X-Men fans hate that Nightcrawler is a murderer in Fall of the House of X

X-Men fans went into Fall of the House of X expecting big action but were surprised to discover fan-favorite Nightcrawler written as a cold-blooded killer.

One of the biggest surprises to come out of the end of the X-Men’s Krakoan age was Uncanny Spider-Man and its sister spin-off, X-Men Origins: Blue.

Both books were surprisingly deep, introspective character studies into Nightcrawler, a fan-favorite X-Man who has been a superhero, a swashbuckling pirate, a devout religious icon, and more.

Uncanny Spider-Man examined Nightcrawler’s more heroic side amid the chaos of Krakoa’s fall, but he’s been the moral compass of the X-Men ever since his debut way back in Giant-Size X-Men. This might explain why so many fans were shocked to see him portrayed as a cold-blooded killer in a recent story.

Nightcrawler is a cold-blooded killer and fans hate it

In the current mini-series Fall of the House of X, Nightcrawler has been alongside Wolverine, Colossus, and Shadowkat as they strike Orchis from the shadows.

But Fall of the House of X #2, which puts the team in space alongside Magneto’s daughter, Polaris, as they raid an Orchis space station. There, Nightcrawler is almost cavalier in how willing he is to execute Orchis soldiers, which some fans on Reddit took issue with.

Was surprised to see this in the new Fall of The House Of X
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“I’d be okay with Kurt wantonly killing an enemy who is part of the group currently hunting them to extinction but only if it was uniformly applied in the same issue…but really, what the hell was that?” one user said.

“Yeah, I’m all for Orchis getting what’s coming to them, but Kurt casually killing mooks seems extreme.” another said. “If he did this to Doctor Stasis, I’d cheer. Doing this to a random no-name grunt is messed up.”

“I think the Krakoa era has evolved his belief system from devout Catholic to something new.” another pointed out, referring to Nightcrawler’s character arc throughout 2021’s Way of X and 2022’s Legion of X. “They were setting him up to be the priest of a new religion. And there’s no commandment against dumping fash into space.”

It’s the latest of a host of criticisms levied against the books in the Krakoa era, which have been slowly setting up a proposed grand finale.

Many have taken issue with how the books are setting up the characters, with X-Men like Cyclops spending multiple issues promising to do something cool and then doing nothing. For Nightcrawler, many of the fans point their fingers squarely at the writer of Fall of the House of X, Gerry Duggan.

“Yes, Duggan, everyone knows that Nightcrawler fucking loves to kill people.” one user said, calling out just how out of character the moment is.

“Definitely out of character (especially after the excellent “Uncanny Spider-Man” series). But of course, this is Duggan who has had Kate go full slaughter everyone ninja, so …” one user added.

“Duggan is phoning it in compared to Ewing and Gillen and it shows glaringly.” another user said, drawing a comparison to the well-received X-Men Forever and Rise of the Powers of X. “Seems like lots of stuff in this issue happened off panel and it makes for a poor reading experience.”

Fall of the House of X #2 is available now from Marvel Comics.