Uncanny Spider-Man: Marvel Teases Huge Secrets For Its Mutant Wall-Crawler

Whether in comics, television, or film, Nightcrawler has remained one of the most popular members of the X-Men over the decades despite never getting a solid origin story. Fans may know his birth mother is the shape-shifting Mystique, but there have been a lot of half-truths and rumors along the way. Now, the teleporting, fuzzy blue mutant will get a definitive origin story in Marvel Comics' "X-Men Blue: Origins #1," hitting the marketplace in November.

The story was teased at San Diego Comic-Con, and Marvel released an official press release further promoting the new one-shot. It'll be written by Si Spurrier ("Uncanny Spider-Man," "Legion of X") with art from Wilton Santos ("Star Wars: Doctor Aphra," "Dawn of X") and a cover by Francis Manapul ("The Flash," "Justice League"). From "Fall of X" to the upcoming "X-Men: Hellfire Gala," both of which will factor into determining the future of Marvel's mutants, the X-Men will be front and center in a lot of stories coming up, but the promise of "the definitive origin story for Nightcrawler" may just be the pièce de résistance for many longterm X-fans.

The basic outline of Nightcrawler's tragic and mysterious origin has been that he was born Kurt Wagner, the son of Mystique and Azazel, both of whom are mutants. Kurt was born visibly mutated and was subsequently shunned by society, but there are many gaps in his story to be filled. "X-Men Blue: Origins #1" should make things a lot clearer and help audiences better understand the teleporting blue devil.

Francis Manapul/Marvel Comics

Francis Manapul's cover art shows Nightcrawler in his "Uncanny Spider-Man" suit (which will be introduced and explained before this issue hits) and a gun-toting Mystique jumping away from what looks like a mechanical hand, perhaps from a Sentinel. The image is dynamic yet vague, which aligns with the press release's promise of the mother-son duo teaming up "in a mold-shattering tale that exposes secrets held for decades and redefines both characters forever!"

Writer Si Spurrier provided his perspective on working on such an important comic, explaining, "With this book, we're breaking new ground in more ways than one. We're walking this path with the deepest love for Nightcrawler and Mystique, and the deepest respect for the formative stories that surround them. And yet ... by shifting perspective ... by wondering which parts of the standard history can be trusted and which are unreliable ... by climbing into the minds and memories of mother and son alike... we're enriching their shared tale in a way that will cast fertile shadows across everything they do from now onwards. This is one of those books that will be discussed for years to come."

Thanks to his work on "Legion of X" and the upcoming "Uncanny Spider-Man," few modern comic book writers understand Nightcrawler as well as Spurrier, so he's well-suited to provide the definitive origin for the iconic character.

"X-Men Blue: Origins #1" will be available for sale on November 29.