BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
One of the many things Kurt Darkholme soon learned on this world was that this reality’s version of Mystique was an enemy of the X-Men, as was his friend and ally, Sabretooth. More jarring to him, though, was learning that not only was his 616-counterpart dead, but that he had been beloved by all of his friends during his lifetime. 
The outpourings of affection he received when mistaken for Nightcrawler-616 came as a shock to Kurt, and he often scolded his dead counterpart’s friends for embracing him. He was equally gruff with his teammates Wolverine, whom he reprimanded for affectionately calling him “Elf,” and Deadpool, whose alternate-reality counterpart he had personally murdered. When Deadpool told him he could always leave if he hated their world so much, Kurt reminded him he had a mission to finish and that they said they would help him. Beyond that, though, he saw no reason for them to pretend they were friends. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #19-20]
When X-Force’s teammates Psylocke and Fantomex were kidnapped by the Captain Britain Corps and taken to Otherworld, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Deadpool traveled there to rescue them, only to find themselves in the midst of legions of monsters laying siege to the Corps’ Omniversal Tower. Overpowered, X-Force fled, but were stopped in the woods outside the Starlight Citadel. There, they encountered another set of soldiers—this one led by Excalibur’s Meggan, who, like so many others, had feelings for the Nightcrawler she once knew. After she planted a kiss on his lips, Kurt informed her he was not the same man. Still, he stayed behind with her to defend the innocent civilians from the invading army while Wolverine and Deadpool snuck into the tower to put an end to the conflict. As they fought alongside each other, Meggan’s feelings for Nightcrawler grew—not just because he resembled the man she once knew, but because she sensed he was truly a good and honorable man. He reciprocated her feelings and was about to share a kiss with her when her husband, Captain Britain, interrupted. Together, they fought to stave off the armies outside of the tower Omniverse. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #20-23]
After the diversion in Otherworld, Kurt continued his quest for revenge. His first target was his old teammate and friend Iceman, who had betrayed him and the X-Men in the fight against Weapon Omega. Kurt couldn’t abide the fact that the traitor Bobby Drake was enjoying himself while all of his friends were dead and his world suffered. With single-minded determination, he ambushed Drake at a brothel in Madripoor and, after a brief tussle, teleported him into an industrial furnace completely devoid of moisture. Without any ambient water to fuel his powers, Drake was at Nightcrawler’s mercy. Kurt showed none, however, and hurled his old friend into a furnace, ignoring his pleas for grace. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #24]
Over time, Kurt did actually grow to like Wolverine, and asked for his help in tracking down another Age of Apocalypse refugee, the Blob. Although he told Logan it wasn’t any more personal than the rest of the enemies on his list, he concealed the fact that the Blob had, in fact, murdered his wife. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #25]
Shortly thereafter, X-Force fell victim to a deadly, orchestrated ambush by their enemies, a new incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that happened to include Mystique, Sabretooth and the AoA’s Blob. Although Wolverine, Deadpool and Nightcrawler initially managed to escape with their lives, the Brotherhood then detonated a quasi-nuclear force at their headquarters. The team only escaped thanks to their ally Gateway’s final act. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #26-27]
X-Force regrouped and launched a covert assault on the Brotherhood’s hideout on Genosha. They commenced their infiltration by capturing Mystique. Kurt took the opportunity to converse with this reality’s version of his mother while she was held captive aboard their ship, despite the warnings of his teammate EVA. Kurt told Raven that, while he loved and revered his own mother, he had no such feelings for the pale shadow of her he saw before him. Mystique, however, accurately sensed that Kurt sought revenge and convinced him to turn on his teammates in return for giving him the Blob. Kurt reluctantly accepted, with the intention of double-crossing Mystique as soon as he got his revenge. To commence the betrayal, he and Mystique poisoned Wolverine while he was battling the Brotherhood, allowing them to take him prisoner. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #31-32]
In return, Mystique lured the Blob into the aquarium chamber for a meet-up. Kurt ambushed the man and attempted to stab him, only to find his skin impenetrable. While taunting Kurt for eating his wife, the Blob knocked him through the aquarium’s glass. In response, Kurt grabbed a small shark and teleported it into the Blob’s ample stomach. As the shark tore the Blob apart from the inside-out, Kurt watched with glee, basking in the dying man’s death rattle—the most satisfying noise he had ever heard.
Unfortunately, immediately after crossing that name off his death-list, EVA confronted him for betraying his team and jeopardizing their mission. Nightcrawler tried to explain to EVA that he intended for his betrayal to be temporary and planned to help his teammates after dispatching the Blob, but he found EVA inconsolable. After getting impaled by one of her blades, he teleported away, hoping his teammates would someday understand why he did what he did. Before he fled, however, he found Mystique and rescued her from her losing fight against X-Force. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #33-34]
After they were safely out of harm’s way, Mystique offered Kurt a place within the ranks of the Hand. Not only would her army of ninja assassins greatly value his skills, but he had gotten his revenge and had no reason to return to his ravaged home world. Kurt disagreed. He declined her offer and insisted he needed to return home. [Age of Apocalypse (1st series) #13]
Before making his way back home, Kurt decided to track down this reality’s version of his love, Linda. He managed to find her and, after some mild stalking, realized she was deeply in love with the man in her life. As painful as it was, Kurt realized this woman would never be his Linda, and 
gave up on the idea of being with her. During this diversion, he was fully aware that Wolverine and the X-Men were pursuing him. When they were within earshot, he shouted that he had no regrets for what he did and never would. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #59]
Later, Kurt ambushed his fellow AoA-refugee McCoy and demanded he return him home. With their usual means of transdimensional travel unavailable to them, they resorted to desperate measures to get back to the Age of Apocalypse. Unfortunately, their tinkering disrupted the already fragile transdimensional fabric and created an open tear in the multiverse. Kurt, not realizing the gravity of the situation, teleported through with McCoy anyway, ignoring the latter’s insistences that they close the portal before it grew out of control. Once back in his native reality, Kurt learned from McCoy that Weapon Omega had been defeated and all of his former X-Men teammates were dead, 
except for Jean Grey and Sabretooth, who had been depowered and were now rolling with a group of hardened human warriors called the X-Terminated. Kurt didn’t believe him, but soon learned for himself that it was true; there was nothing left for him in the Age of Apocalypse at all.
Kurt also discovered the portal he and McCoy had opened was growing out of control. To make his situation even stickier, Wolverine and the X-Men from the 616 universe arrived looking to capture Darkholme for his misdeeds. Just as they arrived, another group of dimension-hopping X-Men—one that included a much younger version of Nightcrawler named Kurt Waggoner—arrived to help seal the open portal. They all agreed the portal needed to be closed immediately, as it had opened a fissure in space, but they couldn’t seal it in time to prevent three ancient monsters from emerging. These monstrous embodiments of death had been imprisoned outside the multiverse by their creators, the Celestials, and had now broken free thanks to the gradual wearing of the multiversal structure by excessive transdimensional travel. To his horror, Kurt realized that his selfish desire to get revenge and return home may have endangered countless lives throughout the multiverse.
While their teams generated a plan to stop the invading extradimensional monsters, Nightcrawler got the chance to chat with the young Mr. Waggoner. He was as icy and gruff toward him as he was to everyone else he met but, when he sensed that the kid blamed himself for unleashing the monsters, Kurt, burdened with guilt, reassured him it was not his fault.
After one of the unstoppable monsters traveled through the portal to the 616 universe, half of the heroes followed the creature to stop it, while those who remained, including Kurt, dealt with the two left in the Age of Apocalypse. They decided to empower Jean Grey with an Apocalypse Seed culled from Weapon Omega and use its powers, which were an anathema to the monsters, to defeat them. After recovering the remnants of Apocalypse’s power, however, McCoy ambushed the heroes and stole the Seed, intending to become its host. Kurt helped retrieve the cannister from McCoy and got it to Jean. Meanwhile, the younger Kurt Waggoner sacrificed his life to teleport all three of the monsters into the same place so that Jean could use the Apocalypse force to kill them all at once. Kurt Darkholme was touched by his noble counterpart’s sacrifice.
Inspired by young Mr. Waggoner’s actions, Kurt volunteered to ferry his allies between the two universes so they could execute their final attack on the monsters. Teleporting back and forth between the two realities through the portal proved difficult, however, as its structure impeded his movement and drained his energy. Even worse, as he traveled through the rift, he could see waves of billions more of the monsters traveling toward the dimensional rift.
Back in New Apocalypse, the heroes realized they needed to imprison the monsters within a single universe once again to prevent them from spreading through the multiverse and destroying its structure. Because the monsters were already in New Apocalypse, they decided that needed to be the prison—meaning Kurt’s recently liberated homeworld would soon be dominated by monsters once again. Still, it needed to be done. First, though, they had to get the heroes back to their home reality and find a way to seal the portal, tasks for which Kurt Darkholme volunteered.
After he got everyone back to their respective worlds, Kurt realized he could use the strange fabric of the portal to close it on itself, effectively sealing New Apocalypse from the rest of the multiverse. However, it was clear to everyone, including him, that he would lose his life in doing so. This didn’t bother Kurt—he felt this mess was his fault and had nothing left to live for anyway. Summoning up the last of his strength, he said his goodbyes to his dead wife Linda, teleported into the portal, and sealed it shut as the energies consumed him. Kurt Darkholme may have made mistakes that led to much anguish, but he died a hero who saved the multiverse from destruction. [X-Termination crossover]