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xxxxxCommonly known as the fuzzy blue elf, Kurt Wagner is a seemingly endless font of good cheer, wit, witticism, adventure and Teutonic charm all rolled up into one velvety exterior. He's a well-known lover of old cinema, pirates and anything that involves swashing buckles, but he's just as well-known as a supportive shoulder to lean on when times get rough.
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xxxxxKurt doesn't know who his true parents are--although that never much mattered to him. What he knows is that as an infant, barely hours old, he was found in the reeds of a Bavarian river by Margali Szardos, the fortune teller of a traveling circus based out of Munich. Already the mother of Stefan and Jimaine Szardos, Margali took the young, strange-looking boy in as her own, naming him after the local Baron. Despite having been born with his physical mutation, Kurt grew up very happy in the circus with his brother and sister. He was never accosted for his appearance by the circus members, and as long as he did not show himself to the vistors outside of the context of being 'in costume', he was never hassled by the people in the towns either. It was an idyllic, almost fantasic upbringing, and Kurt spent much of his time learning various performer's skills or watching old movies--he had a natural attraction to things involving swashbuckling leading men, especially Errol Flynn.
xxxxxKurt's natural agility and reflexes led him to be on obvious pick for the circus' acrobatic and trapeze acts. His ability to teleport himself or others, which manifest when he was thirteen, only made him a more natural choice for the dangerous trapeze stunts, and soon 'The Incredible Nightcrawler' was the star of the Munich Circus and the most well-recieved acrobatic act--with the help of Jimaine Szardos--in all of Europe. The energetic duo attracted the attention of an American businessman, Amos Jardine, who one night offered Kurt and Jimaine the opportunity to move to his own circus in Florida and "make it big" in America. Starstruck and overjoyed at what seemed like a chance of a lifetime, the pair agreed, and the entire family packed up to join Jardine in the Everglades.
xxxxxIt was an offer too good to be true. Immediately upon arrival, Jardine drugged Kurt, causing him to be unable to access his teleportation ability, and locked him in a cage. Jardine kept Kurt docile with a combination of drugs and threats against his mother and siblings, only releasing him once a night to perform in the big-top as the trapeze act's antagonist.
xxxxxThis inhumane treatment continued for two years, until Charles Xavier heard word of the unfortunate mutant held in a cage, being drug across the Southern United States. Representatives from the school were sent immediately, and Kurt was freed from Jardine's clutches. Frustrated at his treatment and wanting to help other mutants who might be as unfortunate as he was, Kurt chose to return to New York with the representatives from the school, while Margali, Jimaine and Stefan were safely returned to the Munich Circus.
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