" Age of Apocalypse " is a 1995 comic book crossover storyline mostly published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics . The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616 and had ramifications in the main Marvel Comics universe when the original timeline was restored. It was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295.
178-503: During the entirety of the Age of Apocalypse event the regularly published X-Men comics were replaced by new X-Men related mini series, focusing on various teams and individuals in the Age of Apocalypse world including X-Calibre , Gambit and the X-Ternals , Generation Next , Astonishing X-Men , Amazing X-Men , Weapon X , Factor X , X-Man and X-Universe . The event
356-414: 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 a small village called Witzeldorf in
534-603: A bond with the pupil Scorpion Boy. While attempting to reunite with Amanda Sefton , he was duped by her mother Margali Szardos to grant her sanctuary at the school, where she forcefully extracted the knowledge about the Beyond from Beast and Storm to open a portal to the Afterlife. Nightcrawler and Amanda managed to foil Margali but at the cost of Amanda getting stranded in the Void. Afterward, Nightcrawler and Scorpion Boy engaged
712-567: A brush with Mephisto , and a romantic fling, before he returned to San Francisco to aid the X-Men against a foe they struggled with, lacking his help. In the 2008 storyline " Secret Invasion ," Nightcrawler fought alongside the X-Men when the Skrulls invaded San Francisco. He came across a Skrull bible and, after studying it, gave it to Beast , who figured out how to deal with the Skrulls. In
890-477: A de-evolved version of Annihilus . The last four pages of the final issue show Blink during the destruction of the Age of Apocalypse and becoming unhinged from time. X-Man , during its run, occasionally re-visited the Age of Apocalypse, both through time travel and flashbacks. X-Man #-1 shows Mr. Sinister releasing Nate from his growth vat as a child to check on his progress. In the 1996 X-Man Annual, Sugar Man uses
1068-492: A facsimile of the hell from Dante's Inferno in which to punish him years later. Through the use of Doctor Strange 's all-seeing Eye of Agamotto , she learned the truth, and she and Wagner were reconciled. Wagner was happily reunited with his foster sister Jimaine, who had moved to the United States and changed her name to Amanda Sefton , later becoming Kurt's girlfriend. Sometime later, Nightcrawler fought Shagreen
1246-521: A few prequels written that took place before its destruction. By the Light told the story of Blink transporting the X-Men to the moon where they faced Apocalypse's new horseman of Death, Maximus the Mad. Sinister Bloodlines followed the return of a Brood-infected Christopher Summers (Corsair) to Earth and his reunion, after escaping the experimentations of Sinister and Dark Beast, with Scott and Alex. Blink
1424-432: A final, dying effort to rescue the mutant-messiah Hope, he teleported them both from Las Vegas , Nevada to the mutant safehold Utopia, just off the coast of San Francisco , California , a distance of more than 410 mi (660 km). Nightcrawler's teleportation ability is also affected by direction—north-south along Earth's "magnetic lines of force" is easier than east–west against them. His effective teleport range
1602-543: A four-issue limited series in 2001, again featuring Raab as writer with art from Pablo Raimondi. It was originally solicited as Excalibur - Sword of Power in 2000, but the final issues made no mention of the subtitle. The series did not feature an Excalibur team or all of the original cast, instead focusing on Captain Britain, Meggan, Psylocke and the Black Knight battling to save Otherworld. In 2004, Marvel launched
1780-626: A giant machine under the Nevada Desert. In March 2013, the X-Treme X-Men , Age of Apocalypse , and Astonishing X-Men titles were part of the "X-Termination" crossover event, which focused on the AoA Nightcrawler 's trip home. Age of Apocalypse #14, the final issue of the series, will be Part 3 of the event. Following the completion of his quest, Nightcrawler decided it was time to return home. Even though this world
1958-561: A henchman of Apocalypse desperate to earn his master's praise by killing Gambit. Upon reaching Shi'ar space, the X-ternals fight the Imperial Guard in order to retrieve the crystal shard. Upon their return to Earth, Strong Guy betrays the team, not only stealing the M'Kraan Crystal, but also kidnapping Magneto's son, Charles . This title replaced X-Force . Generation Next consists of a young group of mutant students trained by
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#17327801019942136-452: A male form to conceive him, with Destiny being the one who experienced the pregnancy and gave birth to him. Since his inception, Nightcrawler has had a regular presence in Marvel comic books. He has been featured in many video games , and a small number of the 1990s X-Men animated series episodes and was a regular on its successors, X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men . He
2314-529: A more expensive paper stock, Excalibur was a strong sales success - #1 was Diamond Comic Distributors ' best-selling title for April 1988, with #2 second-best behind the first issue of the newly-launched Wolverine in May and #3 third behind Wolverine and Uncanny X-Men in June. With the creators given a large amount of freedom by Marvel, the series soon received plaudits for its humorous tone and wit compared to
2492-472: A mutant capable of seeing into the future, so that she can verify Bishop's story. Nightcrawler must travel to Avalon , a secret refuge where mutants and humans live together in peace. Along his journey, he encounters John Proudstar (Thunderbird), the monk Cain , the pirate Callisto , and his mother Mystique (Raven Darkholme). The chief antagonists for Nightcrawler's journey consist of the Pale Riders,
2670-458: A new Nightcrawler ongoing title commenced, written by Chris Claremont. This was also canceled with issue twelve. Nightcrawler starred in an ongoing book titled Way of X , written by Si Spurrier and illustrated by Bob Quinn. It was announced in January 2021 for an April 2021 debut as part of the X-Men line's Reign of X , following the conclusion of X of Swords crossover. It is billed as
2848-541: A new chapel at Graymalkin Industries, the X-Men's new home and base of operations. During a training session in the Danger Room , he revealed he was trying to keep himself distracted because whenever he had time to think, he couldn't help but think of Kitty, how the X-Men didn't need him, and how Pixie was a better teleporter than he was. After battling (unsuccessfully) several simulated villains, he reprogrammed
3026-526: A new ongoing series titled Excalibur as part of the X-Men Reload cross-line relaunch. Aside from the name and the writer (Claremont), it had no connection to Marvel's previous Excalibur titles, instead focusing on rebuilding efforts in Genosha and the relationship between Professor X and Magneto . The series' last issue was #14, released in May, 2005. The letters page of the final issue announced
3204-528: A part of the Fall of X , in which he would become the latest Spider-Man (Spinnenmann). Kurt Wagner was born with certain unusual physical characteristics, but his power of self-teleportation did not emerge until puberty. Margali Szardos , a sorceress and a Manouche Roma queen, allegedly found Kurt an hour after his birth, in a small roadside shelter in the Black Forest with his father lying dead on
3382-607: A pawn in escaping his prison. Later , Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop , Psylocke , Cannonball , and Marvel Girl . In the last mission against the Foursaken , Nightcrawler took his team (except for Wolverine) to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin , Havok , Marvel Girl, Warpath , and Polaris , to participate in
3560-416: A picture of Angelina and Peter appearing in assorted tabloid newspapers. The three of them traveled to Russia , where they visited the cemetery where Peter's family is buried. Afterward, they went to a local bar, where they discussed the recent loss of Kitty Pryde and the destruction of the X-Men. A fight occurred in the bar, during which their cover was blown. Soon after, the three of them were captured by
3738-484: A portal to bring forth Fantomex team. Using Fantomex, they manage to free Jean and open a gateway to their world. Wolverine wants Jean to come too but she refuses and forces them through the gateway with her powers. As X-Force returns to their world, they are greeted by Dark Beast, the Horsemen of Apocalypse , and Archangel, now wearing Apocalypse's armor. After a long fight, Fantomex retreats and gets Gateway to teleport
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#17327801019943916-487: A portal to their home reality. However, before the portal stabilizes, the machine he was using begins to malfunction. Before he can fix it, the X-Men arrive and the two have to flee, with Nightcrawler teleporting them through the portal. However, once they arrive in their homeworld, the portal doesn't close behind them, which worries the Dark Beast. The situation is complicated first by Wolverine's team, which comes through
4094-454: A psychotic mutant on Earth and son of Professor Charles Xavier , travels back in time with the intention of killing Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr). However, Legion travels to a time when Magneto and Xavier are still friends while in Israel . As Xavier dies trying to protect Magneto, Legion vanishes, and a new timeline is created. The only person aware of how history has changed is Lucas Bishop ,
4272-684: A relaunch of the title as New Excalibur in November, 2005. The replacement title featured the return of an Excalibur team, consisting of Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom, Dazzler , Juggernaut , Nocturne and Sage . It was followed by X-Men: Die by the Sword . Excalibur was relaunched as a part of Dawn of X in October 2019. The initial roster comprised Betsy Braddock as the new Captain Britain, Gambit , Rogue , Jubilee , Rictor and Apocalypse . Nightcrawler (comics) Nightcrawler
4450-583: A ruse to infiltrate the Orchis base, and they freed Warlock , who had earlier been captured by Nimrod , and whose Technarchy virus had been used by Vulture to create the Hounds. Nightcrawler defeated Vulture and had Warlock purge him and the captive mutants of the Technarchy before they escaped, and Mystique parted ways with him once more to find Destiny. Kurt Wagner is a mutant whose primary mutant power
4628-486: A short run to bridge the gap, including a three-part arc featuring the Avengers West Coast ; the events of his stories were guided by Davis. As Neary had decided to continue his more lucrative pencilling career, Davis linked up with Mark Farmer as inker - the pair had briefly worked together before, notably on the final issue of Captain Britain , and would go on to have a long partnership. They appeared as
4806-450: A smart, psychedelic tale about faith, science, culture, love and law. The series featured the return of Legion and the threat of Onslaught to the mutant nation. A one-shot titled X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation served as the finale of the first chapter of the series. In April 2023, it was announced that Wagner would star in a 5-issue miniseries entitled Uncanny Spider-Man , written by Spurrier and illustrated by Lee Garbett as
4984-471: A space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helped get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt was still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government did, while
5162-519: A symbiote). During the fight, X-Force and the Earth-295 X-Men run into the long thought deceased Weapon X (Logan/Wolverine Earth-295). He appears using Apocalypse armor and reveals himself to be the Heir of Apocalypse. Meanwhile, unaware of the problems Wolverine and his team are facing in the fortress, Fantomex and his small crew dive into the heart of the deceased Celestial in order to get
5340-560: A tactic designed to disable the super-Sentinel Nimrod backfired, and Kurt found himself at the mercies of an angry mob without his teleportation ability. He was rescued by Shadowcat, Colossus , and Magik but feared he had lost his ability for good. His power returned but left him drained and vulnerable when he used it, again leading to self-doubt about his value to the team. During the Mutant Massacre (the Marauders' assault on
5518-438: A time traveling mutant who followed Legion. Because of Xavier's sacrifice, Magneto comes to believe in his late friend's dream of a peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), an immortal mutant villain, was monitoring the fight. He chooses this moment as the perfect time to begin his world conquest, which did not happen in the mainstream Marvel universe for another ten years. Magneto assembles
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5696-482: A trio of Apocalypse's servants made up of Moonstar (Danielle Moonstar), Damask (Emma Steed), Dead Man Wade (Wade Wilson) and the Shadow King (Amahl Farouk). Nightcrawler's team consists of Mystique, Switchback , and later Damask, who joins Nightcrawler after realizing the beauty Avalon has to offer. The X-Calibre series gets its name from an in-joke between Nightcrawler and his mother, Mystique, because of
5874-435: A variation on a time machine powered by Nate's psionic force to return to the early years of Apocalypse's rule where he hopes to take control himself. Nate follows and meets up with Forge, Magneto, Morph, and Mastermind, and is surprised to discover that Forge knew that he would be there because an older Nate Grey had time traveled and told Forge about his memories of this event. On the orders of this older Nate Grey, Forge forces
6052-422: A vortex around it to stop it being empowered by more energy, whilst Prophet tries to figure out how to kill it. He finds out that billions more monsters are headed to where this one is and, if they don't destroy this one, the whole world is doomed. In New Apocalypse on the other side of the portal, Jean is being chased by another monster. Dazzler and her team slow it down and Kurt teleports Prophet and Howlett through
6230-435: Is Nate Grey , a mutant born of Cyclops' and Jean Grey's DNA , and the most powerful telekinetic in the world. He lives under the guidance of his father figure Forge , who leads a group of outcasts consisting of Mastermind , Toad , Brute , and Sauron , who attack trains and factories of Apocalypse while masquerading as a theatre troupe. This title replaced Cable . The only then-existing major mutant character missing in
6408-564: Is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics , commonly in association with the X-Men . Created by writer Len Wein and 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,
6586-573: Is a slave of the Sugar Man , one of Apocalypse's prefects and ruler of the Seattle Core. Mondo finds Illyana Rasputin and hides her inside of his body, intending to smuggle her out at shift change. When Mondo is found out, the ensuing fight finds the Sugar Man killing Mondo with a blast from his tongue, exposing the rest of Generation Next. While fighting a near hopeless battle, Generation Next
6764-486: Is also revealed to have saved everyone from the nuclear attack by tapping into the Phoenix Force -level powers, and is revived from death by Sinister. In 2011, the Age of Apocalypse was featured in a storyline in the ongoing series Uncanny X-Force 11–18 by Rick Remender . Seeking a Celestial 'Life Seed' in order to save Angel (Warren Worthington) from becoming the new Apocalypse, The Uncanny X-Force, under
6942-425: Is in danger too and Prophet says they have to close the portal and sacrifice one world. Dazzler refuses to do that and comes up with a plan. Whilst the others chase down Jean and the seed, Dazzler and Cyclops head to the portal. They use their powers to try and draw the monster through but it doesn't go for it. Kid Nightcrawler finds them and decides he can do it. He teleports to the monster and then teleports it through
7120-558: Is left for dead by Colossus, who sacrifices them in order to save his sister. This title replaced Generation X . The Astonishing X-Men are led by Rogue (Anna Marie Lehnsherr, Magneto's wife) and consist of Sabretooth (Victor Creed), Blink (Clarice Ferguson), Wild Child (Kyle Gibney), Morph (Kevin Sydney) and Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida). They are sent by Magneto to stop the cullings, which are being undertaken by Holocaust , Apocalypse's son and one of his horsemen. While helping with
7298-605: Is quickly knocked out by Gambit on the other side, but not before jamming a nugget of the Apocalypse seed within Iceman to keep it safe. As Nightcrawler next takes Howlett and Cyclops, Dazzler begs Prophet to come with her but he refuses, saying a captain goes down with the ship. However, the decision is made for him when Jean Grey knocks him out and instructs Dazzler to take him back to her world. Jean goes off to continue her fight as Nightcrawler teleports Dazzler and Prophet away. In
Age of Apocalypse - Misplaced Pages Continue
7476-555: Is sent to Maine by Magneto to aid in the evacuation of humanity to Europe . During this mission, the team fights Apocalypse's Brotherhood of Chaos , as well as the Horseman Abyss , who is defeated (but not killed) by Quicksilver. During their absence from the Xavier Mansion , Magneto and Bishop are attacked by Apocalypse himself, who captures them both. Fulfilling their mission, Quicksilver splits up his team to help
7654-479: Is subsequently attended by all the X-Men, including Cyclops' branch of the team. Despite the tensions between them, Nightcrawler stated that he wanted all of his family to be present. Nightcrawler later left the party to confront Mystique when she was successfully freeing Azazel. With Storm 's and Rachel 's encouragement, Nightcrawler accepted a teaching position at the Jean Grey School, where he formed
7832-555: Is tasked with maintaining control of Apocalypse's breeding pens, where people are imprisoned, tortured, and experimented on by the Beast , also a member of the EMF. Havok, jealous of his brother's leadership role, discovers that Cyclops is a traitor who has been helping people escape the pens; and in one such escape attempt, both Aurora and Northstar are seriously injured. Havok then exposes Cyclops and attempts to kill him, but Cyclops escapes with
8010-753: Is the ability to teleport himself, his clothing, and a certain amount of additional mass from one point to another virtually instantaneously. He does this by displacing himself through an alternate dimension briefly and reappearing in a desired, pre-selected location. He has been shown to be able to teleport distances of up to two miles (3 km) under optimal conditions, although this is usually his outer limit, and he can become severely fatigued if he tries to teleport that distance; he has exceeded this limit on multiple occasions. In one case, he teleported somewhere over 50 mi (80 km). Via coordinates received telepathically from Professor Xavier, Nightcrawler has teleported an unknown (but presumably large) distance. In
8188-571: The Crimson Pirates , who acted on behalf of Tullamore Voge, over the custody of a young mutant named Ziggy Karst, who subsequently joined the Jean Grey School. Soon afterward, Nightcrawler and Bloody Bess were forced to fight against their fellow Crimson Pirates and X-Men, all mind-controlled by the resurrected Shadow King . The fight ended with the Pirates kidnapping Ziggy and Scorpion Boy and fatally stabbing Nightcrawler; but on his way to
8366-475: The Exiles and convinces Wolverine (Earth-616) that this version of Sabretooth isn't a bad guy, which ends their battle. With the life seed destroyed, Dark Beast sneaks over to the portal back to the 616 Marvel Universe and walks in, leaving X-Force stranded in the Age of Apocalypse world. Nightcrawler's team, realizing that the sentinels are descending on their position, evacuates along with X-Force, taking them to
8544-524: The German state of 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 . However, 2023's X-Men Blue: Origins revealed that his parents were actually Mystique and her wife Destiny / Irene Adler ; Mystique having shapeshifted into
8722-537: The Hellfire Gala . His activities as Spinnenmann are tracked by an Orchis facility run by Vulture , now calling himself Director Vulture after he upgraded his suit with a sample of the Technarchy. In addition, Kurt also became a target for Silver Sable and the Wild Pack . Kurt later battled Rhino , who was under the same mind-control technology that was used on him. Despite Silver Sable's interference, Kurt
8900-657: The Morlock tunnels), this exhaustion left him vulnerable to an attack from Riptide , which injured him into a coma . While he recovers from these injuries, his fellow X-Men were apparently killed on a mission in Dallas . Not long after, Nightcrawler and teammates Shadowcat and Rachel Summers left to join Captain Britain in an adventure in the UK . They fought Gatecrasher's group of inter-dimensional mercenaries known as
9078-590: The Scarlet Witch to recreate the Decimation and remove all mutants' powers across the globe. However, this was only successful within a radius of 12 feet, so Jean Grey and Sabretooth are both left de-powered while Weapon X and his forces remained powered. The human coalition distracts Weapon X with a bomb long enough for the group to escape as the city explodes behind them. As the human coalition (X-Terminated Team, now including Jean Grey) continues to fight
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#17327801019949256-464: The Soulsword inside Nightcrawler's body. For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro , in
9434-559: The Technet . The heroes worked together so well, they decided to form a group they named Excalibur . Captain Britain originally assumed leadership of the group, but Nightcrawler gradually took over the responsibility. When Captain Britain's and Meggan 's relationship went through a rocky time, Nightcrawler became interested in Meggan, a feeling that was reciprocated but never consummated. During his time with Excalibur, he took charge of
9612-586: The 10th anniversary of the fan favorite event. The one-shot features stories set before the events depicted in the original "Age of Apocalypse" event, similar in focus to the Tales from the Age of Apocalypse issues. The one-shot contains the story of how Colossus and Shadowcat left the X-Men to train Generation Next; how Sabretooth met Wild Child; the first appearance of the Silver Samurai; and how
9790-463: The 10th anniversary of the fan favorite event. The book looks at what happened after the end of the original story, revealing that the timeline became in fact an alternate earth, designated "Earth-295". The "Dark Angel Saga" in 2011 revisited the alternate reality once more, leading to an Age of Apocalypse ongoing series launched in 2012 that ran for 14 issues. The world was also featured as part of Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars . Legion (David Haller),
9968-417: The 2008 miniseries X-Infernus , Pixie summoned her Souldagger and stabbed Kurt in the chest, knocking him out. When Pixie removed her Souldagger, Magik's Soulsword emerged from his chest. Magik teleported away after taking out Pixie, Mercury , Rockslide , and Beast. Kurt woke up and stopped Pixie from going after her, and Pixie broke down and apologized for stabbing him. Later, the X-Men gathered and Kurt
10146-475: The 616 reality, Nightcrawler realizes that if he grabs onto the black swirls in the portal, he can teleport the opening back in on itself. Sage confirms he could close the portal and, before anyone can stop him, he goes. He manages to close it at the cost of his own life and separate the entirety of Earth-295 from the Multiverse. Afterwards, Howlett and Cyclops decide to travel to Greece to collect Hercules from
10324-470: The 616 universe, where they find the monster draining the energy from the Dreaming Celestial's chest. In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Jean and her group travel to the Apocalypse power. Fiend radios through from New Apocalypse, where one of the monsters is attacking. After a short conversation, the radio goes silent and Jean realizes her friend is dead. They make their way through some caverns to
10502-694: The AOA X-Men to help X-Force, together they defeat Archangel, the AoA X-Men decide to go back to their timeline while Nightcrawler decides to stay in this timeline and vows to kill, Dark Beast, Iceman, Sugar Man, and any other villain that escaped the AOA timeline to this one. In the Marvel Point One one-shot, a new team of anti-mutant humans calling themselves the X-Terminated, pledged to combat
10680-484: The Age of Apocalypse into the Earth-616 continuity. These include Dark Beast, Nate Grey (the Age of Apocalypse version of Cable), Blink, Holocaust and Sugar Man. An alternate AoA reality was presented when Magneto, giving up on Bishop's mission in the final moments, rescued his family from the nuclear explosions alongside some of his allies. Magneto, Rogue, Sunfire, Quicksilver, and Weapon X found themselves working with
10858-568: The AoA reality, Jean tells Kurt the plan is for her to use the Apocalypse power herself, as she managed to use the Phoenix Force and resist it. Before she can, though, Dark Beast snatches the canister off her just as one of the monsters finds them and attacks. As Howlett mourns the death of Hercules, the monster in 616 becomes stronger, due to the Celestial it just destroyed. Northstar creates
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#173278010199411036-528: The Bavarian nobleman Baron Christian Wagner. Destiny, pretending to be Mystique's maid, eventually gave birth to Nightcrawler before Mystique fled with him to the nearby woods to escape attacking villagers. Azazel later found Nightcrawler, believing him to be his from an affair with Mystique, in the woods and gave him to his lover and crony, Margali Szardos, to raise him. This is retconned slightly in 2023's X-Men Blue: Origins , where Mystique hid Nightcrawler in
11214-469: The Celestials who couldn't kill them so they separated the universe into the Multiverse and bond them in the walls that separated all realities. The constant traveling between universes weakened the walls and allowed the monsters to escape again. Suddenly, Nightcrawler appears and take Sage back with him. In New Apocalypse, Jean is fighting the monsters but more continue to come through the portal. Slowly,
11392-481: The Danger Room to show Kitty. He confessed he was sorry he wasn't there for her and hugged the simulation and cried. The simulation of Kitty replied that she missed Kurt, too. Nightcrawler briefly believed that he no longer had a role with the X-Men, especially due to Pixie's abilities in teleporting. A trip back to Germany renewed his conviction through an encounter with a boy cursed by gypsies into demonic form,
11570-612: The Death Seed's powers which they aptly referred to as the "Apocalypse Force" from its host body and empowering it within a new user, however they are approached by the Queen, actually Doom's wife and former member of the Human High Council, Emma Frost, who had her telepathic powers returned to her and was now in league with Weapon Omega. The X-Terminated eventually gained the information they needed by killing Doom and removed
11748-460: The Elder Gods, but not without losing four of the five Bloodstones. Furious at losing another part of her soul, Pixie fled. Being told by Illyana to let her go, Kurt consoled Magik about the theology of a soul, before she teleported them back to Earth. Kurt, along with Colossus, Cyclops, and the former New Mutants team, convinced her to stay with them and join the X-Men. After mutants rose from
11926-529: The Human High Council intends to launch a nuclear strike on the U.S. as Jean is appalled by the loss of life it would cause. After Weapon X concludes a battle with Donald Pierce , Jean leaves to help evacuate the U.S., bidding a tearful farewell to Logan. Weapon X is then sent to recruit Gateway , whose teleportation ability is necessary to bring the fleet to America. As the fleet leaves, Weapon X decides to join them, if only to find Jean somewhere in America before
12104-449: The Human High Council remains as the only other power opposing Apocalypse. Unlike the X-Men, however, the Human High Council considers the extermination of mutants as a viable option. Bolivar and Moira Trask, as well as Brian Braddock, are the major proponents for a mutant holocaust. Secretly, the Human High Council supports the Human Underground Resistance. X-Universe also reveals the fate of several non-mutants individuals. Peter Parker
12282-461: The Russian government, which demanded to know why all their mutants were depowered and why Colossus, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler retained their abilities. After a battle with Omega Red , the three heroes returned to the US and rejoined the team, now living in San Francisco. Kurt, along with Wolverine and Karma ambushed the Hellfire Cult after a series of mutant related hate-crimes happened around San Francisco. He also took it upon himself to build
12460-440: The Sorcerer and became lost in various dimensions, including the manifestation of a fairy tale his teammate Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) had once told to Illyana Rasputin (Magik). It was there that Nightcrawler first encountered the Bamfs , strange creatures that resembled miniature versions of himself and who would occasionally appear during some of his future adventures. Shortly after this, and once he had rejoined his teammates,
12638-447: The Technet, renaming them his 'N-Men', and he became romantically involved with his teammate Cerise before she left to stand trial before the Shi'ar . Later, his former girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, joined the team and the two continued their previous relationship. She left the team to take control of Limbo , a task that kept her away from Earth, but the two remained close friends. Fearing it would be stolen from her, Amanda magically hid
12816-601: The UAE (United Arab Emirates) to Antarctica , and again traveling over 2,900 mi (4,700 km) from the Czech Republic to Egypt . He possesses a limited unconscious extrasensory " spatial awareness " ability which prevents him from teleporting into solid objects within his immediate vicinity, but this ability diminishes the greater the distance he teleports. Because teleporting into other solid matter would cause severe injury or death, he will only teleport to an area he
12994-447: The X-Men just as Apocalypse begins his war. Despite the X-Men's resistance, Apocalypse conquers all of North America and eventually mutants are considered the ruling class. Apocalypse initiates a genocidal campaign called "cullings," killing millions of humans. To further ensure that no one is left to challenge him or undo the circumstances that led to his reign, he has everyone with telepathic or chronal abilities hunted down. Meanwhile,
13172-414: The X-Men originated characters. However, sales were poor and the title was finally cancelled after 125 issues in 1998. Critical reception of Raab's material has not been positive, with some feeling it had become a generic X-Men title that was going through the motions. Following the cancellation the characters of Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Colossus returned to the main X-Men titles. The series returned as
13350-579: The X-Men traveled to Westchester when Cable and Hope were detected there. Nightcrawler's discovery of the lethal methods used by X-Force led to an argument between him and Cyclops. While teleporting during a battle with Bastion , Bastion extended his arm into the space in which Nightcrawler would materialize. Nightcrawler rematerialized around Bastion's arm, fusing with it. Though mortally wounded, he managed to teleport Hope to Utopia, telling her before expiring that he believed in her. Despite his death, Nightcrawler continued to aid his friends. When Wolverine
13528-472: The X-Men's new base in Atlantis. It was soon revealed that a new "Heir of Apocalypse" has risen and that's the reason why the world as fallen once again into a Dark Age that resulted on the apparent extinction of the human race. Using a version of M.O.D.O.K. , they discover the body of the slain Celestial which apparently still contains life seeds. However, as X-Force also learn that the only way to return to
13706-535: The X-treme X-Men did not act quickly enough to save that world, and were forced to make an interdimensional jump, leaving that reality and all its citizens being consumed by the vortex. Unbeknownst to them, an army of monsters were waiting on the other side of the portal. Using a pair of modified goggles, which Dark Beast explains will allow them to enter the Dreaming Celestial safely in a bid to return home. Kurt teleports them inside, where McCoy attempts to open
13884-517: The additions of Cerise , Kylun , Micromax and Feron . Having concluded his storylines, Davis left again after Excalibur #67 to focus on launching the ClanDestine . Comic Book Resources suggested the title never recovered from Davis' departure. Davis' return had not brought the expected sales increase; subsequently, after a brief tenure under Brian Ashford, the title would take a different direction under Scott Lobdell , who strengthened
14062-564: The afterlife he was intercepted by Amanda, Wolverine and the Phoenix , who encouraged him to return. Together with Bess and the Bamfs, he traveled to Voge's interdimensional child slave market and rescued Ziggy and Scorpion Boy, battling Voge's henchmen and the Warwolves . In the end, they defeated Voge, breaking up his slavery racket, and returned the enslaved children, taking those orphaned by
14240-422: The aid of Jean Grey, who has arrived to evacuate as many people as she can before the Human High Council's nuclear strike. The Bedlam Brothers also choose to side with Cyclops, and they successfully defeat both Amazon and Cannonball. Cyclops and Jean defeat Havok, and as they lead the freed prisoners out of the pens, Havok is determined to kill his brother. This title replaced X-Factor . The protagonist of X-Man
14418-673: The bombs are dropped. This title temporarily replaced Wolverine . Factor X consists of the Elite Mutant Force (EMF), who serve Apocalypse. They are split into five sibling groups: Cyclops and Havok (Scott Summers and Alex Summers), Emplate and the Twins (Marius, Nicole, and Claudette St. Croix), Cannonball and Amazon (Sam and Elizabeth Guthrie), the Bedlam Brothers ( Jesse and Terrence Aaronson), and Aurora and Northstar (Jean-Marie and Jean-Paul Beaubier). The EMF
14596-461: The caliber of bullets she uses, simply stamped with an X . This title replaced Excalibur . Gambit (Remy LeBeau)'s X-Ternals consist of Sunspot (Roberto de Costa), Jubilee (Jubilation Lee), Strong Guy (Guido Carosella) and Lila Cheney . They are sent deep into space using Lila's teleportation in order to retrieve a shard of the M'Kraan Crystal, essential to the verification of Bishop's alternate reality. The X-Ternals are pursued by Rictor ,
14774-465: The castle, Kurt teleported the X-Men into the throne room. Once there, Witchfire turned Colossus and Wolverine against Mercury and Rockslide. Kurt noticed Illyana chained to a pillar, and she asked him to stab her with Pixie's Souldagger, as it was the only way and he was the only one to do it because he was attuned to magic. He apologized and stabbed her; at that moment Colossus punched Kurt, and Witchfire finished making her fifth and final Bloodstone from
14952-556: The celestial life seed. Harper Simons joins with the X-Terminated. Others who work with the X-Terminated are Doctor Moreau and Bolivar Trask. After discovering the resurrected Penance, he ordered his servants Azazel, Cyclops and Colossus to bring her into the fold. She initially refused and undid Colossus' brainwashing causing him to abandon Weapon Omega and serve Penance. A fight broke out but Azazel agreed to leave. He returned with Weapon Omega who demanded that Penance kneel before him which she did. Unbeknownst to Weapon Omega however Penance
15130-468: The changes in the timeline result in a destructive crystallization wave created by the M'Kraan Crystal . X-Men: Alpha was published in January 1995 and launched the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover story. It briefly shows readers how many popular X-Men characters have changed in this new world. Bishop is reunited with Magneto while retaining fragmented memories of the true timeline. Magneto assigns his X-Men and their allies various missions. Some are to gather
15308-462: The character to be part of a group of characters called The Outsiders (not to be confused with the later team The Outsiders ), set in the universe of DC Comics ' Legion of Super-Heroes series. However, DC rejected the character, resulting in Cockrum importing him to Marvel after he began working on X-Men in 1975. Because editor Roy Thomas wanted the new X-Men to be a multinational group, it
15486-685: The characters and immediately planned a sequel to the Alan Moore -penned " Jaspers' Warp " arc, featuring Mad Jim Jaspers , the Fury and the rest of the Captain Britain cast that would be a major X-Men plot arc. Betsy Braddock , the title character's sister, was featured in New Mutants Annual #2 in 1986, soon joining the X-Men as Psylocke , while Jaspers made what was planned to be a teaser appearance in Uncanny X-Men #200, with
15664-410: The children because he had recognized them as disguised demons.) When they were younger, Stefan made Kurt promise to kill him if he ever took an innocent life. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner found Stefan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Stefan was killed. The villagers of Winzeldorf, who assumed from Kurt's appearance that he was the one who killed
15842-447: The children, attacked. They were about to kill him when they were all psychically paralyzed by Professor Charles Xavier , who came to recruit Wagner into the X-Men. Before they left for America, he and Xavier went to the Bavarian circus to explain to Margali about Stefan's death, but Margali was not there . With the codename Nightcrawler, Wagner becomes a member of the X-Men. Margali held Wagner responsible for murdering Stefan and created
16020-402: The circus' freak show . Jardine drugged him to prevent escape, but a young mutant child with the ability to sense other mutants helped Kurt escape. Appalled, Wagner left and made his way toward Winzeldorf, Germany, where his foster brother Stefan was. He discovered that Stefan had gone mad and brutally slain several children. (It has since been stated that Stefan did not actually go mad, but slew
16198-504: The circus' star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human wearing a devil-like costume. Years later, the Texas millionaire Amos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida , heard of the circus for which Wagner worked and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus; however, he demanded that Wagner be placed in
16376-408: The company. As a result, Marvel gave Davis what was for the time a very generous contract, both in terms of remuneration and creative freedom. Claremont was assigned to write the series, but allowed Davis - more used to working via the full script process rather than the 'Marvel method' considerable leeway and input. Claremont had previously wanted Davis to draw Uncanny X-Men ; according to the writer
16554-418: The crossovers " Fatal Attractions " and " Phalanx Covenant "; the latter saw Douglock added to the regular cast. However, sales only rose slightly. In late 1994 Warren Ellis - recently of Hellstorm - took over as writer from Excalibur #82. After three issues working from a plot by Lobdell he made his debut as sole writer with Excalibur #85. The following issue saw the introduction of Pete Wisdom to
16732-402: The darker turn taken by both the other X-Men related titles and the wider industry at the time. The success also led to Marvel printing a trade paperback compiling the material Davis had produced for Captain Britain , which was coloured by several artists. Davis and writer Jamie Delano were required to sell their rights to the material to do so; as Alan Moore refused to do likewise, his work on
16910-491: The dead and attacked the island Utopia as part of the Necrosha storyline, Cyclops sent Nightcrawler to lead a team of X-Men consisting of Rogue, Trance, Magneto, Husk, Psylocke, Colossus, and Blindfold to investigate Muir Island. It was revealed that Proteus had been resurrected and had taken possession of Blindfold (who had the vision of going to Muir Island in the first place). In the 2010 " X-Men: Second Coming " storyline,
17088-427: The death powers are already corrupting her. As the monsters feed off the energy from the portal, Jean engages them in combat, blasting them away and drawing their attention. Howlett mourns the death of Kid Nightcrawler, causing AoA Nightcrawler to face up to what he has done. Prophet tells him to stop pitying himself and says they need Sage and the Celestial black box from the other universe. Nightcrawler teleports through
17266-413: The death seed starts to take her over more and she begins to lose herself. As the carnage spreads, Sage and Nightcrawler appear and Sage tells Prophet she knows what to do. He already knows, though. The monsters need a prison and this universe is the best choice. Dazzler tries to tell him there must be another way but he says there isn't. They need to get everyone they can back to her world and then close off
17444-801: The end found both Irene and Kurt gone. Years later, after Mystique found her in custody of Anna Marie , Irene revealed that her precognition had made her see Azazel conquering the world and killing all mutantkind, and that he would only be thwarted by a child he would presume to be his blood heir. Thus she told Margali where to find Kurt, to have him raised into the role as a hero. To resume their relationship for Anna Marie's sake, they asked Professor X to erase their memories of Bavaria, though Raven insisted on still being able to remember Kurt as her son. Upon this revelation, Kurt and Raven reconciled. Aware of Kurt and Sable's relationship, Vulture hired Wild Pack's second-in-command Kremer to capture Nightcrawler for Orchis. However, Nightcrawler, Sable and Mystique worked out
17622-426: The entire New X-Men team, is teleported to Muir Island by Pixie . He took part in the final battle. Still recovering from his injuries, Kurt traveled through Europe along with Wolverine and Colossus. Kurt and Wolverine were currently involved in a "war of pranks," as Peter called it. One of the many pranks involved Logan hacking into Kurt's image inducer to make him look like Angelina Jolie , which resulted in
17800-472: The evacuation and protection of humans, Sabretooth asks Blink to teleport him to Holocaust's location, which she reluctantly does. Sabretooth and Holocaust fight a vicious duel but Sabretooth is defeated and seemingly killed, horrifying Blink. (Sabretooth had rescued Blink from Mr. Sinister and she had come to see him as her dearest friend and mentor.) The team then fights Holocaust and his Infinites, destroying his factory. However, Holocaust manages to escape and
17978-488: The first mutant since M-Day appeared, Cyclops sent Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Angel, Storm, and Colossus to find former Acolytes for information on the Marauders . It was predicted by Blindfold that Kurt would be seriously injured in the upcoming events, and indeed this came true when he was shot by the Marauder, Scalphunter . Kurt seemed to have nearly fully recovered from his injuries since he, along with Beast and
18156-426: The forces needed to change history while others will continue resisting Apocalypse. The story continues in eight interlocking miniseries, each focusing on a different team of X-Men or other mutant forces. Each miniseries temporarily replaced one of the monthly X-Men titles being published at the time. X-Calibre is a team built around Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), who is sent by Magneto to locate Destiny (Irene Adler),
18334-431: The forces of Weapon X, now renamed Weapon Omega, they find Harper Simmons, a human journalist from Earth-616 who was forced to come to the Age of Apocalypse while investigating the prison break of Sugar Man by Dark Beast on Earth-616. He creates a pamphlet that incites human and mutant riots against Weapon Omega, who is now bringing back deceased mutants like Emplate, Scott Summers and Alex Summers using energies siphoned from
18512-409: The guidance of Dark Beast , journey to the Age of Apocalypse. X-Force arrives ten years after the X-Men had defeated Mister Sinister , yet it seems the X-Men still face enormous challenges in this harsh setting. The world, which during the previous appearance had seemed to be on the road to recovery, has once again fallen on hard times, similar to when Apocalypse was ruling, with Sentinels now roaming
18690-400: The guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to the priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel . However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss , and Kiwi Black . With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel , who had tried to use him as
18868-540: The head of the Sphinx. Lord Xavier, the Witch King, Nazi Xavier, and Xavier Head began sacrificing civilians to an interdimensional rift to gain power. The X-treme X-Men, who had been trying to stop this from happening by killing ten evil Xaviers across various realities before they could use their powers to trigger the event, were able to rescue their Xavier and narrowly defeated Lord Xavier and Nazi Xavier. Unfortunately,
19046-408: The heights of the early issues. Following the three-part "Girls' School from Heck" storyline (with art by Ron Wagner ) in #32-34, Claremont left the title. A third special edition, Weird War III , was released in 1991. Claremont's replacement was meant to be a returning Alan Davis, tempted back as writer-artist from #35 onwards. However, other commitments delayed his return and Lobdell contributed
19224-624: The human coalition. It is also revealed that Jean had ordered much to Magneto's horror, the creation of clones of the Scarlet Witch , so they could use the spell Jean saw previously on Wolverine's mind that de-powered 99% of mutantkind . However Weapon X and his Black Legion attack the last human city where Weapon X himself slays both Magneto and Rogue, leaving Jean Grey and Sabretooth the last two X-Men alive (Sunfire had given his life to stop Archangel's plans on Earth-616, and Nightcrawler decided to stay on that reality to hunt down Dark Beast, Blob, Iceman and Sugar Man). Jean telepathically nudges clones of
19402-473: The husband and wife team of Colossus (Piotr "Peter" Rasputin) and Shadowcat (Katherine Pryde-Rasputin). They consist of Chamber (Jonothan "Jono" Starsmore), Husk (Paige Guthrie), Mondo , Vincente Cimetta, and Skin (Angelo Espinoza). They are sent by Magneto into the Seattle Core to rescue Colossus' sister, Illyana Rasputin , who is the last surviving transdimensional teleporter. Illyana Rasputin
19580-484: The impossible and claim victory. After Weapon X used his adamantium claws to slay the Silver Surfer, the collective psychic potential of humanity was focused against Galactus, eventually killing him. Before the tenth anniversary, the Age of Apocalypse was considered a dead reality that no longer existed—a fact that was frequently mentioned by timeline escapees, such as Sugar Man and Blink. However, there were quite
19758-404: The industry's best-selling titles, and as a result he had set up spin-off New Mutants , which was itself followed by the successful X-Factor . Meanwhile the short-lived Captain Britain had been revived by British creative teams, receiving critical acclaim - albeit while struggling for sales. When Claremont read the reinvigorated Captain Britain stories he was impressed with the development of
19936-439: The intel literally from his head. With the information they gained, the X-Terminated build the device, however, Weapon Omega after being alerted that Jean Grey was hiding out in the city, resolved to hunt his wife down himself, and vowed that if her humanity could not be cured, he would kill her himself. Jean Grey was ultimately responsible for removing the power of the Death Seed within her former lover and were absorbed by Jean as
20114-527: The last remaining human heroes (including Tony Stark, Invisible Woman and Gwen Stacy, the latter of which formed a romance with Quicksilver) to deal with a new threat: the Coming of Galactus. As there was no Fantastic Four, it fell to the survivors to work against Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer. As the heroes sprung into action, Night-Thrasher ended up using advanced technology to empower himself with amazing psychic powers. Together, they were able to do
20292-534: The life seed they need to free Warren. After battling some drones, they manage to find only one seed and flee with it, losing Gambit in the battle, while, back in the fortress, Wolverine and his crew try to battle Weapon X and the Black Legion. However, Weapon X proves too powerful, since he had been augmented by the Celestial technology, when the cosmic entities came to judge planet Earth, and while he had ascended in form and power, his mind had become so twisted to
20470-492: The main reality is to seek the help of Gateway who in turn is kept prisoner in the mysterious floating city known as The Sky, the Sentinels soon arrives at Atlantis forcing the group to abandon the complex. As Fantomex leads a small team to the place where the Celestial is, the rest of the team invades The Sky to retrieve Gateway, however they are confronted by the Black Legion, a group of psychotic and merciless killers under
20648-482: The monster. The monster kills him before Kurt can get to him in time. The monster then advances on the Celestial again, which decides to leave. However, the monster uses a grappling hook to prevent it from doing so and, even though the rest of the team manages to separate the two, the monster begins to absorb the energy from the Celestial. The team can only watch as the monster kills the Dreaming Celestial and absorbs all of its energy, continuing to grow in size and power. In
20826-458: The monsters are projecting. She screams for someone to shut the portal down, but it's too late and one of the monsters walks through it to the 616 universe. As Howlett, Wolverine, Northstar and Hercules go after it, the second monster heads off into New Apocalypse, whilst the third starts to drain energy from the portal itself. Prophet says that they could use the power of Apocalypse to defeat them but Jean Grey isn't so keen. After some deliberation,
21004-582: The mutant colony of Krakoa was established, Kurt was given a position on the council, helping to shape the laws of this new mutant society. However, Kurt's religious concerns led him to decide to form a mutant religion. During the " Fall of X " in light of Orchis ' attack on Krakoa, Nightcrawler assumed the identity of the Uncanny Spider-Man (Spinnenmann) after he gained a spare suit from Spider-Man following Orchis' previous brainwashing on him to assassinate some heads of state and Orchis' attack on
21182-425: The new team on Excalibur #42; while contemporary Marvel policy did not generally tout creative teams on covers, the issue bore a strapline trumpeting the return of "You Know Who". Davis' double role also meant he could plot issues for other artists to draw when he fell behind schedule. His return allowed the conclusion of numerous unresolved plot-lines and saw the first major expansion to the comic's regular cast with
21360-400: The next host. Thanks to her history with the Phoenix Force, though, Jean was strong enough to reject the power of the Death Seed and displaced it. After everything died down, Weapon Omega emerged from the rubble as Logan once again, his mind now clear of the corrupting force of the Death Seed. Unknown to him or Jean, however, the energies of the seed had in fact been contained by Bolivar Trask in
21538-507: The now demonic Pixie. The fact, however, that Colossus and Wolverine hadn't killed him made Kurt realize they were not fully under her control. Using Pixie's Dagger, Kurt then pulled Illyana's Soulsword from her and used it to free Wolverine and Colossus of Witchfire's control. However, the demon managed to use the Bloodstones to summon the Elder Gods. Through their combined efforts, the X-Men and Magik managed to banish both Witchfire and
21716-526: The original Age of Apocalypse is Psylocke . When the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline was revisited a decade later, she appeared in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #4 in Asian form. Her origin remains unknown. There has been no explanation of what she was doing during the original Age of Apocalypse, other than the fact that she had some kind of past connection with Weapon X. Besides the X-Men and its many offshoots,
21894-426: The original timeline, taking control of Earth and altering everything that happened from that point forward. Apocalypse is opposed by several factions of mutant resistance, including a group led by Magneto. The group manages to send the mutant Bishop back in time to prevent the murder of Professor Xavier, undoing the entire timeline. In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and miniseries to celebrate
22072-572: The other X-Men: sending Iceman to rendezvous with Rogue 's team (the Astonishing X-Men) and Dazzler and Exodus to find Magneto's son, Charles. Finally, Quicksilver, Storm, and Banshee go to rescue Bishop, who is in the hands of the Madri, Apocalypse's priests. This title replaced X-Men . Weapon X (Logan) and his lover Jean Grey are depicted in this series carrying out missions for the Human High Council. Jean and Weapon X drift apart, as
22250-778: The periphery rather than actually joining the heavenly choir. When Azazel mounted an attack on Heaven using his connection to Kurt as a door, Nightcrawler instructed a few Bamfs to create a portal to Heaven inside the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning , allowing him to summon the X-Men to aid him in his fight. Having gathered his friends, Kurt used the Bamfs and his connection to Azazel to restore himself to life back on Earth, thus preventing Azazel from attacking Heaven again by tying them both together, although this resulted in Kurt sacrificing his own soul to ensure that Azazel would not be able to return to Heaven. His 'Welcome Back' party
22428-407: The plot line of Charles Xavier 's exile to the Shi'ar Empire intended to serve as a catalyst. However Claremont was then made aware of an ownership debate between Moore and Marvel, and with the publisher wary of litigation from Moore the storyline was retooled. The Jaspers cameo - during which the character had not demonstrated his powers - was not followed up on, while the role intended for the Fury
22606-435: The point of creating genetic-powerful warriors to kill Charles Lehnsherr, the infant son of Magneto and Rogue. Weapon X easily manages to swat them all and take Jean Grey so he could transform her into Death, a horseman of Apocalypse. To perform the ritual he approaches Storm who was enslaved and transform into a blind seer made of living stone. After taking out the Black Legion and freeing Gateway, Wolverine ask Gateway to open
22784-406: The portal and on his way he sees billions of other monsters descends upon the portal. In the 616 universe, Wolverine and Northstar are arguing about what to do. Sage manages to connect her mind to the black box and sees the origin of the monsters. The Celestials created life because they were lonely. They decided to create death as well, so they formed the monsters. However, the monsters turned against
22962-548: The portal to take Kurt back to their reality, and then by Dazzler and her team of X-treme X-Men, who seem keen to close the portal. As Xavier of the X-treme X-Men uses his powers to try and close the portal three huge monsters emerge from it. Xavier tries to tell them they mean no harm but one of the monsters kills him and dissolves his body to absorb its energy. As it does so, it grows slightly bigger. In response, Dazzler blasts one with her light beams, but it absorbs her energy and grows in size. After trying various methods of attack,
23140-515: The portal. Nightcrawler says he can do both. As Jean continues to fight the monsters in New Apocalypse, Prophet orders everyone to evacuate to the 616 reality. Dazzler objects to leaving, but Prophet tells her sacrificing the AoA reality is the only way. Nightcrawler begins to teleport everyone back, first taking Harper Simmons and then Sage. However, when he goes to take Iceman, the Dark Beast breaks free of his shackles and goes with them. He
23318-564: The portal. The strain of doing it was too much for him, though, and he dies in Dazzler's arms. Nightcrawler, Prophet, Howlett and Dark Beast teleport in. Dark Beast won't let go of the seed, so Dazzler confronts him, beats him up and takes the seed. She then hands it over to Jean Grey, so they can have her use it on the three monsters at the same time. Jean Grey has taken in the power of Apocalypse and has been transformed into an immensely powerful being. Though she still holds on to her personality,
23496-413: The portal. They see Dark Beast trying to take the power of the Apocalypse seed for himself. Nightcrawler and Jean try to take the seed off him but he fights back. Another monster enters and grabs the seed but is hurt by its touch. Dark Beast grabs the seed again and runs off with Jean and Nightcrawler chasing him. Prophet realizes that the monster was hurt by the seed. Kid Nightcrawler tells Dazzler her world
23674-440: The post was never available at the same time as Davis was, but the artist would later indicate he was uninterested. Ann Nocenti was given the post of editor, and the trio decided the book would be a "cosmic comedy", both to play to Davis' strengths and to offset the dark tone of the other mutant books. Claremont chose to return Colossus to Uncanny X-Men rather than use him for Excalibur , due to Captain Britain already fulfilling
23852-412: The process that not Azazel, but Mystique herself was his father and Destiny his actual mother; his likeness to Azazel came about due to Raven's assimilation of Azazel's genes. When her mutant identity was revealed right after Kurt's birth, she fled with Kurt on Irene's urging, only to find the mob chasing her going back for Irene. Leaving Kurt at the base of a tree, she rushed back to save her love, but in
24030-536: The quality of his work. Soon after Davis' departure, Claremont's attention was split by the need to focus on the planned relaunch of X-Men . Other writers including Higgins, Terry Austin , Dana Moreshead and Scott Lobdell contributed issues, particularly when the title went bi-weekly over the summer of 1990. The book was also without a regular artist, instead featuring guest artists such as Barry Windsor-Smith , Colleen Doran , and David Ross. By this point sales had fallen; while still healthy they would never reach
24208-414: The regular cast. While Captain Britain would return to the series it was at the expense of Phoenix, and he was radically altered to the aloof Britannic, and he and Meggan would take a minor role in the series, which increasingly focused on Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and MacTaggert, as well as the newly added extant X-Men supporting character Amanda Sefton . The new strategy for the title also saw it involved in
24386-595: The rest of the team searched for the Morlocks . In the 2005 " House of M " storyline, Nightcrawler was part of Wolverine's S.H.I.E.L.D. team and helped Mystique track him down. After his memory returned, he assisted in the final confrontation against Magneto. Upon their return to the true reality, he rapidly teleported around the mansion to find Wolverine on Cyclops' orders, as both men worried that Wolverine would have lost his powers and therefore be vulnerable to metal poisoning caused by his adamantium skeleton. When
24564-439: The road outside. However, this claim was later called into question, and it was subsequently proven that Kurt was the child of Mystique (also known as Raven Darkholme). In a 2003 story, the mutant Azazel was canonically established as Nightcrawler's biological father. However, this was retconned twenty years later. Instead, Mystique impregnated Destiny but changed her body to mimic the pregnancy's progression in order to fool
24742-538: The role of the Evolutionary Caretaker in an effort to spare his world from the Celestials wrath. Thus, he restarted the campaigns of extermination perpetrated by Apocalypse against the human race after being corrupted by the Seed. The X-Terminated later travel to Latveria so they could get the information they need to defeat Weapon Omega, as Doom had apparently managed to create a device capable of storing
24920-518: The room the Apocalypse power is being kept in. Dark Beast slips away as the others look at the canister the power resides in. Jean has Kurt teleport them both away as she doesn't trust anyone else. In the 616 universe, Howlett and Wolverine try attacking the monster but it just continues attacking the Celestial. Northstar throws Hercules at it and the monster is finally ripped away from it. Wolverine and Howlett are severely injured, so Kid Nightcrawler starts to teleport them away as Hercules continues to fight
25098-510: The rule of the ascended Weapon X and his minions, after X-Force's attempt to stop the genocidal successor of Apocalypse. The group consisted of remaining members of the human race in the Age of Apocalypse who have been pushed to the edge of extinction by mutants. Members of that team were Prophet ( William Stryker ), Goodnight (a rebuilt Donald Pierce ), Deadeye ( Zora Risman ), Fiend ( Francesca Trask ), and Horror Show ( Graydon Creed ). As Jean Grey and Sabretooth returned from Earth-616, they meet
25276-401: The series has received a generally positive reception. From Excalibur #106 Ben Raab became writer, with Salvador Larroca as artist. Raab swiftly wrote out Captain Britain to facilitate a storyline featuring Colossus romancing Meggan, a plot point that would also feature in a Colossus one-shot. Raab would de-emphasise and eventually write out Wisdom too, once again choosing to focus on
25454-552: The series, complete with the return of the eponymous team, was revived as part of the Dawn of X X-Men relaunch. The genesis of Excalibur came from Captain Britain , an initially unsuccessful attempt by Marvel to break into the British market which was co-created by American staff, including Chris Claremont . Since creating Captain Britain, Claremont's career had gone from strength to strength; Uncanny X-Men had become one of
25632-489: The series, so Marvel wanted both a 'home' for the characters and the sales potential of a fourth X-Men book. At the time, Marvel were heavily courting Alan Davis , who had been artist for Captain Britain from 1981 and was an avowed fan of the character. After winning considerable acclaim in Britain, he was head-hunted by DC Comics , again receiving praise for his work on Batman and the Outsiders before falling out with
25810-530: The series. Wisdom had originally been planned as a character in Ellis' projected Trident Comics series Electric Angel , but only got as far as the ashcan stage. To avoid any possible legal worries over this, Ellis simply didn't tell Marvel about the character's origins. After #86 the series was replaced for four months by the limited series X-Calibre as part of the " Age of Apocalypse " X-Men event. Marvel also directed Ellis to add Wolfsbane and Colossus to
25988-417: The service of the Heir of Apocalypse, consisting of Blob, Manphibian, Demon-Ock (a demonic creature with mechanical tentacles), Beta-Red (a female counterpart of Omega Red), Grimm Chamber (a Thing/Chamber hybrid), Iron Ghost (a Ghost Rider/Iron Man hybrid), Orange Hulk (a solar-powered Hulk), White Cloak (a Cloak/Dagger hybrid), Zombie Sentry (an undead version of Sentry) and Venomcap (Captain America bonded with
26166-730: The slavers into the school. During the 2016 " Civil War II " storyline, both Storm and Magneto were having a conflict on their own to save mutantkind from the Terrigen Mist . Storm and the other X-Men who followed her decision to support Captain Marvel 's side, to require the Inhumans ' help to solve their kinds' extinction from breathing that mist. Nightcrawler decided to join Magneto and Iron Man's side. He later joined Kitty Pryde's mutant school. He eventually developed romantic feelings for his longtime friend and teammate Rachel. When
26344-422: The storyline Davis fell ill. After a fill-in issue written by Michael Higgins and drawn by Lim, Chris Wozniak provided art until Davis was fit to return on Excalibur #23. However, his return would only last for two issues - after completing the delayed "Cross-Time Caper" arc he left the title, later stating that he was unhappy with the effect compromises he was having to make to get back on schedule were having on
26522-533: The streets. As they follow Dark Beast to one of his labs, they are unknowingly followed by Wildchild and Sabretooth (Earth-295). Dark Beast finds the life seed but before he could hand it over to the X-Force members, Nightcrawler teleports in and swipes the seed away, figuring that Dark Beast was up to some evil plot after decades of absence. After a brief quarrel which ended with the life seed destroyed by Sunfire , Psylocke recognizes Sabretooth from her time on
26700-522: 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
26878-440: The team of the same name . The first volumes ran for 125 issues, complemented by several one-shot special editions, between 1987 and 1998. The second was a four-issue limited series published in 2001, and the third an ongoing series printed from 2004 and 2005 before being relaunched as New Excalibur . While featuring some of the same characters and concepts, the second and third series did not centre on an Excalibur team. In 2019
27056-465: The team returns to Xavier's mansion, where Rogue learns that both her son and her husband have been captured. Sabretooth is revealed by Iceman to have survived the battle, to Blink's delight. This title replaced The Uncanny X-Men . The Amazing X-Men consist of team leader Quicksilver (Pietro Lehnsherr) and Storm (Ororo Munroe), Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Banshee (Sean Cassidy), Iceman (Robert "Bobby" Drake), and Exodus (Paris Bennet). The team
27234-410: The team's need for a strongman type. Davis' regular collaborator Paul Neary also joined as inker. The series was launched with the lavish Excalibur Special Edition , a 1987 48-page advertisement-free 'bookshelf' comic promoted with posters and promotional carrier bags for comic stories. It was followed by an ongoing series. Despite being priced higher than most of Marvel's regular titles due to using
27412-530: The teams decide to split up with some staying on New Apocalypse and the other going to fight the creature through the portal. Sabretooth and Horror Show sacrifice themselves to provide a distraction whilst Kid Nightcrawler teleports a group of people through the portal. The remaining group in New Apocalypse heads off to formulate a plan of attack as the second monster tears through the city. Northstar, Hercules, Howlett and Wolverine emerge in San Francisco of
27590-441: The teams realize that the monsters are nearly invulnerable. Karma tries possessing one but it ends up possessing her. They find out that the monsters were trapped between dimensions by the Celestials and that the constant travelling between worlds has weakened the barriers and freed them. Karma is dying but Iceman freezes the monsters and saves Karma. As the teams regroup to try and figure out what to do, Sage picks up on some thought
27768-527: The title was not included in the collection. While Claremont and Davis intended Excalibur not to cross over with the other X-Men titles, the series was broadly part of the 1989 " Inferno " event, with issues #6-7. However, Excalibur themselves were only peripherally involved in the events of the story, not encountering any of the major characters. Due to Davis falling behind schedule, issue #8 saw Ron Lim guest as artist, while #11 featured Marshall Rogers . A second special edition - Excalibur - Mojo Mayhem -
27946-428: The title's narrative and tonal connection to the other X-Men titles under the direction of Bob Harras . The recent additions to the cast were abruptly written out, as was Captain Britain - who became lost in the time-steam off-panel before Excalibur #68, leading to Meggan also falling out of focus. The cosmic elements of the book were dropped and the team were relocated to Muir Island , with Moira MacTaggert added to
28124-421: The title. Initially several artists worked on the title, including Ken Lashley and Casey Jones, before Carlos Pacheco took over from #95. Ellis would also pen the three-issue spin-off limited series Pryde and Wisdom . Excalibur #100 saw Brian Braddock return to the role of Captain Britain; however, Ellis would leave the title a few issues later to work on WildStorm 's Stormwatch and Dv8 . His work on
28302-481: The underworld. Wolverine offers Dazzler a job at the school but she declines, as she needs a bit of time to herself. A few weeks later, Harper meets Prophet on a beach, where they have a drink to remember their old team. Elsewhere, Dazzler creates a holographic image to make sure everyone remembers her fallen teammates. Excalibur (comic book) Excalibur is the name of several superhero comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1988, generally featuring
28480-435: The woods to go back and rescue Destiny, only to find Destiny gone and Nightcrawler taken upon her return. Destiny likewise implies that she informed Margali of Nightcrawler's location. Margali took the newborn Nightcrawler to a small Bavarian circus named Herr Getmann's Traveling Menagerie where she worked as a fortune teller as a cover for her activities as a sorceress. Nightcrawler was never legally adopted by anyone, but he
28658-618: The world survived the Human High Council's nuclear attack. The limited series, which takes place after the nuclear attack in X-Men: Omega , introduced several characters who were not in the original storyline. Long time characters Cloak and Dagger , Psylocke, and the Morlocks (including Feral, Leech, Marrow, Skids, and Thornn), who were survivors of Mr. Sinister's experiments, are introduced. Newer characters Beak, Icarus , and X-23 are seen along with an alternate version of Xorn. Jean Grey
28836-512: The younger Nate to re-power the machine and return himself and Sugar Man to Earth-616. This leads to a rift between Forge and Magneto, who believed they should have allowed Nate to stay so that he could help them fight Apocalypse. Later, in X-Man #53 and #54, Nate, Jean Grey, and Cyclops run across a temporal rift that brings an infinite processing plant to Earth-616. In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and miniseries to celebrate
29014-565: Was a four issue miniseries intended to reintroduce the Age of Apocalypse version of Blink as a teaser to the Exiles ongoing series. This story takes place prior to the "Age of Apocalypse" main events, but is largely set in the Negative Zone . Blink becomes lost in the Negative Zone after attempting to incite Blastaar towards war with Apocalypse and instead joins a rebellion against Blastaar alongside her lover, who turns out to be
29192-592: Was able to defeat Rhino. Nightcrawler then took up the name of Creepy Crawler when he was targeted by Orchis Hounds who consist of the Technarchy-possessed Animax, Cloak and Dagger , Fatale, Feral , and Reaper. It was also during this time that he started an affair with Silver Sable, and he also encountered Mystique, whose memory had been warped by Professor X, tormenting her with guilt over her loss of Kurt right after his birth. Nightcrawler managed to restore Mystique's full memory, learning in
29370-493: Was also making deals with the Human Resistance. It has since been revealed that when the Celestials had come to Earth, they tried to resurrect Apocalypse by rewrite his genetic code to form a new body. After a small team of X-Men went investigate the ship they discovered that Apocalypse was already in the form of a child which Weapon X effectively kills despite Jean's pleas. With the death of the child, Weapon X took on
29548-531: Was also published, featuring art from Art Adams . Excalibur #12 began the "Cross-Time Caper", a planned 9-issue arc sending the characters to a wide variety of alternative Earths. The following issue saw the debut of a new costume for Captain Britain; it had been designed for the character's primarily black-and-white British appearances, but Davis found the American colourists were frequently making mistakes and so simplified it. However, in 1990 and partway through
29726-435: Was bookended by two one shots, X-Men Alpha and X-Men Omega . The storyline starts with Legion (David Haller), a psychotic mutant who traveled back in time to kill Magneto before he can commit various crimes against humanity. Legion accidentally kills Professor Charles Xavier , his father, leading to a major change in the timeline. The death of Professor Xavier leads Apocalypse to attack 10 years sooner than he did in
29904-524: Was decided to make Nightcrawler German. Although an X-Men character for years, Nightcrawler did not get his own comic book title (written and drawn by Cockrum) until November 1985. In the four-issue limited series Nightcrawler , along with Lockheed , accidentally travel to several alternate dimensions , meeting strange beings such as the Bamfs . After various adventures, Nightcrawler and Lockheed manage to get home safely. A second four-issue limited series
30082-412: Was executed because he was a potential contact for Gwen Stacy . T'Challa and Namor perished when Wakanda and Atlantis were attacked by Apocalypse. Frank Castle went missing following a mutant raid on a Buddhist temple where he had sought peace after the death of his family. Reed Richards and Johnny Storm sacrificed themselves in the evacuation of Manhattan Island . Some characters escaped
30260-549: Was extended after his revival both due to outside assistance and a later enhancement to his powers, thanks to a deal he made with a demonic race of Bamfs loaned to him by Azazel. Nightcrawler can warp greater distances by locking onto them as a form of waypoint marker to teleport longer distances, even trans-dimensional ones. Beyond the use of his own demonic companions Kurt can now seemingly transport himself longer distances without tiring, be they local or continental in range, having teleported over 7,800 mi (13,000 km) from
30438-460: Was in a much better state, he still missed his own and he wanted to return to fight Weapon Omega. After managing to avoid Wolverine, who was hunting him down, Nightcrawler eventually tracked down another exile from his world: Dark Beast, however, unbeknownst to them, due to the dimension-hopping activities of various superheroes and villains, the walls in the netherspace have become weak and began to crack. The rift first became known on Earth-TRN262 in
30616-569: Was instead filled by new character Nimrod . Some of the planned storylines would later be used for the X-Men arc " Fall of the Mutants ". Meanwhile while plot-lines in Uncanny X-Men had seen the popular characters Nightcrawler , Shadowcat and Colossus - as well as the Rachel Summers incarnation of Phoenix - sidelined. The new roster featuring Havok , Longshot and Dazzler proved popular and were central to Claremont's plans for
30794-534: Was portrayed by Alan Cumming in the feature film X2 (2003), while Kodi Smit-McPhee played a younger version of Nightcrawler in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Dark Phoenix (2019). Dave Cockrum originally created Nightcrawler while he was in the United States Navy , stationed at Guam . He recounted: "I sat up one night in the middle of a typhoon because it
30972-489: Was possessed by Hellverine , Nightcrawler entered his friend's mind to help him drive out the invader. The other X-Men who entered Logan's mind to help him assumed that Nightcrawler was just a manifestation of Wolverine's mind, rather than the real one. Nightcrawler spent his sojourn in Heaven alongside Professor X, but despite enjoying paradise, Nightcrawler continued to feel as though he had unfinished business, remaining on
31150-427: Was published in November 2002. Written by Chris Kipiniak and penciled by Matthew Dow Smith , it focuses upon Nightcrawler's decision to become a priest and his attempts to fight a group of slave traders. In September 2004, the first Nightcrawler ongoing title was published by Marvel, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with covers and pencils by Darick Robertson . The series was canceled with issue twelve. In 2014,
31328-402: Was put in charge of a team of X-Men to go help save Magik. Upon entering Limbo, Kurt, Mercury, Colossus, Rockslide, Pixie, and Wolverine fought their way through many demons. Pixie, Mercury, and Rockslide were horrified at how brutal the older X-Men were towards the demons. An octopus-type creature attacked Kurt until Pixie jumped in and killed it with her Souldagger. Hearing the screams from
31506-445: Was raised by all the members of the circus, who had no prejudices against mutants, except for the ringmaster, Herr Max Getmann. However, Margali took up the role of Nightcrawler's unofficial foster mother. Kurt grew up happily in the circus, and his two closest friends were Margali's son Stefan and daughter Jimaine. Long before his teleportation power emerged, Wagner had tremendous natural agility, and by his adolescence, he had become
31684-485: Was too noisy to sleep, so I stayed up and thought up this character. Originally, Nightcrawler was a demon from Hell who had flubbed a mission, and rather than go back and face punishment, he decided to stay up here in the human world. He was supposed to be the sidekick of another superhero character that I had created named The Intruder." At this point Nightcrawler wore trunks instead of a full costume, but otherwise looked identical to his final version. Cockrum submitted
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