Greatest comic book characters – 40. Nightcrawler
First comic book appearance: Giant-Size X-Men No. 1
There isn’t a kinder person in comic books. Someone who always looks for the good in people. For example, he was the first person to look at Wolverine as a man. Looking past Logan’s anger, rage, and seeing a person with constant inner turmoil. Kurt Wagner would also rather talk things out than fight. However, that doesn’t mean he won’t.
Nightcrawler can fight with the best of them. He’s mastered his teleporting fighting style along with his use of a sword. One of the best things is seeing him use his tail in fights as well. Hopefully, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will give us the Nightcrawler we’ve waited to see.
Greatest comic book characters – 39. Iceman
First comic book appearance: The X-Men No. 1
Iceman has gone through a lot of changes over the years. First, he looked like a snowman and threw snowballs. Not very intimidating or useful. Soon after he became Iceman. His powers continued to grow as the years continued.
Over the last decades, he’s started to reach his potential. He’s creating ice clones to fight in battle, froze hell, and even Thor is afraid of what he can do. The biggest addition is him coming out to the world.
Iceman’s younger self came out as gay in 2015. In Uncanny X-Men No. 600, his older self admitted it as well. It was handled well in this issue. Iceman saying that he wanted one part of his life where he wasn’t persecuted is a real statement. People hide who they are for years. Sometimes they never stop hiding. They want to avoid being hated. Since coming out, Iceman has become a better hero and truly embracing everything he is. A mutant, a hero, and a member of the LCBTQ+ community.