Come watch the fanboy cry

 

It should be noted that before this Rant, there was another Rant. A Rant that dealt entirely with Marvel.com online Bios. Well, those Bios no longer exist and so that Rant is worthless since the information I was talking about is no longer there. So this Rant is dealing with the same subject, but will be a lot better than the old Rant as well. If you wish to check out the old Rant, you can do so HERE.

But anyways, my main reason for doing a Rant on Nightcrawler's physical stats is because of misconception. He's too often described as someone who's just peak human and that's simply not true. It's not stated in the comic, not shown in the comics, and it's not stated by writers outside the comics. It's stated by MISINFORMED comic readers who base their judgment off a few issues they've seen with him. Or worst yet, simply dislike the character so they refuse to give credit to what he's done. There's so much that the character can do and has done. It only has to be shown.

That is why I'm doing this Rant again. Because it needs to be done.

Rant - December 9, 2002 (below)
Rant - Janurary 5, 2003 (click here)

Strength

What strength class is Nightcrawler in? Heck if I know. Nightcrawler's strength class is the most undefined aspect of his physical stats. There's no flat "he can lift this much" answer out there. So I do pretty much the only thing I can do. I look at a bunch of old feats he's done to see if it places him at a superhuman level. Here are a few of those things.

* X-Men Unlimited #4 - Dangles a man over a ledge with one hand. And managed to do so while crouching.

* Uncanny X-Men #99 - Used a steel pipe to bash in the skull of a Sentinel taking it out. And this is about as early in his career as you can get.

* X-Men Annual #5 - While still in midair, can completely change his momentum and throw his foe.

* Uncanny X-Men #119 - He's said to be as equally as strong in his tail as he is arms. And proves so here in this pic.

* Excalibur #57 - That same tail he would later use to control the arms of a troll who was effortlessly smashing through cement blocks earlier.

* Excalibur #58 - Punches out a 40 foot troll

* X-Men #99 (New) - I think another perfectly clear example is in this X-Men issue. Here we see what happens when Nightcrawler was a human. It's clearly stated in the caption that Kurt fails to keep up with his mutant hologram and falls because he no longer has the strength he used to as a mutant. It's not hard to see that when Kurt was a human he became significantly weaker. So it only stands to reason that Nightcrawler does NOT have the strength of someone who merely worked out really hard. If that was the case, he wouldn't of had such a drop off (or any drop off since only his powers would be gone, not his strength).

* Vol. 1, No. 8 August, 1983 Page 5 of the Marvel Handbook - It was also stated that Nightcrawler has more muscles in his body than a normal human as well. This is again proven in the above pic. It is also stated in that issue that Nightcrawler had an enhanced skeleton as well.

So what strength class is Nightcrawler in? I still don't know. All I know is that "strong human" is about as inaccurate as you can get.

Speed/Reflex

If you don't think Nightcrawler has above human speed you need you head examined. Lets look at some pure speed moments both with powers and raw physical speed.

* Uncanny X-Men #99 - From the next page of that fight, here's Nightcrawler flexing some raw speed. Notice how Cyclops is STILL trying to dodge out the way and in that time Nightcrawler has already moved to three different spots.

* Spider-Man #162 - Manages to hang in pure hand-to-hand with Spider-Man. If that doesn't take speed, nothing does.

* Uncanny X-Men #102 - Look at how close Juggernaut's fist is to Nightcrawler's face and he still has the speed to dodge him.

* X-Men Unlimited #4 - Even has the reflex speed to port out of the way of bullets AFTER they've been fired.

* Nightcrawler #1 2nd pic (from first series) - Was using his speed and agility to outpace homing missiles.

* X-Men #100 (post-revamp) - Want a Spider-Man style maneuver? Check out this pic where Nightcrawler beats this guy senseless. Or at least attempts. His durability is too high for Nightcrawler to damage, so the guy just kinda took the hits and then beat the crap outta Kurt every time Kurt started to slow down.

* Excalibur #9 - So badly outpaces an alternate version of Captain Britain it's not even funny. Without even trying Nightcrawler is almost completely around him before "Cap" could turn around.

* Pics From A Fellow Fan 2nd pic 3rd pic - Here we see Kylun (a later member of Excalibur) struggling to nail Kurt whom has a broken leg. Talk about outpacing your opponent in speed...

* And scanning all the times he's dodged multiple gunfire or dodged a physical attack is pointless. He's been doing it since he was a rookie.

Durability

Nightcrawler isn't the most durable X-Men out there, but he's taken his fair share of hits. Lets start the countdown with Spider-Man #162. In my opinion, that was probably the best hit he's ever taken from a stronger opponent, but not the strongest opponent he's taken a hit from and gotten right back up. The difference between the Spider-Man hits and the rest is that the rest are considered "glancing" blows and not the raw straight punches Spider-Man landed. But these are blows from MUCH stronger opponents (aside for some like the Ani-Men or the robot).

* Spider-Man #162 - Pics found on pic page.

* Uncanny X-Men #95 - The X-Men do battle with Nefaria's Ani-Men. Frog-Man gets the drop on Nightcrawler, slamming both powerful legs into his body full force by surprise. Kurt is knocked to his knees, but otherwise okay. Frog-Man gasps, "You're still conscious? That would have flattened a DOZEN men!"

* Excalibur Air Apparent, 2nd pic - A robot with super strength punches him across a mall and he's right back up the next panel.

* Excalibur #43, 2nd pic - Again here, two very well placed glancing blows from the real Captain Britain (who is in the Class 80 range) and Nightcrawler still gets back up and continues the fight.

* X-Men Annual #7 - Look at this hit from Sebastian Shaw. The full out punch took out Rogue who was amped up She-Hulk's power. For Nightcrawler not to be knocked out is impressive indeed... But as you can see, Impossible Man makes his escape on that panel as well thus ending the fight. And the fight doesn't end with Nightcrawler in the best of positions. ^_-

* Uncanny X-Men #159 - Here he takes a hit from Marvel's version of Dracula, and while he's hurt, he's fully capable of continuing the fight later. Mind you, this Dracula effortlessly grabbed Colossus' fist and threw him through a punch of trees.

/Rant

Now, there are probably a lot more things I could complain about at this point (and probably will in the future ^_-). But these are the three basics stats I think a lot of people underestimate Nightcrawler in. And I'm really not that surprised at it. Unless you have your own book, you really have no credibility anyway. Look at Colossus. He's supposed to be an unstoppable monster and one of the most feared "Big Guys" in the Marvel Universe. But most of his time with the X-Men involved him getting beat down like a dog. That same theory can pretty much be applied to a lot of the X-Men. But that doesn't mean that the X-Characters don't have some pivotal moments in their past where they showed what they were fully capable of.

And that is why I do this Rant.

So I hoped you learned something whilst reading my little Rant. And until next time, good-bye.