Last month the official cast for the new Avengers: Doomsday, was announced with numerous stars returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe including Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd and Robert Downey Jr.
Among the surprise names confirmed for the film were various X-Men actors such as Alan Cumming, James Marsden, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer who previously starred in the movies produced by 20 Century Fox.
Cumming, who played Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner in 2003’s X2: X-Men United recently said during an interview on Today With Jenna and Friends that he has already begun makeup tests for the forthcoming blockbuster.
When talking about his return to screen, Cumming said: “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 four and a half hours to apply it, but now it’s only 90 minutes.”
Nightcrawler has a distinctive appearance with his blue tattooed skin. The outfit Cumming had to wear had several harnesses for components like his tail. He also had to put on fake teeth and contact lenses to achieve Nightcrawler’s otherworldly look.
Back in 2003, all of Nightcrawler’s tattoos were drawn by hand but Cumming says that they are now simply just stuck to his face which he has called a “gamechanger”.
Audiences have only seen Nightcrawler on-screen once. The character did not return for X-Men sequels such as The Last Stand or Days of Future Past.
Cumming went viral in 2024 for calling X2: X-Men United the “gayest film” he’d ever worked on in his career. He added: “It’s got a queer director, lots of queer actors in it. I love the fact that something so mainstream and so in the comic book world is so queer.”
This received an overwhelmingly positive response from X-Men screenwriter David Hayter who told TMZ: “I’m so glad we did right by him. He’s such an icon for gay rights. Ian McKellen also really recognised the allegory of it from a gay perspective.”
When talking about his experience on X2, Cumming said: “It’s an allegory about queerness, about people having these great gifts and really great, powerful things that they have to hide to exist. Queer people understand what that’s all about.”
Avengers: Doomsday is set for release on May 1, 2026 from Disney and Marvel Studios.
