- —Kurt Wagner[src]
History
Much of Kurt Wagner's early history mirrors that of his Earth-616 counterparts.
Origins[]
Kurt Wagner was a mutant and an early member of the X-Men, a team of mutant heroes brought together by Professor Charles Xavier. Kurt also served for a time with Excalibur, a team of heroes led by Captain Britain.
Mutation of Humanity[]
Following the mutation of humanity, the X-Men disbanded due to the death of Professor X and the fact that everyone on Earth was now a mutant. At some point during this time, Nightcrawler rejoined Excalibur. During one of their missions they battled the Grey Gargoyle, who turned the entire team into stone. Nightcrawler and Captain Britain managed to escape. Nightcrawler did so by teleporting away, finding himself in a small town. For reasons unknown, Nightcrawler found himself to be a regular human, without the ability to teleport. Once seen by the villagers, he was instantly attacked for being normal and was left for dead. [1]
The dying Nightcrawler was found by Mephisto, who brainwashed him by tapping into his doubts that those he defended, who often hated him, were simply not worth the effort. Through Mephisto's manipulation, Kurt became Belasco, the demon lord of Limbo. Believing himself to be the figure written about by Dante Alighieri, he was frozen in ice by Mephisto.[2]
Many years later, when Captain America and Mar-Vell traveled to Limbo on a quest to gather items of great power for Mar-Vell's war against Death, they were met by Mephisto, who tempted Captain America with a device that would allow him to travel through time. Rogers rejected him, and in doing so, inadvertently sent Belasco back in time.[2]
As Belasco, Kurt became an enemy of the X-Men, unwittingly fighting his former friends and even his past self. He kidnapped Illyana Rasputina, the sister of his teammate Colossus to make her his disciple. Mar-Vell would later speculate that Kurt did this because he subconsciously wished for the X-Men to return to Limbo in order to save him, but the end result was that Belasco would move the X-Men backwards and forwards through time, creating team after team of X-Men for him to manipulate and kill.[2]
Belasco was eventually defeated by the X-Men in the past, but many years later, he would return to Limbo and gain mastery of the Dire Wraiths who had been banished there.
Return to Nightcrawler[]
After the Celestial embryo within the Earth had been excised by Galactus, the Earth faced complete ecological collapse due to the loss of mass brought about by the removal of the embryo.[3] This would lead the nation Wakanda, aided by several of Belasco's former teammates in the X-Men, to seek refuge in the Savage Land, dangerously close to the gateway to Limbo that now lay open.[2]
Belasco launched an attack on the Wakandans and his former friends at the head of an army of Dire Wraiths. He was confronted by Mar-Vell who revealed the truth of his manipulation at the hands of Mephisto.[2] Deeply disturbed by Mar-Vell's words, Belasco traveled into the tunnels of Limbo to prove Mar-Vell wrong. To his chagrin, he discovered the frozen corpse of the original Belasco, the Italian sorcerer written of by Dante, and realized that Mar-Vell had been right.[4]
When the world was saved from imminent collapse, and the Wakandans and X-Men began to rebuild, a bitter Kurt watched them from afar, wondering why the X-Men had failed to redeem him, when they had redeemed so many of their former enemies.[5]
Paradise X[]
Within a year, Kurt had begun to recover his identity. He made a new home for himself in Hell's Kitchen, becoming the neighbourhood's guardian.[6] He attended the wedding of King Britain and Queen Medusa, which also served as an impromptu reunion for the X-Men.[7]
Due to Mar-Vell killing Death, none were now able to die. The brightest minds of the world decided that a new Death needed to be found, and chose Jude the Entropic Man to take Death's place. While Jude would grant the gift of death to those who wished it. Those who were unworthy of the gift however were instead given over to Kurt, who maintained the connection to Limbo he had as Belasco, and transported the damned there.[8]Attributes
Powers
As Nightcrawler, Kurt had the same abilities of his Earth-616 counterpart. As Belasco it is assumed that he had the same abilities of his Earth-616 counterpart as well. When his past as Nightcrawler was revealed, Kurt regained the ability to teleport himself along with others to Limbo without artificial means, much in a similar fashion as Nightcrawler could teleport (in this case however, the "bamf" smoke is red as opposed to purple).
It was later revealed by 4-D Man (Kyle Richmond) that Nightcrawler's teleportation technique was unique in that Nightcrawler's teleportation was a form of time travel. However, unlike most forms of time travel in the Marvel Universe, Nightcrawler would travel in a way that would not create a divergent reality.Notes
- As Nightcrawler, Belasco had only 3 fingers (including an opposable thumb) on each hand, and only 2 toes, each longer than an ordinary human's, on each foot, a prehensile tail about 3 1/2 feet long, which can carry his own weight, had pointed ears and pronounced fang-like canine teeth. His spine is more flexible than an ordinary human being's, allowing him to spend much of his time in a semi-crouching position without damaging his posture and enables him to perform contortionist-like feats.
- As Belasco, he has red skin, horns protruding from his forehead, a prehensile tail and pointed ears. His feet and hands however were much like a humans. Belasco is also missing his right arm, however it may be possible that his right arm can be surgically reattached to his body. It is unknown if this procedure has been done, however it is assumed that this arm would resemble that of Nightcrawler, unless Belasco is aware enough of his level of mutation in which he could then reshape his arm to resemble the rest of his body.
See Also
- 16 appearance(s) of Kurt Wagner (Earth-9997)
- 3 mention(s) of Kurt Wagner (Earth-9997)
- 3 image(s) of Kurt Wagner (Earth-9997)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Kurt Wagner (Earth-9997)