‘X-Men’ Nightcrawler Retcon Just Completed Claremont’s Original, Very-Queer Vision
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created X-Men, but many of the storylines and most beloved characters stemmed from Chris Claremont during the 1970s and 1980s. Claremont’s original story for Nightcrawler and Mystique has finally become canon in X-Men Blue Origins.
Out of all Marvel comic books, X-Men has always been the queer safe space. The struggle of the mutants to be accepted by humanity for being born a certain way mirrored what queer people dealt with in the real world. The storylines are also some of the most diverse and complicated in Marvel comics. They’ve always been my favorite comic books, especially during the Chris Claremont era, because of that.
As progressive as the title can be, there have still been some storylines that have been too much for Marvel to tell—until now. Claremont’s original idea for Nightcrawler’s true parentage has finally found its way to the pages of X-Men in an epically queer story.
Nightcrawler’s original story
Nightcrawler, also known as Kurt Wagner, is a blue mutant who can teleport himself and others. Compared to most of the other mutants, his appearance is strikingly different. He has pointed ears, fewer fingers and toes, a tail, and yellow eyes. He’s beautiful and sweet. The trials of his life and the abandonment of his mother, Mystique (a shape-shifting mutant), haven’t damaged his soul.
Nightcrawler, along with many other iconic X-Men characters, debuted in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1. Over the years, Nightcrawler’s backstory has slowly filled in. For years, the story has been that Mystique made herself look like a normal human woman and married a German baron. That union produced Nightcrawler. Everyone other than Mystique had an issue with a blue baby, so they drove her out of town. Mystique ran from the mob and tossed Nightcrawler off of a waterfall. He survived to be raised in the circus and found strength in religion.
Uncanny X-Men #428 in 2003 “completed” Nightcrawler’s story by adding in his true father, Azazel. The villainous Azazel is a demon but also a mutant. While posing as the baroness, Mystique had an affair with Azazel. After Mystique became pregnant with Kurt/Nightcrawler, Azazel broke up with Mystique and left. In “The Draco” storyline, Nightcrawler unites with Azazel’s other children to defeat their father. It was a strange move to make Kurt Wagner, a man who has struggled to overcome his demonic appearance and has such strong faith in God, the son of an actual demon.
Nightcrawler’s REAL origin story
X-Men Blue Origins #1 by Si Spurrier and Wilton Santos got to bring Claremont’s vision into the canon comic books. Mystique’s memories are messed up, and she keeps looking for her lost baby. Nightcrawler talks with her to try to get the source of the issue out. It’s then that she reveals his true origins. Most of the backstory remains true to what we already know. Mystique married a baron and had an affair with Azazel (now we know he cried when they broke up).
The new layer is that Mystique’s long-time love, Destiny, was also there. Mystique hired Destiny to be a maid in the house to keep her lover close. Destiny, who has the power to see the future, determined the two of them should have a baby together. Mystique reveals she’s not only a shape shifter but can alter genes. “You think I can’t rewrite every disgusting trace of sapiens code?” Mystique says to Nightcrawler. Using a blend of real people she’s touched, she created the genes that would impregnate Destiny. That makes Mystique Nightcrawler’s father and Destiny his mother.
Mystique pretended to be pregnant to throw both of her male partners off of the trail. But when an adorable blue baby was born, everything crumbled. Mystique tried to save both Nightcrawler and Destiny during the mob attack. She hid Nightcrawler in a tree before searching for Destiny, only to have both of them disappear. Destiny later told Mystique she found Nightcrawler and set him on his path. Destiny’s powers showed her that only a child would distract Azazel and later defeat him, so things had to play out as they did.
Trying to smooth things over, Destiny offered Mystique a new child who needed help, Anna Marie/Rogue, whom Mystique adopted. Mystique and Destiny had Charles Xavier alter their memories so they could move past the pain of losing Nightcrawler as they did. The memories coming back is what broke Mystique.
Now that the truth is out, hopefully, everyone can heal. I love that Claremont, who has done so much for my favorite characters, had such an interesting storyline back in the 1980s. It’s too bad we had to wait so long to read it.
(featured image: Marvel)
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