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My 5 year old son has been garnering an interest in Marvel superheros and is a particular fan of Spider-Man. I recently showed him the Marvel Super Heroes Storybook Collection (Amazon link) where it discusses, among many others Nightcrawler in the new X-men. I managed to explain Nightcrawler's abilities of teleportation when he then asked this question:

Can Nightcrawler escape Spider-Man's web by teleporting?

I don't really recall seeing Nightcrawler in the X-men comics I did read when I was younger (back when X-Cutioner's Song took place), so I didn't have an answer for him. Has this been discussed in the comics?

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    I don't have a specific citation for this, but since Kurt teleports with his clothes and carrying anything he's holding, my guess would be that he could 'port out, but some webbing might come with him.
    – phantom42
    Jul 25, 2014 at 14:20

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In principle, yes he could escape. As you can see in the scan below (from Uncanny X-Men #445) Nightcrawler has the ability to teleport away from things that are touching him. If he was trapped in a sticky web, it would be a simple matter to teleporting a few feet to the left and the web (which isn't part of him) would remain in place.

enter image description here

Per Marvel's description of his powers:

Nightcrawler is a mutant who can teleport by opening a portal into another dimension, travelling through it via an unconscious direction-finding sense, and returning to his own dimension

Through practice, Nightcrawler has increased the mass he can teleport with him, though the limit to the amount of weight he can carry when teleporting and the distance over which he can teleport with such additional loads are unknown.

If, on the other hand Spiderman was able to obscure Nightcrawler's vision with a dense enough web, that would be a different matter:

Nightcrawler has a limited unconscious extrasensory ability that prevents him from teleporting into any area that he cannot see

As you can see from the scans below, Spiderman has attempted to catch Nightcrawler in a web on at least one occasion. Although we don't see his escape a frame later, I think we can reasonably assume he used his teleportation powers given that there's no web visible on his outfit (as there would be had Wolverine used his claws to cut him free).

enter image description here

enter image description here

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  • Nightcrawler is actually able to teleport on places that he can not see. I remember him being prisoner of Dr. Doom, which caught all X-Men, and he, not knowing how deep was he imprisoned, teleported himself blindly several kilometers above. This made him free, and free falling from a high altitude, so he found a lake, then found a termic current that he could use to lower his descending velocity, and at that point he teleported to some meters above the lake surface, to finish falling into it from a low altitude.
    – Envite
    Jul 25, 2014 at 15:19
  • "Nightcrawler has to consciously carry objects (including his own clothing) when he travels inter-dimensionally." Where are you getting this? The powers you quoted don't specify that.
    – phantom42
    Jul 25, 2014 at 15:40
  • The process of teleportation places a strain on his endurance and that of any passengers; carrying mass other than his body and clothing when teleporting adds additional strain through his body. Through practice he has been able to teleport with a passenger over a lengthy distance without exhausting himself. Extensive training has raised his tolerance for teleportation, but most of his passengers lack this tolerance. Therefore, one of his tactics is to grab opponents and make several quick teleportations with them. They usually become weakened or even pass out from the strain
    – DoctorWho22
    Jul 25, 2014 at 15:45
  • That's from the wiki, though I don't see anything about consciously carrying anything.
    – DoctorWho22
    Jul 25, 2014 at 15:45
  • @phantom42 - I couldn't find a decent canon quote. I've removed and replaced accordingly
    – Valorum
    Jul 25, 2014 at 19:32

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