Marvel has been teasing fans with the secret origin of X-Men fan-favorite Nightcrawler, and not only did we get that twist – the reveal also redefines everything we know about Nightcrawler’s mother, Mystique, and her shape-shifting powers!
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In the highly-anticipated X-Men Blue: Origins #1 Nightcrawler (in his “Uncanny Spider-Man” guise) finally corners his mother Raven Darkholme/Mystique for a talk. Mystique’s head has been a mess since she resisted Charles Xavier’s telepathic command for all mutants to leave Earth, to escape the mutant massacre at the Hellfire Gala. Raven ended up having long-suppressed memories unlocked by the incident but was unable to maintain her reality in the process. Nightcrawler finally gets her talking – and we get a major retcon of Nightcrawler’s origin.
Nightcrawler’s Secret Origin Explained
In X-Men Blue: Origins #1 we learn that the previous Nightcrawler story – Mystique playing the wife of Baron Christian Wagner, only to have an affair with the mutant immortal Azazel and birth Nightcrawler – was all a ruse. In truth, Mystique kept her longtime lover and wife Destiny (Irene Adler) close as one of Wagner’s servants, and together they conceived Nightcrawler, in order to cement their love and bond and start a family together. Mystique mimicked a pregnancy using her powers, and eventually killed her husband, replacing him in public. Irene kept her pregnancy under the radar living in secret luxury with Raven, and eventually, she gave birth to Kurt/Nightcrawler after a painful, bloody, labor which the future-seeing mutant knew she would have to suffer through.
When Azazel’s devilish ways inspired a mob to storm the Baron’s home, Mystique fled with Kurt into the woods for safety. She left the baby stashed away to go back for Destiny but ended up losing them both that night. She floated through life in self-destructive nihilism for years until Destiny resurfaced, pulling Raven in to raise a different child (Rogue), claiming that Kurt needed to follow his destiny as a suffering savior of mutantkind. When Mystique could get over losing their son to a prophecy, she and Destiny went to see Charles Xavier, who replaced Mystique’s memory with the new story of Azazel being the father, and her abandoning him, to help convince her that she let go voluntarily.
Mystique’s New Powers Explained
How did Mystique conceive Nightcrawler with Destiny? Kurt Wagner is the first one to ask that question that Marvel fans everywhere were asking as they read the reveal.
A memo from mutant scientist Doctor Nemesis included in X-Men Blue: Origins #1 explains that Mystique has actually been mistakenly classified as a shape-shifter: in fact, it turns out that she is a “gene-shaper,” able to rewrite “the genomic instructions in every single cellular nucleus of her body. All at once. And all without conscious thought.” In basic terms that Mystique herself expresses: lifetimes of mimicking both men and women – often for long periods – made it possible to mimic everything needed to pass on her genetic material to Destiny and create a baby. Let your imagination fill in the rest.
It’s a pretty good twist on both who Nightcrawler and Mystique are as characters – and X-Men Blue Origins #1 ends with mother and son clearly more closely bonded now that the truth is out. Whether or not Destiny will be able to join them for full family reunion, remains to be seen…
X-Men Blue: Origins #1 is now at from Marvel Comics.
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Image Credit: Marvel Studios
