Doctor Strange 2's Night Nurse Can Setup X-Men's Nightcrawler In The MCU

Screen Rant

By Thomas Bacon

Published Dec 13, 2020

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features the return of Rachel McAdams' Christine Palmer - who has an X-Men connection.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features the return of Rachel McAdams' Night Nurse - and that could help set up a Nightcrawler arc in the MCU. The character of Christine Palmer is quite a deep cut in comic book lore. She was originally created back in the 1970s as one of the stars of a short-lived medical drama/romance series Marvel hoped would appeal to female readers. The Night Nurse book didn't last long, but two of the three protagonists have since become part of the wider Marvel Comics universe.

Christine Palmer has become the most famous of these, simply because Marvel Studios decided to bring her to life on the big screen. Played by Rachel McAdams, Christine was the principal love interest in Doctor Strange, but unfortunately, she was woefully underdeveloped. Fortunately, Marvel has confirmed McAdams will be returning in Doctor Strange 2, which gives them a chance to fix the problem.

Curiously enough, though, in the comics, Christine Palmer has very little to do with Doctor Strange. In fact, her most notable appearance is in a twelve-issue X-Men spinoff book called Nightcrawler, which launched in 2004. Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, this was a dark supernatural series that saw the X-Men's favorite teleporter dealing with everything from demon possession to wrathful ghosts trapped beneath New York after a subway disaster. Nightcrawler crossed paths with Christine Palmer when he was called to Metro-General Hospital after 13 children were slaughtered in a locked-room mystery the X-Men feared was tied to another teleporter. Kurt Wagner was immediately smitten by Christine, with artist Darick Robertson making sure she made an impression.

Aguirre-Sacasa's Nightcrawler run was a welcome opportunity to explore Kurt Wagner's Catholic faith, with the apparently demonic being finding himself facing real demons. The villain behind it all was actually Mephisto, Marvel's equivalent of the Devil himself, who had influenced events in order to test the purity of Nightcrawler's spirit. It culminated in Mephisto offering Kurt the same kind of deal he would propose to Spider-Man in the infamous "One More Day" storyline; for his part, Nightcrawler settled for taking the opportunity to slap the Devil in the face.

It's only a matter of time before Marvel begin to introduce mutants and X-Men into the MCU, but when they do they'll want to take a very different approach to the comics. Marvel Studios' approach will surely be to ensure the X-Men are absorbed into the wider shared universe, operating alongside heroes such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, and the recently-announced MCU additions Fantastic Four. If that's the case, subtle connections from the comics are not to be missed. The film studio would be wise to draw upon Aguirre-Sacasa's Nightcrawler series for inspiration, with the MCU's Christine Palmer finding herself drawn into the life of a certain Catholic mutant rather than remaining a background character in the Doctor Strange films.

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