Logo of the Marvel Animation series X-Men ’97 as seen on Disney+

Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Edited by The Christian Citizen.

The X-Men, a group of mutants that use their powers for good, are struggling to figure out who they are in society after losing their beloved leader Professor X at the end of the original series. Magneto, the main villain who was once friends with Professor X, becomes the X-Men’s leader, and his motives are always questionable. Dividing lines form among the X-Men. There is betrayal and loss and acts of genocide—but nothing quite prepares the viewer for the loss of Remy, aka Gambit, a beloved character in the X-Men Universe.

It was comforting for me as a viewer to have Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, step into the role of priest. Nightcrawler is a mutant who, despite having a demonic appearance with blue skin, fangs, and a tail, was raised in an abbey by monks who protected him. He is a devout Catholic. Among the mutants, he often appears in the role of a community chaplain, whether he is coordinating with other communities of faith among mutants in Genosha (a nation comprised of all mutants) or providing spiritual guidance individually.

In this season’s X-Men ’97, episode seven, a funeral is held for Gambit, who sacrificed himself to destroy the enemy attacking Genosha and stop the genocide of mutants. Nightcrawler wears a clerical collar with a white alb and a purple stole. He holds a Bible in one hand while touching Gambit’s casket. Nightcrawler delivers a eulogy that shares how it was Gambit’s imperfections—indeed, his “sins” as Nightcrawler boldly claims—that made him who he was. Gambit’s previous life of crime and particularly his gambling skills had actually caused him to be willing to risk the odds for others. “How could Remy, so tuned to potential, fail to see how his sins had made him into a hero?” At that, Nightcrawler sheds a tear for his friend. “Every gambler has a tell,” Nightcrawler said to the mourners. “Modesty was Gambit’s.”

In a moment of extreme grief, for both the X-Men on the show and for the fans watching, including myself, Nightcrawler served as a minister. He was honest about the devastating power of grief and found a way in Gambit’s eulogy to both honor who he was and give hope to the rest of us—including those of us watching with tears on our cheeks.

Nightcrawler as priest has a point of view unique to the other X-Men. While Professor X might see how mutants and human beings need one another, and other X-Men see how they need each other, Nightcrawler as priest sees everyone’s individual gifts. He looks at each member of the X-Men and human being with the view of 1 Corinthians 12, that we are all part of a body together and individually members of one another. It is our individual gifts that make us important to the body of Christ as a whole. While the only moment the viewer sees Nightcrawler in clerical garb is at Gambit’s funeral, Nightcrawler still acts as a priest throughout the rest of the series, and I believe he can be an example of how to do ministry in the community.

Nightcrawler as a priest has the effect throughout X-Men ’97 of helping each mutant understand that their gifts are unique, special, and necessary for the good of all people. He is serving in the capacity of helping equip others to care in the community, while also providing spiritual support and grief counseling as needed.

We can learn from Nightcrawler how to identify the gifts of all people around us, regardless of their background, as necessary for the greater community, and how we might also minister among others. I believe, as our context of ministry is changing, that we have a need for pastors in the community to serve as public chaplains, helping others form and find spiritual community. This involves taking the concept of the priesthood of all believers to another, more universal level—that all of us are valued, all of us have gifts, and that we need each other. In a deeply politically divisive time, how can we transform our communities if we don’t value each neighbor? If we don’t see the potential in each person to bring their gifts? If we begin with the premise that each person has value as a child of God, we can see beyond someone’s faults and see their potential. Nightcrawler saw Gambit’s sins as what made him most human.

Nightcrawler also experienced the violence of those who wanted to kill him because he was different. He saw the capability of great evil among both human beings and mutants through systemic sin and violence. People both knowingly and unknowingly participate in systemic sin. However, our struggle is not against people of flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of evil (Ephesians 6:12). When we see one another as children of God, we can see how systems and structures of evil affect us and shape our worldview.

From Nightcrawler, we have an example of how to resist the forces of evil while still valuing each person, even those we might see as enemies. Unlike the usual superhero trope of good guys vs. bad guys, where the good guys win and the bad guys are defeated, Nightcrawler reminds us that our hope as people of faith is for every person to win, for everyone to be forgiven, for everyone to be redeemed, for everyone to be valued and loved.

We might also recognize the grief in the wider community—a grief compounded by a continuing COVID-19 pandemic, war, climate change—and what our role might be as ministers in care for others outside of the church. Our role might be to find the stories of redemption and hope in narratives of loss and despair and remind ourselves of the greater story we are all part of, with each other. Sometimes those stories are lived out among us, and sometimes they are the ones we find on screens, in books, and graphic novels.

Perhaps in this divisive election year, we can learn from Nightcrawler and metaphorically fight against systemic evil, while clinging to the inherent goodness in all of God’s children and refusing to give up on it.