Alan Cumming Says Returning to Nightcrawler Is ‘Really Healing’

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The Fox version of the X-Men series, kept alive by Kevin Feige’s determination, has been puzzlingly inconsistent. Some films are excellent, while others are disappointing. Characters appear, perish, reappear unconnected to their previous lives, and sometimes even die again. It’s a chaotic mess, yet in an entertaining way. However, there have been instances where fantastic characters portrayed by talented actors didn’t return because it wasn’t considered enjoyable. This is true for Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United from 2003. He will be reprising his role in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday and has referred to this experience as “really therapeutic.

In a recent interview with People (as reported on Deadline), Cumming shared that his return to playing Nightcrawler for X2 was initially unpleasant but ended up being surprisingly healing and enjoyable. “I just came back, it was amazing. It was actually quite… in a sticky, comforting way, it was really soothing to go back to something that was such a difficult experience the first time around,” the actor remarked. “A fantastic movie, a fantastic movie. I adore the film.

He subsequently elaborated that the 2003 production was “extremely problematic for numerous reasons I’ve discussed in detail.” This alludes to Cumming’s earlier criticisms of the abusive and hazardous environment under the direction of Bryan Singer, a director infamously accused of sexual misconduct.

Instead, Cumming expresses that the “Doomsday” set was more like a cherished dream for him. He shared, “It was truly delightful to return. What’s more, at 60 years old, I never imagined I’d still be performing stunts or playing a superhero at this age. That was fantastic. The entire team was incredibly welcoming. Due to my commitments on ‘The Traitors’, most of my scenes were being filmed simultaneously. Thus, I combined them all, using green screen and other techniques to create smaller, scattered scenes.

Nightcrawler is likely to appear on screen alone or minimally with other characters due to filming logistics. Interestingly, despite already filming a fight scene with Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), they hadn’t met each other before their recent guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Filmmaking can indeed be unpredictable! On the bright side, Cumming has enjoyed reprising his role as Nightcrawler.

Kyle Anderson serves as the Senior Editor at TopMob, where he’s also the host of the weekly podcast, “Laser Focus,” which delves into pop culture topics. His insightful film and television reviews can be found here. Keep up with him on Letterboxd.

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2025-08-20 00:02