Summary
As a member of the X-Men, Kurt Wagner’s Nightcrawler has long been an acrobatic crime-fighter, and an essential voice of optimism and faith for Marvel’s mutants. However, after the disastrous events of the Mutant Massacre, he’s one of the few mutant heroes left in operation, now going by the codename of the Uncanny Spider-Man. In fact, fans who picked up the recent Uncanny Spider-Man #1 (by Si Spurrier and Lee Garbett) saw Kurt unleash an unfamiliar power – a glowing cutlass known as the Hopesword.
The Hopesword is an incredible new power for the X-Men’s teleporter supreme, and one with immense potential – especially as he begins a new career as New York’s latest spider-themed hero. Acquiring the weapon almost destroyed Nightcrawler, and has left him one of the most wanted men on Earth, but the power also promises to elevate him from an X-Men team-player to a mighty solo hero.
What Nightcrawler’s New Hopesword Power Can Do
The Hopesword is the metaphysical manifestation of Nightcrawler’s hope, and resides within his body while not in use. Kurt can draw the Hopesword from his chest and use it as an unparalleled cutting weapon – one which was able to defeat Mother Righteous, whose magical capabilities are in Marvel’s A-tier. The sword is incredibly sharp, and can slice through firearms with little effort (as seen in Uncanny Spider-Man #1), but can also cut through magic. The Hopesword was based on the Soulsword wielded by Illyana Rasputina’s Magik, which is essentially an anti-magic weapon, able to break spells, counteract possession, and kill spirits – it’s likely the Hopesword has the same capabilities.
However, because Nightcrawler’s new weapon is literally his sense of hope, being separated from the weapon can leave him in a state of immense spiritual pain, and even alter his personality. It’s also possible this link works in reverse – that the sword will become less effective if Nightcrawler loses hope. Despite this, his bond with the weapon transcends death, suggesting he may be able to reclaim it magically when it’s taken (though that has yet to be confirmed.)
How Powerful Is Nightcrawler’s Hopesword?
The Hopesword was coveted by both Mother Righteous and Margali Szardos, who each possess magical powers comparable to the Sorcerer Supreme. This is chiefly because Nightcrawler is one of the most hopeful individuals in existence, and his faith in goodness has withstood endless punishment due to the world’s prejudice and constant attacks on his friends and allies. Nightcrawler’s spiritual potential is immense, and this defines the Hopesword’s power.
Crucially, Nightcrawler is the founder of the Spark – a philosophical system adopted by the mutants of Krakoa, who required a new system of morality after discovering how to transcend death by resurrecting fallen mutants. In Legion of X #10 (by Si Spurrier and Netho Diaz), Szardos stated that the Hopesword transcends Magik’s Soulsword, saying, “you have turned the void within you into a spark to light the world … that is the strongest magic there is.”
Where Nightcrawler’s New Hopesword Power Came From
Recently, Nightcrawler was transformed into a monstrous, demonic form, and forced to carry out a series of assassinations in order to destroy the X-Men’s reputation. It turned out that Margali Szardos was behind Kurt’s suffering. Szardos is Nightcrawler’s adopted mother and a former Sorceress Supreme, with magical knowledge equal to Doctor Strange (who she has fought to a stalemate in the past.) Szardos was hired to transform Nightcrawler (and other mutants) by the human supremacist group Orchis, but took the opportunity of his near-loss of faith to strip the hope from his body and fashion it into a weapon.
This weapon was later taken from Szardos by Mother Righteous, who freed Nightcrawler from Orchis control, but resolved to keep the sword as her payment in X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X #1 (by Si Spurrier and Phil Noto.) Nightcrawler’s allies disagreed, and attacked Mother Righteous, with Nightcrawler fighting her to a standstill. Mother Righteous killed the assembled team and escaped, but when they were resurrected by the X-Men shortly afterwards, Nightcrawler found he still had the ability to summon the sword, showing that he had truly reclaimed his hope and gained a powerful new weapon in the process.
Why Is Nightcrawler’s New Power a Sword?
There are several reasons that Nightcrawler’s new power takes the form of a sword. First, because he is a former wielder of Magik’s Soulsword, and the weapon left a magical imprint on his psyche – one that Szardos used to make stripping away his hope even easier. Second, Nightcrawler is a swashbuckling hero who is obsessed with the movies of Errol Flynn – for decades, he has used the X-Men’s holographic Danger Room to play at being a pirate, and even when he died and went to Heaven, he found himself battling evil with a cutlass in hand – there’s no weapon that better embodies Kurt’s soul.
Finally, swords are one of the major Minor Arcana in cartomantic magic, and play a big part in Marvel’s mystic lore. Nightcrawler’s Hopesword joins a long list of magic blades wielded by Marvel heroes, including Magik’s Soulsword, Black Knight’s Ebony Blade, Valkyrie’s Dragonfang, and Faiza Hussain’s Excalibur.
The Hopesword Represents Nightcrawler’s New Era as a Solo Hero
It’s no coincidence that Nightcrawler gained a new power right before he became the Uncanny Spider-Man. With most of Earth’s mutants believed dead, the remaining X-Men are scattered, living essentially separate lives while fighting back against Orchis – the perfect chance for Marvel to explore Nightcrawler’s potential to carry his own title. While traditionally a member of the X-Men, Nightcrawler has long had the potential to become a solo hero, with stories like Age of X-Man: The Amazing Nightcrawler (by Seanan Mcguire and Juan Frigeri) depicting him as a Spider-Man-esque solo crime-fighter.
As he battles new villains, makes a potential love connection with Silver Sable, and gets a new origin story alongside his biological mother Mystique in the upcoming X-Men Blue: Origins #1 (Spurrier and Wilton Santos), the Hopesword is part of a larger initiative to bulk out Nightcrawler’s world and treat him as a hero in his own right (even though no-one actually knows why he’s chosen Spider-Man’s identity to do it yet.)
Nightcrawler’s Hopesword Could Reinvent X-Men’s Underrated Hero
Nightcrawler’s Hopesword has manifested at the start of a new era for the hero, giving him an additional power to go with an entirely reimagined status quo. Hopefully the magic-severing sword will lead to many unique adventures, as the X-Men’s ‘Fuzzy Elf’ searches for a purpose beyond being the team’s resident optimist – with this new superpower, there’s never been a better time to be a Nightcrawler fan.
Uncanny Spider-Man #1 is available now, with X-Men Blue: Origins #1 coming November 29.
