Kurt Wagner
Kurt Wagner is 5’9, with the lithe build of an acrobat. While he’s not as muscle-packed as some of his compatriots, his fists still get the job done. His flexibility and agility are due in part of his unique spinal structure, which ends in his tail.
Physically, Nightcrawler is easily recognizable by his striking appearance. He has dark blue-colored skin and fur, paired yellow eyes that seem to glow. Each hand has three digits— two fingers and a thumb— often times his tail can act as a third hand in many ways. His tail is strong and agile, capable of grasping objects and aiding in his acrobatic feats, even sword fighting.
Unless Kurt is standing in direct sunlight, shadows seem to converge over his features and shift as he moves. His hair is black and generally kept shortish, curling at the ends if he lets it.
His face has sharp features, with rather high cheekbones, and his smile usually allows his fangs to peak
In his youth, Kurt was lighthearted and more of a jokester, taking things far less seriously than perhaps he should. It was a coping mechanism to be sure. As he grew into adulthood, he retained his jovial stance and witty way of speaking, but he grew increasingly more compassionate and understood when serious matters arose, a quippy joke rarely helped.
While he still maintains his penchant for humor in dire situations, Kurt is a genuinely kind person, determined to see the best in most people until they give him a reason not to. He is fiercely loyal to his friends and allies, often putting himself in harm's way to protect them. Kurt’s combination of moral integrity and deep Catholic faith has shaped him to be the type of person who would rather not kill if he can help it. He doesn’t relish the idea of violence but understands sometimes it’s a needed evil.
Kurt is good with people, charming to a fault, and quick to help when cooler heads should prevail. If he can charm a situation, he will, and will generally choose to be the bigger person in most conflicts unless he is pushed.
Kurt is something of a ladies man; he’s a giant flirt and takes immense pleasure in engaging others, playing both the gentleman and the swashbuckling rogue.
While he is religious and takes deep comfort in his faith, Kurt is not one to accept bigotry in the name of God. He believes that love is love and people should be allowed to thrive without hate and judgement.
Born in Bavaria, Germany, Kurt had grown up being told he had been found abandoned as an infant by Margali Szardos, a Roma woman with the circus. Margali took the infant in to raise along with her two other children, Stefan and Jimaine. While Kurt’s physical mutations of blue fur, yellow glowing eyes, and a tail have been present since birth, his power to teleport and climb walls didn’t appear until puberty.
Despite this, his acrobatic performance was second to none and he quickly became the star acrobat in the circus. While he was never officially adopted by anyone, he was raised with love in the circus save for the Ring Master, Getmann. The audience was made to believe that his devil-like appearance was merely a costume. His closest friends were Stefan, for whom he was like a brother, and Jimaine who was less like a sister and more like a first love.
His happy days at the circus ended when Kurt was 17, and Getmann sold the circus to a billionaire, Amos Jardine. Jardine promised Kurt he would continue to be an acrobat in Florida where he would move the circus to, but the reality was he dissolved the circus entirely and drugged Kurt to use as the main selling point in a freak show.
Kurt was saved by an unknown mutant boy who, upon seeing the trapped mutant, the young boy slipped away from his mother and freed Kurt. Himself again, Kurt waited until he was able to ambush Jardine and contact Jimaine. Jimaine, while overjoyed to hear from Kurt, confided that shortly after Kurt left, Stefan had started acting strangely.
An understatement to be sure. Stefan had actually started killing children near the Black Forest, convinced children were actually demons he was exterminating. Using money he stole from Jardine, Kurt headed straight back to Germany, intent on finding and helping Stefan. Finding his brother among the bodies of slain children, Kurt did his best to subdue Stefan and in the consequential fight, accidentally killed Stefan.
The townspeople, hearing the ruckus, investigated and concluded Kurt must be a demon and the murderer of the children around. A chase ensued, a mob formed, and if a certain Professor X had not intervened, Kurt Wagner would have surely been killed himself.
Joining with Xavier was a momentous occasion in Kurt Wagner’s life. He trained and studied to hone his power and joined the X-Men. While he never divulged the complete story to his past to his new friends and family, he has explained enough to keep it from being a lie. He has enjoyed his time as a teacher and mentor with the X-Men and at the institute. Recently, Kurt has returned from an extended trip to Europe and is ready to rejoin the school and team.
