One of the most uniquely designed and memorable characters to emerge out of Marvel Comics is none other than the X-Men member, Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler has existed in Marvel lore ever since he was originally conceived by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, first debuting in Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975. Cockrum especially was influential in the creation of Nightcrawler, crafting his concept long before he even worked in the comic book industry.
After graduating from school, Cockrum spent six years in the United States Navy, during which he still maintained ambitions of one day becoming a comic book artist. While stationed in Guam, Cockrum had an idea for a demon character who served as a sidekick to another one of Cockrum's unused creations, called The Intruder. He continued to play around with designs and backstory for the character who eventually would become Nightcrawler until that character eventually made its way onto Marvel's doorstep.
However, this character did not initially begin as a pitch for Marvel's doorstep. While Nightcrawler has become such a tight staple of Marvel lore over the course of almost 50 years, he first found himself as a pitch in what Marvel fans may consider enemy territory. Initially, Nightcrawler was rejected on the doorstep of DC Comics.
While being interviewed for X-Men Companion-1, a behind-the-scenes history book of the X-Men compiled by Peter Sanderson, Dave Cockrum admitted his original plans for Nightcrawler as he brought them to DC Comics. Nightcrawler was first supposed to be a member of The Outsiders, which was going to be a superhero team that existed alongside and in the same timeline as the Legion of Super-Heroes. "When I became a pro and I was doing Legion of Super-Heroes, I proposed four new Legionnaires and Nightcrawler was one of them," Cockrum explains. "But Murray Boltinoff's response was that he was too weird-looking."
Stories like this begs one to wonder just how different the course of DC Comics would be if it included Nightcrawler on its roster. Of course, this brings to mind dream scenarios like Nightcrawler coming face-to-face with the likes of Superman and Green Lantern, but certainly, the inclusion of a demon like Nightcrawler with teleportation powers could have changed entire domino effects for the history of DC lore. One has to wonder just how antagonistic or friendly he'd be with a roster of characters who, for the most part, don't have powers. Could moments like, say, the death of Jason Todd even happen if Batman had a friend to transport him to the scene of the crime in a timely fashion? If one thing is for certain, it's that Nightcrawler could have changed the entire course of DC history forever if he wasn't so weird-looking.
Source: X-Men Companion-1 by Peter Sanderson