8 X-Men Characters You Didn't Realise Had Died

Kurt Wagner is the soul of the X-Men. A man of many hats, Nightcrawler has been a jokester, a confidant, a swashbuckler, a leader, and most of all, the moral center of the team. This is all to say this character means a lot to both fans and the X-Men themselves. But honestly, Nightcrawler felt a bit out of place on the X-Men roster in the late 2000s. For whatever reason the character felt aimless. He still carried that emotional role on the team, but with such an everchanging and expanded roster, he seemed to always be on the periphery. So it's for that reason that he was chosen to be the sacrificial lamb of the "Second Coming" storyline in 2010.

X-writers needed a death that would mean something, and Nightcrawler fit the bill. He gave his life by teleporting to protect Hope Summers and preserve "the mutant messiah." Like most of the characters talked about on this list, Nightcrawler stayed dead for a couple of years but was brought back to the X-Men after giving up his spot in heaven to save his friends. Tough break.

Ultimately, Nightcrawler's death is forgettable for its brevity and his relative insignificance in the comics at the time. As sad as it is to say, few readers could tell he was gone.