Since his debut in the '70s, X-Men on countless missions. With this power, Nightcrawler is able to disappear in a puff of smoke and then reappear somewhere else seconds later. This, however, brings up a question: where does Nightcrawler go during the brief seconds in which he isn't present?
First appearing in X-Men: Evolution animated series.
In the episode "Shadowdance," the mutant inventor Forge creates a device that allows Nightcrawler to teleport to locations further than two miles away. While using the device, Nightcrawler briefly es through a hellish dimension populated by dinosaur-like creatures. Through his continued use of the device, Nightcrawler unintentionally opens a doorway that allows the creatures to enter the X-Men's dimension. By the end of the episode, Forge builds another device that banishes the creatures back to their world, but future creators now had an influential precedent for where Nightcrawler goes when he teleports.
The concept of Nightcrawler ing through another dimension would be expanded upon in Marvel comics during the much-maligned storyline "Draco" by writer Chuck Austen and artist Sean Phillips. In the prelude to the story, it is revealed that Nightcrawler's true father is a demon known as Azazel from a hellish reality known as the Brimstone Dimension. Nightcrawler and the X-Men are transported to this reality, where they are subsequently captured by Azazel. While Nightcrawler is detained, Azazel explains that Nightcrawler and all of his other teleporting children briefly travel through the Brimstone Dimension while using their powers. Azazel then reveals he is trapped in the Brimstone Dimension and intends to use Nightcrawler to open a new gateway for himself and his army.
Before Azazel can enact his plan, Nightcrawler teleports away with his half-brother Nils and attempts to rescue the other X-Men. the most hated run in X-Men history, it's a detail which may be reworked or retconned by future writers of Nightcrawler's adventures.
