Ever the acrobat- from the back cover of Excalibur #3
Nightcrawler was my favourite comic book character for a long time, and in fact I don't think I can think of anyone off-hand who has really taken his place. I'm certainly not as... passionate about him as I once was, but I don't think I like any comic book characters better than him; certainly no Marvel characters.
Kurt Wagner, as he was named at birth, was an X-Man from the time he was nineteen on. (I figured it out once and I think I was right.) By the time he joined Excalibur, Kurt was still only bout 23 years old, but by this point he was acting far more mature than he had four years before. It was only a matter of tim before he became leader of the team.
Nightcrawler's primary powers were teleportation, but he bore the mark of being a mutant in a much more obvious way: he looked rather like some sort of demon (or as others said, an elf). With blue fur, a forked tail, pointed ears and fangs, Nightcrawler was downright frightening to some (I found him intriguing and rather cute, myself). It was therefore ironic that he was truly one of the sweetest, gentlest heroes to be found in any book, not to mention one of the ones with the most female fans. ;)
He had been raised by gypsies, but separated from his adopted family when he was working in a circus. His adopted sister, Jimaine, had been a close friend to him for years and he'd developed something of a crush on her, but ended up having to leave her behind when he had to face his now-mad adopted brother in combat, and accidentally killed him. To make matters worse, he was discovered by villagers and labeled a demon, and had to run and then fight for his life. He was barely rescued by Professor Xavier and accepted into the X-Men.
After a while with them, he met a young woman named Amanda Sefton and started dating her- in disguise at first, but he soon revealed his true form to her and she wasn't bothered. It turned out that this was Jimaine, who had disguised herself with sorcery. She had always loved him and had come to find him. The two began a very serious relationship that ended a couple of years later when he became moody and depressed because he was feeling like a failure. I bet her leaving him made him feel MUCH better. ;P
Nightcrawler led the X-Men for a while, but felt that he was inept at the job and gave it back to Storm as soon as she rejoined the group. Despite his perceived failure at leading the group, Nightcrawler was always the group's heart. He was, however, injured in a series of events during the "Mutant Massacre" storyline/crossover of Marvel titles, and went into a coma for about six months. Shadowcat was also injured, and the two were sent to Muir Island to recuperate. Nightcrawler awoke the day the X-Men "died", mere minutes after they were seen going to their deaths on television.
Nightcrawler regained his health relatively quickly, but was left crippled in the area of teleportation. No matter how much better he got physically, he did not have the strength to teleport more than once a day, which put a severe damper on much of his crime-fighting abilities. Still, he was still quick and exceedingly agile, a great acrobat, and he was an excellent fencer. When he joined Excalibur it was obvious that he would be a valuable asset.
The return of Nightcrawler's abilities came in a very strange way: he accidentally teleported midway through a force field set up by Doctor Doom, and though it was really painful for him he discovered when he got free that he was "cured"; he could again 'port multiple times in a row, anywhere, without limit.
When the team first started, Nightcrawler was very attracted to Meggan, even though she was Captain Britain's girlfriend. As time went on, he and Meggan forged a strong friendship, and although his attraction to her obviously remained, it never went beyond that. Unfortunately, one morning Captain Britain happened to hear Nightcrawler say Meggan's name in his sleep (everybody dreams, eh?), and assumed the worst. The two fought violently and Kurt's leg was broken as a result. He and Captain Britain made up, but when all the rest of his teammates were called away he alone had to stay. He organized the Technet, who were sort of freeloading, into a superhero group and realized he missed leading a team. A short while later, he met first Kylun and then Cerise, an alien Amazon who crashed in the lighthouse.
During the next few weeks, Kurt and Cerise spent more time together and eventually fell in love. (I wasn't exactly pleased with that at first, but hey, I'm an accepting person. ;) Well, that, and it's been about five years.;) They made a handsome couple and looked quite happy together at the end of Davis's run.
As of the end, Nightcrawler was leading the group, and was more prone to using physical fighting when he had to. He had, once or twice, really lost control and pounded into some bad guys. Kinda scary for us long-term fans, but a neat character development, too.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Kurt finally found out who his real parents were, also. His mother was Mystique, aka Raven Darkholme, the former leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She was a shape-changer whose real form looked quite a bit like Nightcrawler's. His father was... some guy, I forget who, I don't think he was real important. In any case, because of who his mother was, he also gained another adopted sister- Rogue, of the X-Men, had been Mystique's surrogate daughter. The two had been friends and accepted this news pretty happily.