Marvel just retconned Nightcrawler and Mystique’s relationship in the most X-Men way possible (2024)

A longstanding untold X-Men story has now finally made it to the page in X-Men Blue: Origins #1, shedding a monumental new light on the history of one prominent mutant family with ramifications that could go far beyond those directly involved in the revelation.

Spoilers ahead for X-Men Blue: Origins #1

X-Men Blue: Origins #1 by writer Si Spurrier, artists Wilton Santos, Oren Junior, and Marcus To, color artist Ceci De La Cruz, and letterer Joe Caramagnainvolves a difficult emotional conversation between Nightcrawler and Mystique, in which Mystique reveals long kept secrets about Nightcrawler's true parentage.

For years, it's been understood that Nightcrawler's mother is Mystique, while his father is the demon Azazel. But X-Men Blue: Origins #1, Mystique confesses that Azazel is not Nightcrawler's father - she is. And what's more, Mystique's beloved Destiny is Nightcrawler's actual mother.

As it turns out, Mystique used her mutant shapeshifting powers to change not just her appearance, but even her reproductive organs, allowing her to impregnate Destiny, who then physically gave birth to Nightcrawler nine months later. In the meantime, Mystique used her shapeshifting abilities to appear pregnant herself, explaining flashbacks we've previously seen of Mystique being pregnant.

But Azazel isn't totally disconnected from the process either, as Mystique reveals that she used Azazel's genetic code as the basis for her transformation, meaning that Nightcrawler does indeed share a genetic connection to Azazel even though the demon is not actually his father. This connection is no coincidence, as it's revealed that Destiny had a vision that Azazel would conquer the world if they didn't distract him by making him think he had a son, leading to the birth of Nightcrawler.

The connection to Azazel and to Destiny's prophecy is also why Mystique and Destiny abandoned him as a child, in order to ensure that Azazel's conquest would be prevented. Mystique and Destiny also had Charles Xavier alter their memories of the entire pregnancy, birth, and abandonment of the child to keep them from undoing the circ*mstances preventing Azazel from taking over the world.

So there you have it - Mystique and Destiny are officially Nightcrawler's parents. This is a concept that longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont wanted to introduce back in the '80s, but the idea was dropped because it was deemed too controversial for the time. Now, decades later, comics are finally in a place where Marvel decided the story could be told, marking the resolution of one of the oldest pieces of apocryphal X-Men lore.

Keep up to date with all the new X-Men comics Marvel has planned for release.

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