Alan Cumming says that he’s ‘excited and amazed’ to be able to return to Nightcrawler

By Joe Allen Published April 6, 2025

There were plenty of expected names in the extended cast reveal for Avengers: Doomsday, along with a few notable absences. Perhaps the most surprising addition to the cast, though, was the return of many of the original Fox X-Men from the early 2000s trilogy. Among the most notable actors returning are Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James Marsden, Rebecca Romjin, and Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United.

In a recent interview with Jenna Bush-Hager and Olivia Munn, Cumming said that he was excited to be able to step back into the character after more than 20 years.

“Isn’t it nuts? I’m excited and amazed. It’s been 23 years since I was a superhero. I’ve had some makeup tests already for the role, but what’s great about it was that before it was about 4 and a half hours to apply it, but now it’s only 90 minutes,” he explained. “Before, all of the tattoos were done by hand. They hadn’t decided on them before we started filming. Now, they just stick onto my face. It’s a game-changer. I’m going back to being a 60-year-old superhero, and everyone seems really lovely.

The cast announcement also made it clear that production on the film was underway, and Cumming confirmed that during his interview.”I head to London on Sunday and it begins shooting quite soon, it’s going to be nuts,” he said.

We don’t yet know how big the roles will be for these returning X-Men, many of whom have been away from their roles for almost 20 years. Still, their return is one of the biggest signals yet that Marvel is planning to fully integrate the X-Men into its universe.