Real Name: Kurt DarkholmeKurt Darkholme was born in Germany and raised in isolation with his mother Mystique. He was never allowed to socialize with the other children due to his demonic appearance. After Apocalypse began his war on humanity, the villagers decided to kill Kurt and knocked him unconscious before he could teleport away. They then planned to sacrifice Kurt in a strange religious ritual, sending him to hell in the process. The ritual was halted by Magneto, Quicksilver and Mystique. Mystique was furious at the villagers for trying to murder her son and killed them mercilessly. Kurt was terrified by his mother’s ferocity and teleported away. He eventually returned only to discover that Mystique had left and asked Magneto to train and care for him. Nightcrawler trained hard to become an expert swordsman and also developed the unique skill to teleport only a part of a person with him, removing that part from the host. These attributes made Nightcrawler one of the deadliest members in Magneto’s X-Men.
Nightcrawler was sent by Magneto to find Destiny, a precognitive woman who could validate Bishop’s claim of a better world. To find Destiny, he had to travel to Avalon, a land hidden from Apocalypse where humans and mutants lived in harmony. Nightcrawler discovered Avalon’s location as Antarctica so he enlisted the help of John Proudstar. John Proudstar placed him on a submarine out of New York City to rendezvous with Mystique who would take him the rest of the way. Unfortunately, Apocalypse got wind of this plan and sent his Pale Riders (Damask, Moonstar and Dead Man Wade) to follow Kurt to Avalon and then destroy it. The submarine Nightcrawler was on was forced to surface and was then picked up by the pirate Callisto. Callisto then looted and killed everybody on the submarine except for Nightcrawler, who managed to teleport away. He then tried to get revenge on Callisto and her crew by killing them all but was stopped by Mystique. Mystique wanted to kill them herself for stepping on her territory.
Mystique and Kurt reunited and she took him to Avalon where Nightcrawler discovered that her mother is just as bad as Callisto. Feeling that not everybody deserved paradise, she only sometimes delivered her refugees to Avalon. The two then continued on their quest to Avalon where they met Brother Cain, a pacifist monk who reluctantly guided Mystique and Nightcrawler the rest of the way to Avalon. There they finally met Destiny and her son Douglas. Soon after the two arrived in Avalon, Damask and Dead Man Wade came across it and prepared to destroy it. As Dead Man Wade began to lay siege to Avalon, Nightcrawler, Switchback, Mystique and Damask (who now did not wish Avalon to be destroyed) fought back. Nightcrawler ended the fight by removing Dead Man Wade’s head, killing him.
The battle was not yet over as the Shadow King revealed his presence. He had been hiding inside Dead Man Wade but had to change hosts on Wade’s death. The Shadow King then began to destroy everything Avalon had spent so long to build. In the chaos and bloodshed that ensued, the Shadow King took over Mystique as his new host. Using the combined powers of Nightcrawler, Switchback and Damask, the Shadow King was driven from Mystique’s head and nearly destroyed. With the last of his energy, the Shadow King possessed Marcus and tried to kill Destiny, only to kill her son Douglas instead. This caused Destiny to agree to leave with Nightcrawler, now knowing the pain the rest of world must have felt. Nightcrawler brought Destiny back to New York and assisted in the attack on Apocalypse’s stronghold. After the fall of Apocalypse, Nightcrawler re-joined the X-Men.
When the X-Men were lured to Sinister's lair and fought his Sinister Six, Nightcrawler and Gambit were absorbed by Cloak. Nightcrawler was able to escape, but he could not save Gambit. Nightcrawler later assisted Psylocke in freeing Jean’s mind from Sinister’s influence.
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