Avengers: Doomsday Has Been 'Really Healing' For Veteran Marvel Star Who Had 'A Terrible Experience' On Their Previous Film

The Marvel Cinematic Universe will feature X-Men 2 star Alan Cumming in Avengers: Doomsday. He played Nightcrawler for one movie of the original X-Men series, and did not return for any other installments.

Cumming has now opened up about how he believes Avengers: Doomsday has redeemed the experience of playing Nightcrawler for him. Speaking to People, he revealed he had just finished his work on the film and enjoyed it. "I just came back. It was amazing. It was actually really... in a sort of ooey, gooey way, it was really healing and really nice to go back to something that it was a terrible experience when I did it the first time," he said. "A great film, great film. I love the film."

Avengers: Doomsday will bring together The Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, and the older X-Men from the Fox movies. Cumming isn't the only character from that era to return - James Marsden (Cyclops), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), and Ian McKellen (Magneto) are also back.

Cumming said that making X-Men 2 was "awful for a variety of reasons that I have talked about at length." One of those stated reasons was the long and difficult make-up process, as Nightcrawler is entirely blue and covered in tattoos. Cumming recently mentioned to TODAY that the length of the process had been considerably shortened.

"I had some makeup tests already and actually what's great about it - it was like 4.5 hours to 5 hours before, and now it was 90 minutes," Cumming said. "Before all the tattoos were done by hand 'cause they hadn't decided on them before we started filming, and now there are all these little things you stick on. It's a game-changer."

Alan Cumming Has Let Slip Some Details About Avengers: Doomsday

The plot of Avengers: Doomsday is being kept firmly under wraps. Fans know which superheroes will be appearing in it, and they know they'll be facing off against Doctor Doom, but beyond that, details are scarce. Cumming did reveal maybe a little too much in a recent interview, though.

Talking to Buzzfeed UK, Cumming said Nightcrawler would be involved in a fight with Reed Richards, played by Pedro Pascal. “I'm sort of learning these fights and I'm like, ‘What, who am I fighting with?’ [They’re like,] ‘You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head,’” he said. That indicates that the X-Men and The Fantastic Four (or Nightcrawler and Reed, at least) may meet during the movie, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Avengers: Endgame is out on December 18, 2026.