Nightcrawler

In the form of a German noblewoman, the shape-shifting mutant Mystique married Baron Christian Wagner. Meanwhile, Mystique had an affair with the mysterious Azazel from La Isla des Demonas and became pregnant with their child. Azazel told Mystique to raise their child as if it were the Count's. A heartbroken Raven agreed and, while Christian did become suspicious as to the baby's paternity, his sudden "accidental" death ensured no one else heard his suspicions. The baby was born visibly mutated with blue fur all over, pointed ears, iridescent eyes, and a prehensile tail. Due to the shock and the strain of the boy’s difficult delivery, Mystique lost concentration and accidentally revealed her true form. Word spread of her and the baby's condition and mother and son were chased by a torch-wielding angry mob. Mystique passed out and left young Kurt Wagner floating down a river during her escape.

Circus Life
Miraculously, the baby survived and was saved by Margali Szardos, a sorceress and Romani queen, who became a fortuneteller at Herr Getmann's Traveling Menagerie. Margali took the baby back with her to the circus. Wagner was never legally adopted by anyone but was raised within the circus, mostly with people who had no prejudices against "freaks" save for the ringmaster, Herr Max Getmann. Margali acted as Wagner's unofficial foster mother. Wagner grew up in Max Getmann's Circus and his two closest friends were his "adopted" brother and sister, Margali's natural children Stephan and Jimaine Szardos. Later, Kurt and Stephan forged a true friendship as they grew older, and Stephan knew that his magical heritage might lure him to evil one day. So, Stephan had Kurt promise him a blood-oath, that if he ever killed without reason, Kurt would kill him as well. Long before his teleportation power emerged, Wagner had tremendous natural agility and by his adolescence he had become the circus' star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human being wearing a demon-like costume.

As he got older, Kurt's abilities drew less and less of a crowd until one day, Herr Getmann could no longer afford to keep him sedated between acts and decided to sell him. Fearing the worst, Margali worked with Armen Freilich to free Kurt. As he fled, he accidentally knocked over a torch, igniting the circus. Getmann and his men chased Kurt through the forest and were about to shoot him in the face when he teleported for the first time. Astonished and pleased with his escape, Kurt wearily made his way to the nearby Father Wagner's church. Two days later, he was discovered and welcomed and Kurt happily found a home trading shelter for labor. One evening, Armen burst in the door, apparently being chased by Getmann and his goons for escaping. Father Wagner tried to stop them from taking the boys, but the men proved too strong and set the church on fire during the brawl. Kurt ported Armen to a nearby farm before going back and beating on Getmann. Just as he was about to kill Getmann, Father Wagner reminded Kurt of his humanity. With the tides turned, Getmann and his men took aim to kill both Kurt and the Father but were frozen. Professor Charles Xavier had arrived and taken control of the angry mob's minds, programming them all to remember Kurt dying in the fire.

Years later, the Texas millionaire Arnos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida, heard of the circus Wagner worked for and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus. However, he demanded that Wagner be placed in the circus' freak show. Appalled, Wagner quit and made his way towards Winzeldorf, Germany, where Stephan was. Kurt discovered that Stephan had gone mad and had brutally slain several children. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner found Stephan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Wagner unintentionally broke Stephan's neck. Then the villagers of Winzeldorf, who assumed him to be a demon who was responsible for the child killings, discovered Wagner. They were about to kill him, when they were all psionically paralyzed by Professor Xavier, who had come to recruit Wagner into the X-Men. Wagner agreed to join the group, but before they left for America, he and Prof. Xavier went to the Bavarian circus so that Wagner could explain to Margali about Stephan's death. However, Margali was not there and she held Wagner responsible for murdering Stephan.

X-Men
Wagner helped Prof. Xavier and Cyclops rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. After most of the original team left for a time, Wagner, along with fellow new recruits Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Banshee, and Thunderbird, stayed at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as members of the new X-Men. The second group of X-Men were mostly adults and required no tutoring from Professor X, but trained in the use of their powers, in the Danger Room.

Kurt met Amanda Sefton and the two began to date. Investigati