Marvel Reveals Mystique Is Not An X-Men's Mother - She's Really His [SPOILER]
Contains spoilers for "X-Men Blue: Origins" #1 (by Si Spurrier, Wilton Santos, Oren Junior, Marcus To, Ceci De La Cruz, and VC's Joe Caramagna)
One of Marvel's most complicated origins has just been updated, as a Nightcrawler storyline more than 35 years in the making finally comes to fruition. The truth surrounding Nightcrawler's birth is revealed in "X-Men Blue: Origins" #1 from Marvel Comics. The teleporting mutant's biological parents are firmly established as Destiny and Mystique, with the latter taking the form of a man to help conceive him.
In the comic, Nightcrawler, currently operating as the Uncanny Spider-Man following the fall of the mutant paradise Krakoa, encounters his mother Mystique, and the two have an emotional conversation regarding his upbringing. After he helps her escape a dark place in her mind, she brings up her past relationships. Mystique talks about how she was a fool for having an affair with the demonic mutant Azazel while married to a businessman she used for social status, believing she loved him. But her real love was her current wife, Destiny.
Mystique reveals she rewrote her DNA to change from a woman to a man to conceive Nightcrawler with Destiny. She pretended to be pregnant alongside her love — even growing a fake baby bump — to trick everyone from the truth, including Azazel, who believed he was the boy's father. However, he was only told that so he could shift his focus and make sure his dark ambitions seen in Destiny's visions never came true. After giving up her child, Charles Xavier wiped Mystique and Destiny's minds to hide the pain and trauma of losing her son. Now, she remembers everything.
Mystique and Nightcrawler's relationship is complicated
Nightcrawler, created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, has been tied to Mystique for decades. In their first encounter in "Uncanny X-Men" #142 (by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin, Glynis Wein, and Tom Orzechowsk), the shapeshifter told him that while they looked similar, he should ask his adoptive mother about the real truth. Several years later, Claremont planned on revealing that truth — but the story never came to pass. The relationship was finally clarified in "X-Men Unlimited" #4 (by Scott Lobdell, Richard Bennett, Steve Moncuse, Glynis Oliver, and Dave Sharpe), which explained Mystique was his mother, but Destiny had no involvement in his birth — despite Claremont reportedly originally planning on having Mystique transform into a man as the father and have Destiny as his mother.
In "Uncanny X-Men" #428 (by Chuck Austen, Sean Phillips, Dave McCaig, and Rus Wooton), Marvel filled in the gap for who Nightcrawler's father was with the storyline revealing Mystique married businessman Baron Christian Wagner while having an affair with Azazel, with Baron becoming his biological father. However, with "X-Men: Blue Origins," the entire storyline is revealed to be a mirage created to protect Destiny and hide her pregnancy from the world.
Why didn't Chris Claremont's original Nightcrawler origin happen?
Chris Claremont's plans — making Mystique and Destiny Nightcrawler's biological parents by allowing the former to change their gender and biology — were a brilliant way to explain how the mutant has two mothers. However, his efforts to introduce the storyline were met with considerable pushback. Former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter reportedly had a "no gays in the Marvel Universe" policy in the 1980s, making a relationship between Destiny and Mystique impossible.
Further complicating matters against queer relationships in comics was the Comics Code Authority's stance on the subject. Writing about the issue for CBR.com, comic book historian Alan Kistler noted Shooter's censorship and adherence to the CCA's rule-bending to try to blacklist queer characters led him to give Claremont a firm "no" when it came to his original plans.
"Some believed that this meant the shapeshifter was Nightcrawler's mother. But Mystique was often seen in the company of a woman named Destiny and the original intention was that they were lovers," Kistler wrote. "What's more, a story was going to reveal that Destiny was actually Kurt's mother and that Mystique, while in the form of a man, had been his father. This story was given a definite 'no' and so Mystique was indeed revealed to be Nightcrawler's mother."
As a result, Claremont's plan was scrapped. But in the present day, the origin story is finally getting the spotlight it deserves.
It's better late than never for Claremont's origin story
With "X-Men Blue: Origins" #1 finally making Chris Claremont's idea for Nightcrawler's parents canon, Marvel has righted a considerable wrong. Nightcrawler's history always felt somewhat off, and the explanations about his parents never felt fully fleshed out. The new storyline is a win for representation. This isn't just because Nightcrawler's parents, Destiny and Mystique, are a queer couple; adding a new wrinkle to the latter's powers also means she can change not only appearances but genders as well. While the X-Men have done a great job representing all types of diverse people, sexualities, and identities, Mystique's new intersex-like power capabilities are something new for Marvel's mutants.
While it took over three decades to happen, it's good that Marvel never gave up on telling the story of Nightcrawler's true parentage. "X-Men Blue: Origins" offers a satisfying explanation of Mystique and Destiny's relationship, further defines the former villain's unique powers, and declutters Nightcrawler's origin in a way that doesn't ignore his history. The story was worth the wait and will be remembered as one of the best and most important comics Marvel has published in the modern era.
"X-Men Blue: Origins" #1 by Marvel Comics is available in comic book stores and in-store now.