Nightcrawler (comics) Returning to the X-Men
When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?
When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?
For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X.  Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison.  Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control.  Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind.  Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER
Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet,
Bamf , originally Bampf, is an onomatopoeic term originating in comic books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the superhero Nightcrawler of the X-Men. The term is derived from the sound Nightcrawler makes when teleporting.

Sound
The "Bamf" sound is caused by air rushing into the space where Nightcrawler's body once was after he has teleported. It has been borrowed as a teleport sound by fans and a generic term for teleporting in general ("...and then he bamfed out..."). The sound has become a standard in pop culture.

Race

Bamfs are also a race of creatures described as small imp-like versions of Nightcrawler, which accompany him wherever he goes. They first appeared in the first Nightcrawler miniseries in 1985, and became a regular fixture of X-Men comics in the early 2010s.

Earth-5311
In Uncanny X-Men #153, Kitty Pryde tells a fairy tale to six-year-old Illyana Rasputin, which includes a race of creatures called "Bamfs", described as small imp-like versions of Nightcrawler, even wearing identical costumes. A Bamf enters the story after catching sight of Pirate Kitty, on whom he developed an instant crush, when she and her entourage landed on Bamf Island. He subsequently joins her team and aids in taking down Princess Jean (the fairy tale equivalent of Jean Grey), aka Dark Phoenix.

Earth-616
Late, in the first Nightcrawler limited series in 1985, Nightcrawler is sent to another universe that is identical to Kitty's fairy tale, where he encounters the Bamfs, including the heroic Bamf from Kitty's tale. Nightcrawler discovers that female Bamfs differ from the males in that they are taller, resembling female versions of himself. The male Bamfs are lecherous, flirtatious, and skirt-chasing, making them rather tiring company in the presence of attractive females.

At various times since Kitty's fairy tale, plush versions of Nightcrawler, also called "Bamfs", had appeared in many issues of Uncanny X-Men. Kitty Pryde, Illyana Rasputin, Jubilation Lee, and Amanda Sefton have been shown owning Bamf dolls. One issue of Avengers in the '90s showed Deathcry cuddling a Bamf doll.

In the early 2010s, the Bamfs reappeared at the newly opened Jean Grey School of Higher Learning, infesting the school after Vice-Principal Beast accidentally opened a portal to their home reality on the first day of school. Headmaster Wolverine is the head of a "Bamf Hunting Club". In this variation, the Bamfs are mute, naked, seemingly self-aware troublemakers who are depicted defacing school property in various ways. However, it later becomes uncertain whether the creatures infesting the school are Bamfs at all, an alien zoologist commenting that although the staff believe them to be "interdimensional gremlins" (i.e., Bamfs), they actually are not. The character is about to reveal what he believes to be the nature of the Bamfs when he is cut off, leaving the revelation for a later date; it is to note, however, that the Bamfs in this instance look more like the real Nightcrawler and sport body markings similar to his live action movie incarnation.

The Bamfs also helped Doop and Krakoa fight off Swarm when he attacked the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.

Bamfs were eventually revealed to be creatures born in the depths of Hell. Their mother is a giant maggot, and their father is a changeling in the form of a face-eating lamprey. As soon as they were born, they were left on the brimstone plains to die. Against all odds, they survived as scavengers, as things lower than the lowest beast of the Pit until they were found by Azazel during one of his raids on Hell.

The Bamfs were starving, and so Azazel fed them his blood which in turn changed them and remade them in his image. Now with a legion of soldiers bound to his evil will, Azazel used them to raid Heaven for souls, but one of them was left behind and was found by Nightcrawler who made him a deal of his own which yet again changed them from red to blue. When questioned by Firestar about the deal, Nightcrawler only reveals that it wasn't his blood that he promised them but it was something his father could never match.

The details of the deal are revealed when Kurt uses the Bamfs and his connection to Azazel to restore himself to life back on Earth, thus preventing Azazel from attacking Heaven again by tying them both together, although this results in Kurt sacrificing his own soul to ensure that Azazel will not be able to return to Heaven. Henceforth, the Bamfs enlisted by Nightcrawler continue to keep him company on Earth.

Known Bamfs
 Chuckles – A Bamf that Wolverine named after Professor X.
 Pickles – A Bamf that lived in the past Beast's van.

References

External links
 Bamfs at Marvel Wiki
 Bamfs at Comic Vine
 Bamfs. The Comic Book Database.

Onomatopoeia
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Characters created by Dave Cockrum X-Men: The Official Game (also known as X3: The Official Game) is the name of Activision's three tie-in video games to the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand. The game covers the events between the films X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, specifically following the characters of Logan, Iceman, and Nightcrawler. It also bridges the gap between the two films, explaining why Nightcrawler is not present for The Last Stand, and also introduces new foes for the game, such as HYDRA.

The game uses several voice actors from the X-Men film franchise. From the films, returning are Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Patrick Stewart, Tyler Mane, and Eric Dane.

The game, along with most other games published by Activision that had used the Marvel licence, was de-listed and removed from all digital storefronts on January 1, 2014.

Gameplay
Players control the actions of several X-Men-related characters, most notably Logan, Nightcrawler and Iceman, as they uncover a plot to eradicate mutants. Sometimes, another X-Man will help the player's character battle. The Nintendo DS game features Magneto as a playable character, while the Game Boy Advance version features Colossus as a playable character. Many agree that Logan is the only useful character in the Game Boy Advance game, which allows players to cycle through characters at will, as he is the only one who can recover from damage.

Consoles
 Logan's levels involve fighting hordes of soldiers, armed with weapons. He can retract his claws, but any time a button is pressed, they are extracted. Logan heals minor wounds, reflected as yellow on his Life Gauge, but when his minor wound damage empties, all wounds are considered major, taking off his actual life bar. Logan can only heal major damage if he is not engaged in combat at the time. Logan can't target lock like his allies; he can only block, which can fend off weak attacks only until it is built up. Wolverine, after he has attacked for a time, builds up a Fury Bar, which, when activated, increases his healing rate and his strength. It also changes his attacks' appearances.
 Nightcrawler's levels involve mostly platforming missions, running along pipes in the ceiling and teleporting. Nightcrawler can teleport to any area within his visual range. Like Logan, Nightcrawler heals by holding down a button, only Nightcrawler constantly takes life gauge damage, and when he heals, it is called "Shadowmeld" or "Shadow Aura", a nod to the comic books (Nightcrawler becomes invisible in shadow). Nightcrawler can teleport behind and combo-attack several foes during a brawl.
 Iceman's levels most closely resemble flight-sim games similar to Star Wars: Rogue Squadron as he continuously rides on his trademark ice slide. Iceman creates an icy path in front of him, flying through the air while shooting his ice beam and ice projectiles. Iceman's attacks are an Ice Beam, which cools off fires and damages foes; Frost Shield, which will cancel any damage he takes while it is "up"; and Hailstorm, which is his main attack, hurling several balls of ice at targets. Iceman will heal automatically as long as he doesn't incur damage for an amount of time. The player must keep up a quick speed when sliding, as slowing down too much will knock Iceman off the slide.

Plot
During a session in the Xavier institute's Danger Room, Logan / Wolverine battles his brother, Victor Creed / Sabretooth, and ultimately ends up losing the session, though he had been saved by the timely arrival of  Iceman, who was there so that Cyclops could train him, but is too crippled with grief to do so due to Jean Grey's apparent death . After Logan trains Iceman in the Danger Room, Professor X warns Logan against trying the Danger Room on "Danger Level 7" again, before asking the X-Men to return to Alkali Lake to retrieve irreplaceable parts to Cerebro. Nightcrawler infiltrates the remnants of William Stryker's base with his teleportation ability, since the weapons systems were somehow operational. Once inside, the X-Men discover a group of agents called HYDRA looting the base. Nightcrawler and Colossus go to find the Cerebro parts while Logan and Storm investigate HYDRA's presence. Logan and Storm discover that Stryker had been building giant robots called Sentinels as another plan to eradicate mutantkind.

Storm is abducted by Lady Deathstrike and Logan pursues her, eventually rescuing Storm. Nightcrawler is plagued by visions of Jason Stryker, who reminds Kurt he left him to die. Nightcrawler retrieves the Cerebro parts, battling a Sentinel in the process. A massive Sentinel - the Master Mold is activated and rises from Alkali Lake. The X-Men and Lady Deathstrike escape; Logan attaches himself to Deathstrike's helicopter to follow her while the other X-Men return to the institute.

Iceman stops Pyro from triggering a meltdown at a nuclear power plant while Storm and Nightcrawler stop Multiple Man from blowing up a bridge . Meanwhile, Logan follows Deathstrike and her HYDRA agents to Japan. Logan learns that Deathstrike and HYDRA are working for the Silver Samurai. After battling though legions of HYDRA forces and "killing" Deathstrike again, Logan confronts Silver Samurai. Samurai reveals that HYDRA helped Stryker build the Sentinels, not realizing he planned to turn them against mutants. Silver Samurai himself is a mutant, and the Master Mold's activation was a mistake. After defeating Silver Samurai, Logan learns that HYDRA has a device in Hong Kong that can stop the Master Mold, where the Master Mold is currently heading. Logan informs Professor Xavier, who contacts Magneto - fearing the X-Men cannot stop the Sentinels alone. Magneto and Sabretooth travel to Hong Kong to help the X-Men. Xavier also reveals that Jason Stryker is still alive; his psyche now fractured into two halves: a good half who has been appearing to Nightcrawler and an evil half that is controlling the Master Mold. He states that another of his students had a similar problem (referring to Jean Grey/Phoenix).

The X-Jet is shot down by Sentinels upon its arrival in Hong Kong. Iceman battles Sentinels and recovers HYDRA's device. Magneto arrives and uses the device to incapacitate the Master Mold, which crashes to the ground, but his helmet is knocked off of his head and Magneto is subdued by Jason's telepathic powers.

Nightcrawler disables the Master Mold's control center, guided by Jason's good half, who helps point the way through the maze of the Mold's body. Nightcrawler disables the Master Mold's neural net, changed by Jason to look like a demonic realm. Meanwhile, Iceman destroys the core of the Master Mold and Logan - in another of Jason's hallucinations - fights several feral clones of himself, emerging victorious. Nightcrawler attempts to save Jason as the Master Mold begins to collapse, but Sabretooth abducts Jason and attempts to make his escape. Logan tracks Sabretooth's scent and confronts him while Kurt escapes with Jason. The two have a vicious battle, ending with Logan throwing Sabretooth from a great height to be impaled below. Jason dies, thanking Nightcrawler for saving him. Magneto leaves, vowing that his next encounter with the X-Men will be as an enemy.

Back at Xavier's mansion, Nightcrawler tells Xavier he does not want to be an X-Man, for their lives are too violent and he is a peaceful man. Xavier tells him he is always welcome in the Mansion, and Kurt leaves . Meanwhile, Cyclops goes to Jean Grey's house and sees her, apparently still alive, with her power spiraling out of control, resulting in her shutting the door on him. The game ends with Cyclops begging to be let inside.

Development
Zak Penn and Chris Claremont co-wrote the story for the game. Penn is the co-writer of X-Men: The Last Stand, and Claremont was a longtime writer of the X-Men comic books, establishing the personas for many of the "new" X-Men team, which featured then new members Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, and Wolverine. Claremont is best known for the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Reception

X-Men: The Official Game received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

On the consoles and PC, some of the problems cited were repetitive gameplay, poor enemy AI and the fact that the Xbox 360 version looked similar to the other console versions despite the better hardware. Detroit Free Press gave the Xbox 360 version three stars out of four and said, "I'd be happier if Cyclops were at my fingertips, too. But all in all, the variety these three X-Men provide is adequate for one little video game". The Times gave the game a mixed review and stated that "nice graphics and smooth gameplay are no substitute for imagination".  However, The A.V. Club gave it a D and stated that "almost everything about this movie cash-in is cheap and incompetent, from the short, forgettable levels to the poor control system to the hand-crampingly repetitive action".

As for the handhelds, the DS version was considered repetitive and hard to control, and the GBA version as a by-the-book platformer.

Notes

References

External links

2006 video games
Action video games
Activision games
Beat 'em ups
Beenox games
Game Boy Advance games
Game Boy Advance-only games
GameCube games
Hypnos Entertainment games
Nintendo DS games
PlayStation 2 games
Single-player video games
Superhero video games
Windows games
Video games based on Marvel Comics films
Video games based on X-Men films
Video games based on adaptations
Video games based on works by Zak Penn
Video games developed in the United States
Video games scored by Chance Thomas
Video games set in Canada
Video games set in Hong Kong
Video games set in New York City
Video games set in Japan
Video games using Havok
X-Men (film series)
Xbox games
Xbox 360 games Amanda Sefton (real name Jimaine Szardos) (also known as Daytripper and the second Magik) is a fictional character, a witch appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is the foster sister and lover of Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men.

Publication history

Amanda Sefton first appeared in X-Men #98 (April 1976), created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. She has appeared occasionally in X-Men titles, most often in Uncanny X-Men and Excalibur.

As Magik, Amanda had her own eponymous, four-issue mini-series in 2000–2001 from writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with artist Liam Sharp.  The series focused on her taking over Limbo (also known as Otherplace).  The series also featured her foster brother/lover, Nightcrawler.

Fictional character biography
Jimaine and her mother Margali are witches.  When Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, Jimaine eventually followed him to the US, assumed the identity of Amanda Sefton, took a job as a flight attendant, and became Nightcrawler's girlfriend. When Margali attacked the X-Men, believing Nightcrawler to have been responsible for the death of Stefan Szardos (her son; Jimaine's brother), "Amanda" revealed herself as Jimaine, convinced her mother to let Kurt live, and resumed her on-and-off relationship with him. Their relationship broke apart when Kurt suffered a severe case of self-doubt following an encounter with the Beyonder upon the latter's arrival on Earth.

Daytripper
Much later, in need of her magical abilities, Nightcrawler called his former girlfriend Amanda Sefton to aid Excalibur. For dramatic reasons she chose to adopt the codename Daytripper, playing on Kurt's codename, and presented herself in a new costume. Once familiarized with the problem at hand, Amanda did the best she could to help Meggan and Rachel Summers locate the lost Captain Britain in the timestream, but as they made contact they only achieved to exchange Captain Britain for Rachel, who in his place entered the timestream to emerge in some farfetched future.

Following this incident Kurt and Amanda traveled to Germany, where her mother Margali had been taken captive by D'Spayre. As Kurt wondered how such a powerful sorceress could be held captive against her will, Daytripper explained that the Winding Way is not only a mystic discipline, but also it functions like a journey with ups and downs. Currently Margali was at a low point and powerless or else D’Spayre could never have defeated her. The pair rescued their mother and Amanda returned with Kurt to Excalibur.

Back on Muir Island, Amanda was the only one who recognized that the team's scientist Rory Campbell was the man destined to become the future mutant hunter Ahab, but she promised him to keep her knowledge secret and offered to be there for him whenever the need would arise.

Around this time she suffered a mystical/telepathic attack on a plane while taking a shift under her air hostess job. It involved the fate of the Black Queen.

After Excalibur had been attacked by opposing sorcerers trying to acquire the Soulsword of the deceased Illyana Rasputin, Amanda convinced Shadowcat to give her Magik's Soul Sword for safe-keeping. Amanda thought it best to hand the sword over to her mother, however, only too late did Amanda realize that she was tricked by her own mother, who wanted the Soulsword to kill all those ahead of her on the Winding Path.

Even though she had never been more powerful it wasn't enough for Margali and so in disguise she joined the London Hellfire Club as their Red Queen, proceeding their plan to destroy London and take over Britain. Shortly after helping to defeat her mother and the Hellfire Club, Amanda left Excalibur without even telling Nightcrawler.

In fact, it was not Amanda who made that decision, but Margali who had taken over her body. Upon her defeat among the Hellfire Club, Margali had been captured by the villain sorcerer Belasco and been tortured in his realm, from where she secretly switched minds with her daughter so that she could recuperate and win back her freedom and her position on the Winding Way. Eventually Margali, using Amanda's body, made her way back to Limbo, where mother and daughter switched back and defeated Belasco with Nightcrawler's help. Margali apologized for exposing her daughter to such danger, but then quickly left. Only after she was gone, Amanda realized that with both her and Belasco gone, there was no one left besides her capable enough to take over as Limbo's new ruler. To leave the dimension unguarded seemed too dangerous, given that several demons could have used its stepping disks to invade earth.

Magik
It was during this time that Amanda was forced to thwart Belasco and the N'Garai’s takeover of Limbo, and Earth, where she was forced to conceal her identity from her closest friends, until the end of the battle where those who had not already worked out that she was not Illyana, learned of Amanda's new role. Following that, Amanda rallied together the rulers of all other various dimensions of Hell to unite them in a common goal: The preservation of Hell.

Amanda has also mastered the ability to magically control the stepping disks of Limbo, just like Belasco did before her, and practiced to wield the Soulsword. During one of Nightcrawler's trips to Limbo, Amanda secretly hid the powerful Soulsword in Kurt's body, thinking it was safe there since his soul was the purest that she could find. There was a shift in the cosmic balance, powerful forces at work, and one thing they were after was the Soulsword, and indeed not much later, Amanda was attacked and overpowered by Nightmare. She was rescued by the timely arrival of her mother Margali, and together, mother and daughter found out that Nightmare had been manipulated into attacking them by someone else. Amanda and Margali immediately sought out Nightcrawler to warn him, but upon their arrival the demon Hive revealed himself and took over the body of Nightcrawler's teammate, Wolverine.

Gradually, the demon's essence was disrupted by the Soulsword, though not before he revealed that there is a major war coming, one that has been brewing for a millennium, and that the entire Szardos family factor very importantly into it.

Driven out of Limbo
Amanda resurfaced in New X-Men when she plunged out of a dimensional portal in a blast of flaming energy and landed in a small German village. She pleaded, "Help me...someone please...He's back." Amanda was driven out of Limbo after being overwhelmed by an invasion led by Belasco; although she had fought and defeated him in the past, Belasco now appeared more powerful and, without the Soulsword, Amanda was no match.

She assisted New X-Men Hellion and Surge as well as O*N*E Sentinel operative (and former mutant) Lex in finding students that were kidnapped by Belasco. The students were saved due to Illyana Rasputin usurping control of Limbo. Once the heroes were teleported back to Xavier's school though, Amanda found Limbo to be sealed off.

While Pixie has stated that she has been approached by both Amanda and Doctor Strange about furthering her magical tutelage when she comes of age, Amanda's whereabouts remained unknown for some time, but she was recently mentioned by Cyclops in the aftermath of Second Coming when he was writing her a letter of condolence over the death of Nightcrawler.

Family reunion
After Nightcrawler's resurrection and some period of readjustment, he sought out Amanda for a romantic reunion, but then Amanda was almost kidnapped by a villain called Trimega. After Nightcrawler and his Bamfs subdued Trimega, he chose to grant Amanda and Margali sanctuary in the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning; but then an army of Trimegas descended upon the school. During the battle, it turned out that Margali was actually Trimega's creator and had orchestrated the attack in order to gain knowledge of how to cross into the Afterlife. Armed with that knowledge, Margali opened a portal, whose existence would endanger reality. In order to stop her scheme, Nightcrawler and Amanda attempted to pass the gate, but Nightcrawler's voluntary exile from Heaven barred him from entry, stranding Amanda alone in the Void. They met again when Nightcrawler, fatally stabbed in combat by the Crimson Pirates, was intercepted by Amanda at an "interim station" between life and death, who successfully encouraged him—with some assistance from Wolverine and Phoenix—to return to the land of the living.

Powers and abilities
Amanda is a sorceress following the path of the Winding Way. Her power changes in its levels, waxing and waning over time, allowing her to summon such powers as teleportation, illusions casting, shape changing, mystical force bolts, hypnotism, and the manipulation of other complex mystical forces.

When she became the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo, Amanda began wielding the powerful Soulsword. While she couldn't access the full power of the sword, she could still create and control teleportation energies in the form of "stepping discs". This allows her to absorb souls of others either permanently or to simply store and transfer, to place and store the sword in absolute nothingness and to retrieve it from whence it came with ease. Like Illyana Rasputin, the more Amanda used the Soulsword, the more mystical Eldritch armor appeared on her body in addition to demonic features such as horns and hooves. The armor deflects or limits attacks, both physical and magical. However, on Earth, Amanda's abilities are limited to a different capacity. She has since lost these abilities when Limbo was sealed to her and resumed her normal display of powers.

Other versions
In the "Days of Future Past" timeline, Amanda and Nightcrawler have a daughter Blue who inherited her father's appearance and similar teleporting powers.  Amanda and Nightcrawler, along with that timeline's version of Illyana Rasputin, were gunned down by a government strikeforce deployed to destroy the Xavier Institute after Senator Robert Kelly was assassinated.

In other media 
In X-Men: Evolution, Amanda Sefton appears as Nightcrawler's love interest, but she does not have most of the background of her comic counterpart. Her mother's name remains Margali, but the Seftons appear to be a normal family. She is portrayed as an American teenager of African/Romany descent who accepts Kurt completely despite his mutation. She was voiced by Moneca Stori.

In her first appearance, the episode "Shadow Dance", Amanda asks Kurt to be her date for a school dance and tells him that she did have a crush on him for months but was too shy to tell him, and that her feelings remained even after she once accidentally saw him turning off his image inducer. They start dating seriously, and after a time ("The Toad, the Witch and the Wardrobe") Amanda attempts to introduce Kurt — as his true self — to her parents. The intention is ruined by Toad, who steals Kurt's image inducer, demolishing the Sefton home and revealing Kurt's true appearance before Amanda can properly prepare her parents. Even though Amanda's parents are understandably upset, Amanda shrugs off any discomforts which they might bring into her relationship with Kurt, and she continues to date him.

References

External links

Amanda Sefton at the Marvel Universe

Comics characters introduced in 1976
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Characters created by Dave Cockrum
Fictional flight attendants
Romani comics characters
Fictional German people
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional swordfighters
Marvel Comics witches
Marvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters
Marvel Comics characters who use magic
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics female superheroes
Fictional illusionists
Excalibur (comics)