In a world brimming with Omega-level mutants, indestructible warriors, and reality-bending psychics, it seems nearly impossible for a soft-spoken blue mutant to be considered the strongest of the X-Men.
And yet, according to legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont, the most powerful member of the team isn’t Magneto, Jean Grey, or Wolverine, it’s Kurt Wagner, better known as Nightcrawler.
Chris Claremont Believes Kurt Wagner’s Faith Makes Him A Powerhouse Beyond Just Muscle
Chris Claremont’s revelation during his panel at the Huntsville Pop Culture Expo 2025 caught fans off guard. When asked the classic question, “Who is the strongest X-Man?”, he paused and delivered an answer no one saw coming. “The closest I would say is Kurt,” he said. But it wasn’t Kurt’s teleportation ability, agility, or swordsmanship that earned him the title in Claremont’s eyes, it was his faith.
“Faith is an essential part of his life,” Claremont explained, adding that Kurt’s connection to his beliefs is “very centered, very personal. And very real.” This quiet strength, death, and even literal trips to Heaven are what truly sets Nightcrawler apart. By all traditional superhero standards, Nightcrawler is not the strongest. He doesn’t have Cyclops’s destructive optic blasts or Storm’s command over the weather.
Nightcrawler has died. He’s been to Heaven. He remembers it. And yet, upon returning, his greatest struggle wasn’t physical, it was spiritual. How do you practice faith when you’ve seen the divine firsthand? How do you pray to a God you’ve already met? That level of existential crisis would shatter most people, mutant or not. But Kurt carries on faith. He doesn’t let doubt consume him. And he’s right. While most superheroes fight to protect the world, Kurt fights to believe in it. He chooses compassion over vengeance.
Why Nightcrawler Deserves His Place Among The Greats
It’s easy to confine Nightcrawler to the role of support. However, that’s a gross underestimation of what he brings to the X-Men. Beyond his combat prowess and lightning-fast reflexes, Nightcrawler is often the emotional and moral center of the team. He is the glue that binds the trauma-ridden team together. Even Claremont admits there is no definitive answer to who is “the strongest,” because real strength is situational.
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Moreover, his choice of Kurt speaks volumes about what we value in our heroes. Strength isn’t just about being able to win a fight, it’s about being able to keep fighting when everything inside you says to stop. It’s about holding on to hope and faith when the world is falling apart around you. Claremont’s statement isn’t just a compliment to Nightcrawler, it’s a critique of how we define heroism.
Kurt Wagner is not flashy. He is not feared. He is not the most powerful in any measurable sense. But he is, perhaps, the most enduring. And as Nightcrawler faces retirement in the current continuity, fans are left wondering: Is Marvel preparing to test this faith once more? Will Kurt be forced to confront the very beliefs that made him who he is?
