We Rewatched X-Men: The Animated Series And It's Completely Different Now

One of the things only adults notice in “X-Men: The Animated Series” is the religious undertone of the Season 4 episode “Nightcrawler.” In the story, the mutant Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, stays in a monastery and his faith in God never falters, regardless of how much the world rejects his devilish appearance. This surprises Wolverine, who confides in Nightcrawler that he lost his faith in religion a long time ago due to everything he’s experienced in life. However, the end of the episode sees Logan reading the Bible, leading everyone to believe that he’s rediscovered his relationship with God.

Naturally, this event led many fans to presume that Wolverine converts to Christianity. The episode’s writer, Len Uhley, disagrees. Uhley explained to Relevant that Wolverine is 95 years old in the series and has experienced a lot in his long life, while also touching upon how the character had practiced Buddhism in the comics at one point. For Uhley, the story is about Logan finding the ability to believe in something and letting go of his resentment toward the world rather than practicing religion.

“At the end of this episode, yes, Wolverine is at the rail, kneeling and reading a Bible passage,” Uhley said. “I don’t think that he’s had a conversion experience but I think that he is exploring. Maybe he’s getting in touch with something that he once had in his life, something that gave him comfort at one time.”