Warning! Spoilers ahead for Way of X #2
In the latest issue of Marvel’s new Way of X series, Nightcrawler is officially leaving his faith behind in favor of building a new one for all mutantkind. Kurt Wagner’s Catholic faith has been an integral part of his character for years, so seeing him leaving it behind is certainly a dynamic moment for the teleporting mutant. That being said, it makes a certain amount of sense given the emerging culture the X-Men and their fellow mutants have found themselves in with their new island nation, and Nightcrawler has taken it upon himself to fashion a whole new belief system for all mutants on Krakoa.
Wanting to form his own religion is not that new of a concept for Nightcrawler. Ever since the nation of Krakoa was first formed, Nightcrawler has made it his intention to form a new mutant faith, as he shared last year with Cyclops in X-Men #7 from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Leinil Francis Yu. Much of his desire comes from the fact that Krakoa has cracked the code of resurrection, meaning that mutants can never die. This has led to a new mindset and culture, especially with younger generations of mutants who now hold a cavalier attitude towards death. In Kurt’s own words: “Think about it. Mortality. If one cannot die—if one is immortal—then what lure is eternity?…Is our true cross now the burden of creating heaven on Earth?” Cleary, the new status quo for mutantkind has created a lot of conflict within Kurt as a devout Catholic.
Now, Way of X #2 from Simon Spurrier and Bob Quinn sees Nightcrawler face to face with Legion, the volatile, unpredictable, and extremely powerful son of Professor X. In the issue, Legion makes a deal with Kurt, freeing Nightcrawler’s mind of a corruption within it. In exchange, Legion wants Kurt to destroy his brain so that he can be resurrected on Krakoa with a full body. However, this technically constitutes as murder, a mortal sin according to his faith. However, Nightcrawler goes through with it all the same, seemingly making the decision to leave his traditional beliefs behind.
With Kurt’s act of murder, Legion gets a new body with his subsequent resurrection, and Nightcrawler is apparently the only mutant he trusts, unwilling to work with his father Xavier or Magneto. Apparently, Legion is now completely on board, wanting to help Kurt form his new religion to help shape the hearts and minds of Krakoa going forward. However, that does come with quite a big of responsibility for Nightcrawler, seeing as how Legion could destroy the world with a thought.
In any case, it’s going to be interesting to see where Nightcrawler goes from here. Kurt’s faith has been tested numerous times in Marvel Comics’ past, and he was even once a priest despite having traveled through the depths of Hell. While some may be hoping that Nightcrawler will find a way to incorporate his faith in God into the new religion he’s building, his actions in this new issue seem to indicate a pretty hard deviation, as he’s moved beyond asking the Lord for forgiveness. However it all plays out, it’s pretty clear that Nightcrawler’s is entering into a pivotal time not just for himself personally, but for the X-Men’s nation as a whole.
