Clash of the Comics 32 - Brainiac and Nightcrawler
By RazzaTazz 7 Comments
Brainiac's background is a little convoluted as he is one of the oldest Superman villains. The modern version is basically an alien intelligence that wants to collect information, but this may mean things like killing people or shrinking cities and stealing them.
Nightcrawler is German born, mutant, who unlike most other mutants, demonstrated his mutation from birth, being blue and furry, with a few less fingers than most and a tail. He could not teleport at first though, which was unfortunate given all the times people shouting at him for being a demon and the amount of time people threw stale fruit at him. He was raised by a gypsy but his biological mother was Mystique and a man named Eric Wagner. Well... a dodgy retcon by a writer who didn't realize the carefully considered reasoning that Nightcrawler was poignant because despite looking like a demon, his parents weren't, and his personality and mannerisms were far from demonic and this Azazel was reported as his father. Oh the humanity. Anyway, Nightcrawler ended up with the merry mutants the X-Men.
SC: Although I am a fan of convolution and I rate intelligence as one of the, if not the best trait to excel in... *smile* I like Nightcrawler's original origin. Its a well crafted, simple but effective premise.
Tammy: I like Nightcrawler as well for a more solid and well characterized origin
Powers:
Super strength (sometimes through force fields), technopathy, telepathy and telekinesis. Also quite intelligent.
Being a bamf, being able to teleport in rapid succession, via way of shifting himself into another dimension and reappearing though that dimension at another point in his home dimension. His agility is enhanced, he has sharp teeth, he blends well into the shadows, his tail is prehensile... actually Nightcrawler has like 1000 minor powers, but the ability to teleport, leaving a brimstone vapor and purplish smoke puff is his main power. Also makes a badass bamf sound.
SC: I like Kurt's powers more, and there are quite a lot of minor powers really all due to his mutation, Brainiac would probably be the one walking away though if they ever decided to dual over the last slice of Pizza.
Tammy: I think Brainiac would take this as he goes toe-to-toe with Superman regularly
Personality:
Kind of robotic, he tends to regard things quite pragmantically and without emotion.
A strong sense of duty and moral obligation, Kurt is also a jokester and tease (he uhm, use to attack team mates by tickling them...), fun light and happy. He is a fan of swashbuckling fiction and this no doubt helps foster his own sense of adventure and chivalry. He is openly religious (German Catholic)
SC: Ah I'll go with Nightcrawler here too. Brainiac does a disservice to pragmatic thinking in my eyes, by not being as successful as he should, and sort of making it less appealing that it should be. As a strength. Plus Kurt is a bright, happy and friendly character in comics, a rarity among all the brooding, stoic, silent, tough guys.
Tammy: I think Nightcrawler has one of the best personalities in comics
Costume:
Has had many, the most recent is a green skin humanoid with pink nodes on his skull. The most iconic for me was the full chrome version of the 80s.
Given his fairly original and distinguishing look, Nightcrawler's costumes tend to be pretty basic. When you have blue velvet fur and glowing yellow eyes, not many people tend to look at your clothes. Usually designed for acrobatic type actions though.
SC: I would wear what Brainiac is wearing... Nightcrawler not so much... I find black and pink to be very underrated stylistically. Plus Nightcrawler's appeal is the blue velvety skin so you know?
Tammy: Well the skin counts as part of the cotume as we have been going with it, and I think I will go with Nightcrawler here. Brainiac changes too often.
Aesthetics:
Often regarded as the number 2 Superman villain. His immense intellect makes him a threat on a cosmic scale.
Demonic looking, often seen hunched on crouching, aside from his already mentioned, dark blue fur, yellow eyes, prehensile tail, two fingers in each hand with a thumb, Kurt has pointy ears.
SC: Ooh tricky. Hrm. Nightcrawler overall I think displays more depth and story versatility, both are distinctive however.
Tammy: I will go with a tie on this one, both are pretty popular characters, but they are used in compeltely different ways.
Best Story:
I am going with one not in the comics here. In Justice League Unlimited when it was revealed he had infiltrated Lex's body and mind. It was the best plot turn in the whole series and made for the best episode
Nightcrawler has such a long and expansive history, its tough to nail down, but I feel his days as a part of the original Excalibur are underrated so I nominate that. Many of Nightcrawler's more romantic stories happened in this era.
SC: Hmmn, that sounds like a pretty cool JLU episode... I am swayed.
Tammy: I also go with Brainiac here.
Fun fact:
I think he is the only comic book character whose name is the derivation for a slang term.
According to one X-Men writer who was totally dead serious when he said this, in both writing and on the X-2 DVD commentary, Nightcrawler is twice the man that other men are. If that's not fun enough for you, Nightcrawler was also meant to be a DC character. He was however rejected. If that's not fun enough for you, another writer was going to have Nightcrawler's parents both be women, Mystique and Destiny, but this was deemed to controversial.
SC: Thats pretty cool about Brainiac, I'll place my point with him.
Tammy: Nightcrawler seems like a ship without a port in terms of where he fits in, and is compelling, but I have to go with Brainiac because ... well ... I am one.
Media Appearance:
Numerous animated appearances and also in Smallville. Unfortunately never in a Superman movie.
Kurt has popped up in movies, games, cartoons, books and even a Weezer song! X-2 being probably his most prominent role, he was played by Alan Cumming in this movie.
SC: Kurt is too BAMF in this category.
Tammy: I thought he was awesome in X Men 2 so I give it to him (and I can't really give JLU any sway here, because Brainiac took that for best story)
Present Whereabouts:
Just finished the Black ring story arc in Superman comics, had his neck broken by Lex, but he will be back.
SPOILER ALERT. He is chilling with Uncle Ben and Tupac in hell (well he does look a certain way...). Aka he is dead. Impaled by Bastions arm (not the kid from Never Ending Story) but it was an awesome death, as Nightcrawler saved Hope, of the X-Men, also breaking his own personal record for distance teleported. That strain no doubt contributing to his death.
SC: Hmmn, dying from a broken neck is pretty tragic, but Nightcrawler hasn't let death stop him from appearing now in then in comics, will this fact ignite a faith debate? In any case self sacrifice is something I am a sucker for so I'll raise my arm up here for Kurt and hope I don't accidentally impale a German with it.
Tammy: I am sure both will be back, but both being dead, I guess a tie is in order here
SC: 4-5
Tammy: 3-4
Nightcrawler wins 9-7
