Warning: contains spoilers for Immortal X-Men #4!
One of the most beloved X-Men heroes, the iconic Nightcrawler, just witnessed an impressive yet disgusting upgrade to his teleportation power courtesy of the gene manipulator Mister Sinister. After having a secret of his revealed to the Quiet Council in Immortal X-Men #4, the always-scheming Sinister uses Nightcrawler’s powers to escape their clutches… while also making Krakoa’s leaders gag.
Nightcrawler’s infamous teleportation abilities are not simply a way for him to transport from one place to another in the blink of an eye. Kurt actually travels through an alternate dimension known as the “Brimstone Dimension” to move from place to place on Earth. It has long been established that Nightcrawler’s teleportation therefore causes a slight smell of brimstone, the sulfuric smell of rotten eggs, to emerge from his teleportation ‘BAMF’s.
Nathaniel Essex, the longtime X-Men villain turned Krakoan leader known as Mister Sinister, is not just a master gene manipulator but also a brilliant inventor, as proved by the recent reveal that he has discovered a way to harvest, clone, and utilize the powerful mutant ability of Moira X. Sinister’s history, and potential future, is even more complex than one would imagine, with Cyclops discovering that the Orchis leader and X-Men enemy Doctor Stasis is actually another Mister Sinister who claims to be the original. In Immortal X-Men #4 – written by Judgment Day architect Kieron Gillen with art by Michele Bandini – Emma Frost reveals this secret to the entire Quiet Council, prompting Mister Sinister to attempt to run away from the Council, hoping to use his Moira clones to restart the timeline. To get away from the Council leaders, Sinister throws a ‘smoke grenade’ to the ground, which immediately releases a huge “BAMF,” teleporting Sinister away with Nightcrawler’s classic blueish purple smoke. As the smoke clears, Mystique and Nightcrawler realize that Sinister has somehow increased the brimstone smell, turning the teleportation device into a stink bomb.
It is still impressive that Essex found a way to recreate classic mutant abilities with technology, further proved by him throwing a bunch of “M” balls – seemingly a reference to Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man – which cause a series of Sinister multiples to appear out of nowhere, aiding in his escape. Sinister is a predatory psychopath who masks the threat he poses with a humorous and charismatic personality (one he created by sampling Deadpool’s DNA), so his childish decision to make the most objectionable aspect of Nightcrawler’s powers even grosser is both an amusing detail and yet another instance of him manipulating how he’s seen by others.
The amoral and manipulative Mister Sinister has done a lot of terrible things in his long publication history, and turning Nightcrawler’s infamous teleportation abilities into a literal stink bomb proves that regardless of his place on the X-Men’s Quiet Council, he will never respect anyone but himself.
Immortal X-Men #4 from Marvel Comics is in stores now.
