Who he is: Nightcrawler, a.k.a. Kurt Wagner
His power: Nightcrawler can teleport and has enhanced agility, a prehensile tail, and blue skin that allows him to blend into shadows.
His story: Nightcrawler’s greatest superpower is his ability to steal the show. His debut in X2 as a teleporting mutant assassin attacking the president in the White House is the first great action scene in the X-franchise, and Kurt Wagner only becomes more compelling as he reveals his past growing up in the circus and dedication to his Christian faith despite his demonic appearance and the torture he endured as an unwilling participant in William Stryker’s Weapon X project. After befriending Jean Grey and Storm, Nightcrawler proves his worth to the X-Men by saving Rogue when a missile hits the X-jet, and his memories help the X-Men find Stryker’s base for their rescue mission. Nightcrawler joins the team for their subsequent visit to the president, but he disappears after X2 and doesn’t make any other X-movie appearances until his return in the new timeline following X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
The Kurt Wagner of X-Men: Apocalypse is much younger and has been spared the Weapon X torture by joining the X-Men after Mystique finds him fighting Angel in a mutant fight club. Mystique brings Kurt to Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters, and his joyful wonder at being saved from forced cage fighting and thrown into the world of ’80s American excess is the bright spot in a far too dark film. Kurt’s trip to the mall with Cyclops, Grey, and Jubilee saves him from the latest attack on the school, and he teams up with the other young mutants and their older mentors to recreate the ending of X2 by launching a rescue mission on Stryker’s base. Kurt once again fights Angel (who has gotten a power upgrade from Apocalypse) and saves Professor X from Apocalypse’s consciousness-passing ritual, and decides to continue as a student after the X-Men stop their ancient purple opponent.
Played by: Alan Cumming in X2, Kodi Smit-McPhee in X-Men: Apocalypse
Currently, Nightcrawler is: A student at Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters, probably wearing his sweet red Thriller jacket.
Where will we see him next? He’ll most likely appear in the sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse, which is rumored to be set in the ’90s and take the mutants to outer space. Expect Nightcrawler to be the first mutant to rock a Starter jacket in orbit.