10 More Most Inappropriate Marvel Comics Storylines Ever

4. Nightcrawler Becomes The Pope

The Punisher Black
Marvel Comics

Much like hearing the words One More Day puts a cold shiver down the spine of Spider-Man fans, the mutter of Holy War amongst X-Men readers will generate a similar such uncomfortable reaction.

Again from Chuck Austen's run on Uncanny X-Men - 2003's Uncanny X-Men #423 and #424, to be precise - this tale finds Kurt Wagner corrupted by a villainous group of the Catholic Church who seek to erase any and all mutants. As part of this scheme, these sinister sorts have Kurt shapeshift into the form of the Pope.

In a loose sense, it's not the central plot of Holy War that's particularly inappropriate, but more in how poorly handled all of this is. What could've been a nuanced, thought-provoking delve into the extremes of Catholicism when it comes to those who are 'different', is instead delivered in a ham-fisted, cartoonish, zany way that makes it impossible to take seriously.

Far too bonkers to be cited as an exploration of problems with the Catholic Church, Holy War is just an all-round clusterf**k of the highest order. There's a small semblance of a point to this story, but any points of validity are lost in a sea of cartoonish slapstick.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.