physical mutations include indigo-colored velvety fur which allows him to become nearly invisible in shadows, two-toed feet and three-fingered hands, yellow eyes, pointed ears, and a prehensile tail. In Nightcrawler's earlier comic book appearances, he is depicted as being a happy-go-lucky practical joker and teaser, and a fan of swashbuckling fiction. Nightcrawler is a Catholic, and while this is not emphasized as much in his earlier comic book appearances, in later depictions he is more vocal about his faith. He was originally stated to be from the village of Witzeldorf in Bavaria.

In 1994, it was revealed that Nightcrawler was the son of mutant supervillain Mystique / Raven Darkhölme, and for many years after a 2003 storyline, it was believed that he was born out of her short affair with Azazel.