Nerd Crush: Kitty Pryde

When we started this idea of our nerd crush, I immediately wanted dibs on Kitty Pryde. But after making the pick, I have been stewing on it and trying to put into words what I loved about the character and why I have a nerd crush on Kitty Pryde. In the midst of it, my love for her has only grown when the current Marvel continuity series All New X-men has given us Professor Kitty Pryde.

Kitty Pryde: The Basics

Kitty Pryde was the first new recruit to the X-men after the original 5 disbanded and we brought in the Wolverine/Storm/Colossus/Nightcrawler era.  Her powers manifested themselves in the middle of a battle of wills with the Hellfire Club and Kitty winds up on the X-men as a young teenager.

The writer of that era, Chris Claremont, used her well to tell some interesting stories. Because of that, she becomes one of the most thoughtfully developed characters in comics during this era.  She is young, but still an X-man, even when the New Mutants title comes around.

Despite her age, Kitty uses her powers well, turning intangible and passing through things, disrupting electronics, and being able to do the same phase for others. But Kitty is also wickedly smart, understanding computers and technology. The writers at Marvel have done a mostly great job at letting her keep and use that intelligence.

Kitty Pryde: Big Stories

Since that era, Kitty has had various things happen to her:

• She learns to be a ninja, which is seriously the only good thing that came out of the Wolverine and Kitty Pryde mini-series.
• She is dramatically hurt in the Mutant Massacre cross-over event, being stuck in phase perpetually and slowly drifting away.
• She became a founding member of Excalibur, then went on to become an agent of SHIELD, serving as a tech hacker in their efforts.
• She lost her first love, Colossus and was reunited with him. Only she then had to phase a planetary bullet through the Earth, shooting herself deep into space. (Seriously, this is one of the top 3 “WHEDON!” moments, as he was the writer of the book.)
• And because it is comics, she comes back, becoming headmistress of the Jean Grey School that Wolverine starts.  And it all goes well until the original 5 come for the past into our present, wreaking havoc with the timeline. Eventually, they decide to stay and Kitty becomes Professor K, keeping the original team together, along with Wolverine’s female clone, X-23.

Kitty Pryde: Nerd Crush

So, why do I have a nerd crush on Kitty Pryde?

• At the end of it all, Kitty Pryde is good people. Her heart, her character and her motivation always point towards what is the best for all people. When the choice has to be made to stick with the original X-men from the past, even if it means going with Cyclops, who is now the killer of Professor X and a mutant terrorist, she does it for their sake. If I was an X-man, in nearly any fight I would look at what side Kitty Pryde is on and make sure I was there too.

• Kitty Pryde is a leader. It has been only fairly recently in comic lore that they have introduced this idea but it makes the most sense: Kitty Pryde is going to be the long term leader of the X-men. As much as she is frustrated by the Professor K title, it is who she is becoming.

• Kitty Pryde is funny. Her sense of humor shows up and she is pretty hilarious.

• Kitty Pryde is a nerd. That holds a lot of weight around here and the idea that she can hack with the best of them is fun!

And I am not the first. Repeatedly, the idea has been floated that Joss Whedon used Kitty as the model for what he wanted to do in the character of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So I am in good company.

So those are all the reasons why I have a nerd crush on Kitty Pryde.

But if Colossus ever decide to come back and wanted her back, I’d be in deep, deep trouble.

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